The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-10-09

| ~
! portant paper was read by Prof
Charles Bartlett Dyke before the
Ministerial Union:
Through fetishes, nature deities, uni
versal principles, the One, the Trinity.
| the Absolute, the ACKNOWLEDGMENT
| intellect has striven to realize that
which shall correspond to the univer-
sal uplift of the human soul toward
God. Every age and every stage OF
| civilization has made provision for the
| transmittal of its religious inheritance.
From the days of the priesthood of
| ancient Egypt until the middle of the
| nineteenth century education has been
practically controlled by the church,
| and the question of religious instruc-
| ton in the schools is hence of recent
| origin.
| That the present generation is gross
| ly ignorant of the Bible, it's greatest
! literary classic, that the children are
growing up with repulsive images and
grossly incorrect ideas of the common
est theological concepts testifies to the
unfortunate effect of the present di
vorce between education and religion
unfortunate because any education
must be seriously incomplete which ig-
nores the most vital element in mans
| higher life. Neither the home nor the
| Sunday school is at present able to
supply the deficiency. In New York,
| for instance, where there are church
sittings for only one-seventh of the
population, it is manifestly improba
BILE that the home can take care of re-
| ligious instruction. The American
Sunday schools reporting an enroll
ment of one-half the children of school
| age, must, at least, fail to reach in
any degree one-half the population.
| How, then, shall American children
receive religious instruction? The ia
nous 'Poughkepsie plan" of New York
and 'Faribault plan" of Minnesota, at
tempted to answer the question by
clerical teaching after the regular
school hours but this plan has only
succeeded in demonstrating that the
| American people will not tolerate de-
nominational teaching in buildings de-
voted to public purposes. In the mean
time the UNCONVENTIONAL school is
hardly holding it's own, though many
THE UNCONVENTIONAL system is the
| right system. The secular system is
the wrong system"
The university in particular is open
ly charged with being anti-religious
in it's tendency, with destroying church
connections, belief in the Deity, and
the religious activities and ideals of
young people who come under its in
fluence. With the development of the
modern State university and college,
freed from distinct religious and sec
tartan influences, and with the large
place that has been given to the physi-
cal sciences and the So-called scientific
or inductiVe method of study, there
have been wrought far-reaching chang
es in the religious instruction and in
the religious influences that these In
stitutions of learning are expected to
foster. While it has always been a
fundamental concept of American civ
iii2ation that State education should
exist apart from any sectarian infiu-
ence, and while all protestant denomi-
nations have welcomed this principle
in the cause of religious and individ-
ual liberty, a word precious to every
American citizen, a fear has grown up
that the very concepts of Christianity
are being antagoniZed in the modern
| university. My thesis is that the pur-
suit of physical sciences is conducive
in the long run to spiritual growth,
and 1 have brought before you today
the results of study of the religious
life of university students, which frag-
mentary and incomplete as it is, never
theless illustrates forcibly this propo-
sition.
At the time when this study was
made. about five years ago, the univer-
freer from religious or sectarian influ-
ences than any similar institution in
this country. 1t was distinguished for
its devotion to the physical sciences,
it's neglect of the religious element, it's
belittling of forms and dogmas, and
its discredit of thesupernatural within
and without the church. A notable
number of men and women, entering as
freshmen with church connections and
SUDnOSedIV assured faith nIIIppp5
into an abyss of doubt and misery,
followed often by the bitterness Of alb
solute loss of faith.
Should they remain permanently in
this state, we should all agree that
university training had eXerted a most
pernicious influence upon their lives,
and that the institution was a most
dangerous enemy to the social welfare
Doubtless it is upon similar cases that
much of the antagonism between SCI
ence and religion depends. On the
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