The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-06-27
RELIGION AND PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
Tho Views Of an Orthodox Jew.

The Views Of an Orthodox Jew.
To THE EDITOR OF The SuN-Sir: In the
discussion OF the protest Of orthodox Jews
against the reading OF the New Testament 70
their children In the public schools let us re-
member that in this great Republic Churcn
and State go side by side. rather than hand
In hand" that Ii to say. the two are aoso-
lutely divorced and independent OF each
other. That being the case. the principle. II
carried to It's logical extreme. ought to lead
to the tota elimination OF all religious instruc-
ton no matter how ADMINISTRATION our
public institutions OF learning, And to this
extent the correspondent l1 to-d Az, Sun
Inasmuch as the srea. majority q the
American people profess to be s, Ia Gnf,s
It is to be considered as no injustice to them
to quote The New Testament to Their rn n%po
OF the orthodox jew to listen to such quota
tions u exusperatlng in the extreme. for the
orthodoE jew looks upon Christ Hn ybt c fInm
minded. reformed" corelixlonist. =. ,,.,
tianity n Russia. Roumania. Austria and
wherever Anti -Senitism has Arm foothold-
as denem9ned II giisxs [%spns
monster and seeks to have nothing whatever
to do with It. He. regards Christ as an i'm
1nd place IN the sIsssGsy as
ma and the other godheads Of the various
religions, He, views Christianity, with its
Of the Phiistines Of DID, and OF the Parsees and
Bq Tka sNs,.o Of to-day .,ot nosu,o,
as Christians as well as Jews profess to be-
lieve In the Old Testament, in those schools
in which there happen to be any considerable
on the lower East Side. extracts from the
to me. would give offence to nope.
NEW YORK. June rs.
To THE EDITOR OF THE SuN-iSr: Mr..
Oscar WeRelln, In to-day's SUN. contends tn at
this country Is "a Christian land and conse-
quently the Protestant Bible should be read
In the public schools Of this city. and he says
that this matter should not be governed by
those who make up only a small part Of the
population" Later on he admits that Prot
estants are In a minority in the town.
Why. then. should the Bible of the minority
be thrust upon the children Of the ma
Jority?
According to him, Professionalism lis tho
unofficial religion Of the Republic" II II Is
Only an unofficial" religion, why should it be
recognized by the public schools which are
only part Of the administr alton OF the Gov
lie declares that .-the Protestant Bible Is
Why? Is it any less Inaccurate historically,
any more u trrstwo[thy S%thnologiosiiy. than
a Bible from nd a nal
point OF view that renders it superior to other
versions?
II we can endure II We throw aside that which
s Fan tSG '. Q xhHm We svs ii thss We q
rs I and b t his IS sss s ons
land was "a settled BY Catholic feiusees seesins
religious liberation. Pennsylyania by those
tics. Fl Florida BY Catholics &assachusetts By
separationlsts from the Church Of ENGLAND.
Jews 1Sak "nd
built upon Protestant foundations;
Your correspondent ia at liberty" to read
such times as be aces 1T. but be is not at lib;
srty to insist that i be read and respected
az ssss asos
New YORK. June rs.
To THE EDlTon OF THE suN-si-: 1t is
simply impossible to teach. at least in any
modern sense of the word. without many
more or less religious matters being touched
upon. Time was when nothing but the three
RS" occupied the attention of teachers but
such gro fare will never again be set be-
fore the pupils Of the schools OF this city.
A comparison Of the Course Of study" now
falling into innocuous desuetude with the
new one now much spoken Of. together
with "syllabuses," aussi-onicial. published
to illustrate and explain IT, will bear out my
Wss vow viii h1 oSd sueb 81
porting to explain and elucidate the New
Course Of study" which latter e the product
OF OF the sys sGSs 0s
made. And il. between the ethical lesson.
the syllabus and the Course Of Study we
haven't come pretty close to religion. then I'm
less clear sighted than 1 have always sup
Before long Wen have the Rev DR.. Pereira
Mendes out in print again, gttering the pro.
Of the society which protested the other night
And it seems to me that that society aud Or.
Mendes are pretty neary right; but when
brated without the usual Yuletide carols, be-
cause some or many Jewish children may not
not n theory.
We have no right moral OF, legal. to have
any observance even remotely savoring OF
OF all educators to-day demands that all the
children's faculties shall be trained. and the
w be h %ssn OF
ss coSss ss Ss or q RFf
come om 0 VIII ary end saaarey meet the
uuirements Of true and rounded course Of
nay ana T dse ~
not the pale distractions OF Boston Unita-
ranism." Indeed. but meeting honestly the
requirements Of our Jewish fellow citizens.
our Catholic fellow citizens our non-Catholio
Christians. and perhaps even our Anglican.
or. at any rate. non Roman. Catholic s. Educa-
ton without religion is very. very incomplete:
and for one think it about time. with all the |
study of educational problems now going on.
for some Of our city teachers. OF whom the
belief. to come out boldly and state what is
their undoubted conviction. We may yet
owe another great debt TO Judaism. and that
Is the final blow in favor OF q full education.
To those whose memory OF school goes back
a generation mime does mott :. II will seem rash
to predict public scheme OF elementary and
high school teaching which shall include re-
ligion but It is done in other countries to suit
the people Of those countries. and it Is written
on the wall that it shall be done in the land OF
the free. At least. so it seems to me- The
various letters in to-day's Sun all point that
way,to ROBERT P. GREEN,
NEW YORK, June 25 Public School S.