St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1904-10-15

| dren must come from homes of various
religious beliefs, how is trouble in this
direction avoided? Everybody is sup
posed to be Evangelical Chat is Luz
! theran), Catholic or Jewish. The dis
| senter, as such, has no standing. The
vast majority of the population in Prus-
STA is Evangelical. All the teachers be.
| long to the faith and the plan of religious
instructions assumes this as the prevail
| ing faith. But in order to satisfy Catho-
| lies and Jews, wherever there are in any
| school large numbers of such, the Cath
Ole priest or the Jewish rabbi comes in
twice a week and instructs his respective
flock. In some parts of the empire
where Catholics predominant the Cath
olicinstruction and Catholic teachers are
found in separate schools. Yet it can.
not be said that the Catholics or Jews
are altogether satisfied with this ar
rangement, for the atmosphere Of the
school and the personality of the
Evangelical" schools are not to their
liking. and there is steady move for in
dependent schools. What now is the
value of this religious instruction in re-
ligiou?
To have an education permeated with
knowledge of the Bible and the relation
OF the Bible to character and civilization
is certainly good thing. Morally and
religiously it is surely beneficial Intel
lectually it Is also very desirable. An
educated man should certainly be able
to interpret his own literature He as
suredly cannot do this intelligently If
he be ignorant of the Scripture, which
the best writer's SO constantly use.
The German boy is far ahead Of the
American boy in his knowledge of the
Bible. Our American boys who come to
college are VIGOROUSLY ignorant of the
Scriptures. The German method of in
parting Scriptures seems superior to our
American Sunday school methods, for
the boy is required to know this as he
does every other subject. His teachers
in religion" are thoroughly equipped,
strong men, skillful teachers. This can
not be said of our average Sunday. school
teacher in America.
Yet 1t must be conceded that mere
knowledge of Scripture history, ETC.,
does not necessarily make a religious
person. That depends upon the attitude
of the will, which may accept or reject
the religious ideals as guide in prac.
tical life.
There is much unrest over this matte,
of religious instruction in the schools.
Radicals in religion claim that the in.
struction is old-fashioned and narrow,
not up to date, out Of line with modern
investigation. The social democrats,
who are opposed to the state church, are
not in favor of it. Yet it must be said |
that the teachers themselves feel the |
need Of improving the method and of en-
riching their work. At the core. how
ever, it is good, and is only to be depre-
Gated If it means that by this method |
alone Religion" is to be taught. II
must be reinforced by the home and the |
church.
We are agitating in America anew
the question Of religious instruction
in the schools. 1t is nothing short
Of calamity that the Bible is practical
ly cast out of our system of instruction
fear of sectarian bias. We are
yet. it must be hoped, to find some
way Of placing this classic, along with
the other world classics, in the hands OF
all our college men and women as an in.
strument Of their culture.
AMOS W. PATTEN.