The Washington times., 1905-03-20
Public Interest Grows
In School Question
Religious instruction Topic of Much Discus
sion by Citizens of Washington-pettion
Circulated by Seventh Day AdVentists.

force these requirements. That opens |
the door to every sort Of opinion, or |
else ties the teacher down to the words !
of some textbook, born Of compromise |
and expressing the honest opinions of
no one.
cannot be taught in the school. II there
is any ground for what is miscalled the
evangelical system. no view of God or
his government that Is satisfactory to
the Jew, the Unitarian. the Universalist.
or the scientific theist could possibly
be satisfactory to those who hold to the
trinity in unity the deity Of Christ, vi
carious atonement, and an endless hell
for those who die in sin.
Not Matter of knowledge.
No one Of these things is matter Of
knowledge. They are all matters Of be-
lief. and no longer this among men of
science or among the thinkers and
scholars in the churches. 1t Is useless
to give children words unless you ex-
plain their meaning. You cannot ex-
plain the word God in accordance with
any church views without whole sys-
tenn of theology.
The public schools do not exist to
teach theology. nor TO teach morality
based upon any system of theology
They are not TO deal with dogmas of
any sort that are not open to question
OF investigation. Our public schools are
like our public streets. meant for the
equal use \Rnd common service of all
our people, The officers intrusted with
| the care Of our streets are obliged to
| see that they are used only for legiu-
mate purposes, and that no favors are
| shown to any one person or class that
| infringe on the equal rights or others.
| The purpose OF our schools is to aid the
children Of all our people. first, in ac-
| curing a knowledge Of things that are
| known; second, in acquiring such facility
\ and skill in the use of their powers as
| will fit them for independent discovery
and the acquisition of still wider knowl-
| edge; third, 10 train them in habits of
| usefulness and honesty-in q real regard
| for each others rights and interests and
| TO cultivate in them an ambition to live
worthy and useful lives
No Subject for Inquiry.
BY common consent of so-ealied evan
gelicals, religion is not subject for
rational inquiry. It's fundamentals are
matters of supernatural revelation and
faith and not of knowledge They are
not discovered, we are told, by human
| powers. They rest, we are assured, on
basis wholly different from that OF
| science-and that basis is the revealed
word Of God contained in the Bible.
And yet those who argue as to the
basis do not at all agree as to the teach
ing. Now it is not the province of the
public schools to teach what cannot be
known; ncr to use textbooks as author
1tieS that may not be questioned.
Liberal people would have no objec-
ton to readings from the Bible judic-
tously selected, If the Bible were treated
merely as literature, and its teachings
| to be weighed and accepted or rejected
as the teachings of other books
| What they do object to is having this
! alleged word of God used as a club t.
break the head of reason and silence the
voice of natural affection and so bTeal
down mans faith in his own powers
and in the rational and moral order o.
| that universe of which he is a part
In doing this 1T defeats one of the cflte
/ ends for which the school exists. If i
has one function more important thar
others, ii is that OF eYoking in man
sense CT his wonderful possibilities as {
learner and doer together with a deer
| conviction OF the rational and moral or
der of the universe. Every step he take.
in the pathway of knowledge bring.
with it revelation of larger relation:
and deepenS his convictions of the unity
of truth. The moment you bring in az
!, alleged revelation which has no place IL
the natural order, which has no orderl.
relations with truths that he knows
you obltge him either to reject 1t O
10 lose his confidence In the unity o
truth and in the worth and integrity o
his own human powers.
! What Education Is.
5 Education is the drawing out, or evoll
i ing of these powers into fruitful &C
tiyity and enlarging achievement Clos
i the field of religion against the entranc
( of these powers, declare that to be
t province which reason and affection ma
T not invade; field in which the authori
f ty of a book or church must be OIL
q only guide and you make mental an
moral cripples Of your pupils
Y Whenever the church is ready to dea
with religion as q science; wherever
is ready TO assume that the facts whic
c justify 1t are in the universe and dis
e coverable by man; and to encourage IN
s. freest and fullest investigation. ther
/. will soon be such a consensus of know
= edge and thought as will make instruC
L ton In the schools entirely PRACTICABLE
r Bishop Satterlee affirms the natura
ness of religion, but admits that the
propose TO put the Ten Commandment
In the school, not as natural laws di.
q covered by man, but as revealed laws
;, God, in a wholly different sense. Ths
q is the child IS to believe and obey thel
J. because the Bible says they are God
" commands Whether this is true or NJ
;, he is not at liberty to question He
simply to believe mad obey. We do NJ
l. want that kind of teaching In our pul
% lie schools, and trust we shall not hay