The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1905-04-07
pEI1GInN I'M THF SCHOOLS.

Bishop McKnn, Of Washington, d..
c., is mot prepared 10 accept the He
brew-German-American Interpretation
II our Constitution as presented by
Rabbi Simon" Of the same city and
proceeds 70 enter vigorous protest and
makes masterful reply. He begin, by
saying:
When this clever young rabbi tells
us that "every religious element was
eliminated from our scheme of civil
government he cOntradictS the un-
animOus decision of the Supreme
Court, which declared that this is a
religious nation, citing regulations
and laws connected with our civil
government Jefferson and Madison
labOred successfully 10 Sunder the
bond between church and State i'm
Virginia; but they never dreamed of
severing the bond between God and
the state. Else, why does the immOr-
tai Declaration Of Independence again
and again refer to natures God and to
Divine Providence? And why did the
great convention Of 1857 declare that
religion, morality and knowledge
were necessary 10 good government
And why does the Constitution pro-
vide that the President Of the United
States shall be sworn upon the Holy
Bible, $50 help me God that he will
faithfully execute his great office
Moreover, belief in God and in the
morality taught in the Ten Command
ments underlies our whole statute law.
Let ii be noted that our American civil
lizatiOn is built not on the morality of
the Koran, or the Zend-Ayesta, or the
writings Of COnfuciuS, but on the NOR
ality taught by Jesus Christ. And let
the cOunsels Of Washington to the
American people in his Farewell Adj
dress be carefully pOndered. Reason
and experience unite i'm fOrbidding Us
to expect that national prosperity can
prevail in exclusion Of religious princi-
pie" "And let us with caution in
dulge the suppOsltiOn that morality
can be preserved apart from religion
Mr. Jefferson is often quoted by such
writers as the young Rabbi and to this
Bishop McKinn makes this answer:
1--WE are told by another writer in
this controversy that we have an IL
Illuminating example in JeflersOn's ia
nous Statute Of Religious Freedom
But that statute itself appeals to al
mighty God who hath created the
mind free, and refers TO "the HOLY |
Author Of our religion and il was
aimed not at the recognition of Al !
mighty God by the state, but at the /
compulsory support Of any particular |
church. This is its language:
"Be il enacted that no man shall be /
compelled to frequent or support any /
religious worship, place, or ministry /
whatsoever"
How far is this from cOndemning /
the proposals we are making2 / NAV /
add that JeffersOn's opinion Of the va
lue of the Bible in the education of the /
young may be inferred from his prac-
tice Of presenting a copy of the Bible
TO each of his grandchildren at the age
Of IL years.
And this Of another famous agnOstic.
Mr.. Thomas III. Huxley, the famous
agnOStic, an enthusiastic advocate of
secular education, prOnOunces a pane
gyric upon the Bible, and saws: On
the whole, then, | ann in favor of read
ing the Bible in the schools, with such
grammatical, historical, and geogra-
phical explanations by day teacher
as may be needful."
If the Rabbi is TO control in affairs
American then our Sabbath is gone
from us, and even our Christ put to
open shame, but il is comforting to
know that while the Rabbi may be in
this free land Of ours worship God ac-
cording TO the dictator Of his con-
science with none to modest or make {
afraid, this is Christian America and I
50 long as this is so the Christ teach l
ings are not TO be driven from our
schools, our homes, our churches, our
Commonwealth, our country.
And if this doesn't suit the Rabbi
and those who think with him the
door for leaving is as wide open as
that for receiving. We speed the part
ing as we have welcomed the coming
guest. q