Waterbury evening Democrat., 1907-11-27
RELIGION IN SCHOOL
An Old Question That Will Not Be
 DoWned.

Religion in the schools is some- what like Banquo's ghost, 1t will not down. The papers tell us that the Jews of New York have succeeded in obtaining the expulsion of the Christmas carols from the state schools, and from the viewpoint Of the Jew think that he Is right. He heard non-sectarianism preached on every side and yet saw it practiced as little as it would be allowed. Like it had become the of national fetish wor- shippers, and, like the former, 1t had about as little justification for the attached to it. Wherever it could be violated with impunity, has gone by the boards. In many of our smaller towns even here in Connecticut the applicant for the position of teacher has been, and is to-day, in some in stances asked to what religious de- nomination she belongs, as if that ought to make the least difference in non-sectarian system. And 1t IS a significant fact that if the response was not agreeable the coveted posi- tion was not obtained.
 The Jew saw that, so far as it could be, the whole system relative to his people is sectarian. Perhaps, too, he remembered that the national government has practically set its seal upon the sectarian plan at Car lisle and at Hampton. Pos sibly he remembered that congress- passed a bill for the denominational education of the Indian and that it was only vicious, venomous, jealous sectarianism that had that law repealed. And from the viewpoint of the Jew l repeat that I think he is right.
 But there are others, and from the standpoint of the others l can't see the justice of yielding to the de- mand of the Jew. It is simply abol- lshing one kind of sectarianism to pander to another species. It is doing away with what little sec tarian Christianity there is in the school to favor Jewish sectarianism, for it is on no other than religious grounds that he makes his demand. And if, as rumor has it, the name oi God and religion have become SC odious that a committee is at work to expurgate our school books from the foul blot, is it not pandering tC the sectarianism of infidelity? Why should Christian father who desires his child to be a Christian, and who knows from such undoubted sources as the testimony of the presidents ol our highest educational institutions that thoroughly non-religious sys tenn is detrimental to his child, wh! should he be forced to support tha system? It may be held that the state decrees it. True, but it doe! not necessarily follow that the de cree is founded in justice, and the principle, carried to it's widest ap ]plication, would provoke storm o righteous indignation from the yer. | praises when it's use is restricted t. the school Besides, if the state decree is founded on the utility o non-sectarianism, in other things tn
 state violates its own principles.
 It has been said, let us have ethic
 without any dogma. l use the wor' dogma in non-sectarian sense The men who propose this system o ethics fail to tell us how it is goin
 to be accomplished. Ethics is tn
 science of morals as containing ou
 duty to God and our fellow man and how we can have ethics withou postulating some dogmas on whic
 they are founded is not very clearl
 intelligible. It seems to me to be O
 par with the assertion of creed
 less Christianity. Both are imposst
 ble, for both ethics and Christianit
 or any other religion need founda
 tion, which foundation cannot b
 universal doubt or negation.
 And even supposing a possibl non-dogmatic ethics, would the
 produce a stronger calibre of me
 than those who are formed on Chris
 tian dogmas? I don't think that tn
 history of Christianity will justif the assertion. Let us take tn
 concrete example afforded by Yale famous quarterback, Tad Jones, wh had the moral courage to comics
 publicly at banquet that he praye
 for strength before he entered tn game with Harvard on last Satul day. Did his belief in God, in tn
 efficacy of prayer-both dogmas, b
 the way-make him any the less ei
 ficient in upholding the honor of tn
 Blue? And his moral fibre in COT
 fessing 1t has, if it were possible made him more popular than bt fore. Take. again, the case of ou
 honored president-apologies to tn
 New York Sun-because he Openl
 professes his belief in God and in difinite form of religion made up (
 dogmas-for no religion, even na 7 ural religion. is possible withOt , them-was he the less heroic, wa
 he of weaker mental or moral cal
 bre at San Juan Fill when he an his Rough Riders made the gallaI charge that contributed so much
 the victory? In a word, what at
 vantage would accrue from a mol
 dogmatic ethics, even if such wei possible? The teaching of religion
 ethics will not make worse citizen
 It would be surpassing strange if
 did. If into the child's mind is in
 planted the idea of a sovereign Go
 whose authority he must acknow
 edge. he will not be a whit less Il | better citizen when he learns al' .h-. L. -,.,,-t ,-;oTd r,hoafouao .r, rEr