Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1910-05-24
SUNDAY
Wv SCHOOL CONVENTION
By
Frederic
j. HaSkin

1850. Raikes undertook his work in order
to do something for the miserable outcast
children of the factory districts of his
town. He organized what were called
Ragged Schools" and paid the persons
who undertook to teach the children a
shilling a day for their services. The
movement to give any sort of education
to these poor people met with opposition
from all classes of the so-called better
element" All sorts of fun was made of
Bobby Wild Goose and his Ragged
Regiment" Even John Wesley looked
upon the movement with doubt and mis-
giving while the regular clergy actively
opposed it. Even after the Sunday school
had grown to such proportions that it had
half million students, the archbishop
of Canterbury called convention of
church dignitaries for the purpose of
suppressing the growth of the Sunday
school in the church. OF course such
opposition long since has disappeared.
In the United States the Sunday school
has succeeded more generally than in
other countries for variety of reasons,
chiefly POLITICAL The American republic
began it's career with the clear under
standing that church and state were to
be distinct sand separate. The United
States today, after 1874 years, remains the
only nation under the sun in which
church and state are absolutely indepen-
dent to the extent that their relations
are not even q question in politics. On
account OF this separation, the develop
ment of the American public school sys-
tenn proceeded without making any pro-
vision for religious instruction. The
omission met with the approval of a vast
majority of the people, for the reason
that they preferred to give their children
religious instruction after the manner
and custom of their several faiths.
Thus the Sunday school became the ac-
copied vehicle of religious instruction for
Protestant peoples. In communities
where there are large numbers of Cath
olics, Catholic children attend the pa
rochial schools and receive both secular
and religious instruction under the tute-
lage of the church. But taking the
whole country over, practically all relig-
iOus instruction is given by Sunday
schools. 1t is a remarkable coincidence
that the enrolment in the public schools
of the United States and the Sunday
schools of the country stand at approx
mately the same figure, 1S,OOO,0OO.
In England the free schools CORES
ponding to the American public schools
and five hours each week is devoted to
religious instruction. This system is OPP
posed by the non-conformists and free
church people, and thus the education
bill is one of the chief political issues in
Great Britain. The American system of
complete separation and of hearty sup
port of Sunday schools seems to be the
best in the world
And yet ii is freely admitted that the
Sunday schools, in the United States and
elsewhere, do not reach a great many
clSldren who are in need both of relig-
ious and moral teaching. The problem of
reaching these children, of getting them
into the Sunday schools, of holding them
there, and of giving them instruction
which will be of genuine benefit, is the
problem which the devoted Sunday school
workers of the world are endeavoring to
solve.
Aside from the position of the Sun
day school as the chief agent Of re-
ligious instruction to children, it has
added greatly to the effectiveness Of
general religious education. The Sun