University Missourian. [volume] (Columbia, Mo.) 1908-1916, 1910-09-27
RELIGIOUS Lice ] !!
It. THE. UNIVERSITY
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Ia strong religious element present IN
our university life even in the class
rooms, in the passion for. truth-foF
accurate and adequate grasp Of the
facts of the world with a view to theif
mastery in the interest Of the largest
and richest possible human 'expeh
Hence. The ideal Of social efficiency
now SO prominent, as the goal OF the
educational process Is to my mind
more than half religious. IF man
love not his brother whom he hath
seen. how shall he love God whom
/ he hath not SEEN" By way OF this
practical love and service Of our race
which is becoming the passion of pub
lie education I believe we are to az
Itain such love Of God and such visions
Of celestial destiny as We have never
had before.
University Not Goddess ID
| I am not, therefore, among those
who believe that the University is
goddess and irreligious. Such state
ment would have been truer thirty
or forty years ago than it is. now by
far. There is constantly increas-
Hing tide Of idealism. that can issue
only in religious faith. Reverence
/ flor the things that are and the effort
Ito see them as they are carry naught
but promise for the things that ought
Ito be and shall be. rs
Certain Adverse Conditions.
4 Nevertheless, we must face the fact
that there are in all our universities
certain conditions and tendencies that
are adverse to the religious life how
II ever we may conceive|it. It is not
that religion is attacked. All other
things that are supposed to pertain to
well furnished life are represented
by definite active Institutional agen-
cies while religion SO far as most uni
versities are concerned is an unat-
ltached waif-a waif against whom no
one has any particular luminosity, with
whom many sympathize but for whom
no one is appointed to exercise special
responsibility. Students and faculty
alike under such conditions are in
danger of thinking that religion as
such is not a matter for any special
consideration in a scholarly way. In
asmuch as the university man is taught
to consider all subjects that he con
siders at all in scholarly way, hi
unconsciously lays religion aside Al
something inconsiderable.
\ Now in this regard our own Uni
versity has taken advanced grount
" 1.-THE most advanced of any state uni
versity of rank within my knowledge
% It has extended university credit TO
quite "a wide scope of Biblical ant
religious studies. rese<ying to itsel
!. the right to maintain its academic
standards as regards the quality o
: the instruction, while at the same tim,
assuming no financial responsibility O
" other responsibility. 1t has said t,
the various churches-come into tn
midst of our university life and foun,
n your colleges of religious learning
/. We -Yill give our students the oppol
II 1tunity to pursue such courses as hav'
n. sufficient general interest and educa
n tional value to warrant the time dc
:. voted to them. The university thu
: says to its students we regard thes
Biblical and religious disciplines a
le worthy of your attention
a. Religion Must Appeal to Student.
10 The religion that has any possib.lit
X lot living and exercising power in a
+. educational environment like thi
y must be one that the student can i
D. some measure square with all hi
: thinking. It need not be one whic
It his reason can perfectly fathom an
d analyze. for except at certain perio
i. of his academic life the average stl
J dent realizes there is nothing of an
m size in the whole curriculum whic
his reason can exhaust. But the ct,
% dents life is predominantly analyti
and intellectual. It must be this /
"a lorder that eventually it may be trul
Synthetic. He seeks to understan
It. tine laws Of life in the interest Of large
tfife. This same must hold In til
moral and spiritual realm. He mu,
enter anaiytically into moral and spt
III itual reality SO far as be IS able 1
the interest Of larger, fuller mora
Cd social and spiritual life.
he Why University Ia Called Godless.
to- The reasons why the university
ne deemed goddess and irrelisious b
I'd some people are not hard TO see.
N" 1. Because the academic mind q
he Ialyzes matters that are considered U
T. LIZ Il