Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-04-04
ST PATRICK S CATHEDRAL
EDUCATION WITHOUT FAITH is
A TWO-EDGED SWORD, HE SAYS
oRouke of Society of Jesus Points Out the
Danger of Neglectng Religious Teaching in the
Public Schools.

othes world, and other important
truths are fast fading from men s
minds
The childs heart and mind are as
sensitive as Photographic plate;
they are as responsive as the clay in
the hand of the potter, and are
powerfully influenced by their en-
yironment They can be played upon
as the skilled musician plays upon
his instrument. They are influenced
more powerfully by example than by
words.
Now see what we are doing in our
public schools.
"In geography We describe the land
and the sea, cities, lakes and rivers
we picture the glories of the king
Gcm of earth-but no word is uttered
about the kingdom of God.
I'm history the story of Alexander,
Julius Caesar, Napoleon. is told in
graphic language and with wealth of
incident and detail. but rarely a word
is said of Jesus Christ, His beloved
mother, the saints of God, and
the great heroes and martyrs of the
Christian faith.
THE rules of grammar and arith-
metic are explained and dwelt upon
| hut little or nothing is said of those
great rules of human life and conduct
contained in the Ten Commandments
in the Beatitudes and in the precepts
of the Divine Master.
Influence Upon the Child.
What will be. the effect of such
| the child-souI? Will he not soon
come to the conviction that those
! things which are passed over, never
| spoken of. never emphasized, which
are ignored, are of little or no value
in human life--no importance in his
everyday conduct? Therefore, our
very system of non-sectarian train
/ ing tends by its very nature to the
| detriment of religious teaching, re-
! ligious belief religious practices.
| Let Facts Speak
Sunday schools are not sufficient.
| Religion is not like our Sunday
clothes. which we put on one day and
| set aside for the rest of the week.
+ Religion is for everyday wear; it is
| part and parcel of our life and en-
ters into the very web and wool OF
| our being. 1t is for daily use from
the cradle to the grave from the
swaddling clothes to the shroud.
But come down to facts. Tens of
thousands of our people cannot teach
| their religion to their children Tens
| of thousands can't and won't send
their children to Sunday school.
Can the mill-workers in Bethlehem
who toll twelve hours day for
! seven days a week send their children
| to Sunday school? Can the trolley
| men? Can the men before the blast
| furnaces who stagger home to sleep
| the sleep of the tired and orn-out +?
| Can they go to Sunday school TO get
| some infinitesimal fraction of re-
liglous instruction? Impossible.
Omit teaching religion in the
| schools, and in few generations we
| snail have men and women who have
| no belief in God, in hell, in the super-
| natural, in the soul. We have mil
| lions of men and women without re-
| ligion, without faith.
| Education without religion is a
| two-edged sword 1t may take the
| life and be Redeemed with the blood
| of him who sharpens 1t. The great
! crimes in our country today are those
| committed by the uneducated and the
| ignorant. We. may read of a stray
| bullet from poor half-crazed striker
| whose children are crying for bread
! but who drove him to strike? BY
| whom are the bank robberies com
| United? On whose head falls the
curses from the long line of working
| men and weak women who beat their
| bleeding hands against the closed
] gates of the banks which have failed
| Who Are the Criminals?
| Who are today defrauding the
| laborer of his wages and squanderine
their ill-gotten gains in sinful living
and criminal luxury? Who purcha sc
franchise and bride legislators, while
If the poor man sells his vote for s:
to pay the rent, he goes to prison, and
his wife may starve? Who Hampers
with legislation? Who corners the
necessities of life that the price MAY
! go up ?
These are the crimes that are
shaking the country to its very foun.
datlons. Are these the crimes of the
ignorant or the uneducated? These
are the crimes of men whose con.
| sciences are dead, who have no re.
alization of religion or morality, whose
education Is without faith-without
God.