The Catholic bulletin., 1919-07-19
TOO SMART FOR GOD|
SECULAR JOURNAL cRITIcIzEs
WORLDLY IDEALS.

Apropos of the demand that God be
put back into the schools of the land.
there has come under our observa-
tion copy of the Thibodaux Ia)
Commercial Journal" in which oc-
ours an editorial leader which, com
ing from a secular journal, is peculiar
,ly significant of the trend of thought
full thinkers of the times, and the ne
cesslty OF giving the children of this
generation something more than the
"man-made education" of the day.
Under the caption, TOO Smart
the Commercial Journal says:
I'VE mortals are getting too smart.
The world has reached a stage where
the idea has been falsely conceived
that man-made education and So
called science can overcome every
th1ng, even to shaping morals, char
acter destiny, without thought of the
creator or the hereafter. Man, in
other words, is self-made, and is per-
fect-beyond criticism Man is all.
powerful, think some; just so he is
educated nothing more is necessary.
Yet we see day after day a deplorable
condition as to morals, as to stand
ards OF living, even to the difficulty
of the majority to think for them
selves or to discern between right
and wrong. Tell this in the face of
that desire, that boast, to do without
any thought of religion, to keep it
out OF mans education and makeup
at any cost. The further we proceed
in the path which disregards, forgets
and denies the world Christian and
religious education, the more the afro
cities, the crimes, even of juveniles.
the looser the morals, the less sacred
become obligations and duties. That
stage has been reached where moth
ing is wrong, and why? Because man
considers himself self-dependent, re-
fuses to admit the necessity of the as
sistance of superior being. We are
'know-it-alls.' We control land, sea,
air, and are therefore masters, need
ing no advice, no control, unmindful
of respect for authority. 1t has gone
SO far the individual is prone to not
only question, but absolutely disre-
gard not only religious authority but
regularly constituted civil authority
1t cannot be otherwise when we for
get the Almighty. The whirlwind we
are reaping is of our own sowing.
Unless man heeds his better self it is
difficult to conjecture what the future
will have in store for us, or into what
bottomless pits we will descend. Rel
egation of the teaching of religion
must eventually lead to relegation of
the teaching of patriotism, for patriot
ism without love, fear and knowledge
of God-of real right and wrong-is
only skin deep and of little value
Further on, commenting upon the
carnival of crime which is de1uging
the world, and in which juvenile
criminals are playing so conspicuous
a part, especially in our own free
land, the Commercial Journal says
1T is a common occurrence to pick
up the papers and several times a
week, and ofttimes several articles in
the same issue, see Juveniles, mere
boys, have concocted and carried out
some crime one would think possible
only in hardened criminals, as wit
ness the crushing of the skull Of the
guardian in reformatory, and the
escape of the perpetrators from the
institution. INSTRUMENTATION among
school children, in the home, in fact,
everywhere, disrespect for authority,
are increasing daily. All the laws in
creation might be enacted, but if the
proper instincts are not instilled into
the growing boys the reign of Boil
shevism now astounding the world
will not be circumstance to what we
might expect under growing and in
creasing unhealthy conditions. 1t is
time something were done, something
to prevent juvenile crimes, and laws
are certainly not the remedy-it must
be driven into the child that wrong
is wrong, that the laws of God and
of man must be respected, as also con-
stituted authority"