Evening star., 1924-10-05
EVERYDAY RELIGION
By RIGHT RET. JAMES E. FREEMAN, d. D.,
Bishop OF Washington

ercised over the thought and habit
of those men and women who have
made and preserved us a nation is
conspicuously evident in the most
cursory study of their lives. Our in
heritance as people has the God
element distinctly evident in it all.
Need knowledge of Background.
Sometimes in the swiftly chang
ing currents of our modern life we
seem to forget this and We seek to
set forward our interests as individ-
uals or as people without giving
due consideration to the most out
standing fact in our history. They
build too low who build beneath the
'tars." said the sage of Concord
yes, they build too fnsecurely who
build without the sense of obliga-
ton to Him whose hand has guided
us in the past. What our children
need more than all else today is
thorough knowledge of the back
grounds of our life. They are in
, the main, without any adequate
knowledge Of what have constituted
the genesis and inspiration and con-
tinuing power Of our country's mar
Nelous history. They are being told
/ too much Of the present. too little
of the past. They are given stand
ards of value that have to do largely
with our material wealth and devel
"pment. Success is interpreted to
them in terms of money and So
called efficiency. What ideals. of in
div;dual and corporate responsibility
do they have We have secularized
our educatl"nrl systems; we have dis
carded the Bible. even as the MASTER
riece OF literature. The hernisms and
! sacrifices of men who feared God
and took their own part are quite
neglected and forgotten. Our whole
purpose seems TO he to turn out so
many pieces of human machinery,
parts that may be fitted into the vast
and complex mechanism of our in
dustrial and commercial age.
This process can have but one is
sue an issue the folly Of which his
tory itself records. There is an
/ economic value in the right kind of
education; there is training in
, civic and religious virtues that. neg
I lected by home. church and school!
issues in disorder. disaster and ulti-
mate chaos Fathers and mothers
"'ho are Indifferent to their obliga-
tons and responsibilities concerning
these things are all uncopsciously
! breaking down the morale Of the Ma
i ton and Fastening the day Of dis
solution and diSintegration
S"ie"n w nTn1nRS FROM Courts.
Solemn warnings have proceeded OF
tate from the courts of our land con-
cernlnE the gravity of the situation
and an abundance of incontrovert
evidence is available that indicates
the relation that increasing juvenile
crime and moral delinquency bears
to the ignored and abandoned sane
titles of life. Any propaganda that
proceeds from native or alien sources
that treats with disrespect and con-
tempt those concepts of life that IN
mere IN our systems and institutions
must be treated as reasonable TO
attack the moral and religious stand
ards of people means to undermine
their security and to render them
vulnerable to those inSIdlous in
fiuences that ultimately destroy
them.
Neither man power nor money
RoWer ca save a nation whose moral
and spiritual ideals are weakened
ana debased. More important is 1t
that we look to the safeguarding OF
assaults made from within upon our
Inheritance than that We set up sys-
tens of defense to protect us from
evils from without. Our first line OF
defense is our integrity as people,
our fidelity TO our tried and tested
standards. the conservation of those
things that constitute the foundations
of our character and the security OF
our estate. 4 fresh and conspicuous
recognition of our dependence upon
God and obedience to His Will is tho
supremest need today.
Copyrisht. 1924,