New Britain herald., 1926-11-06
RELIGION NEEDED
 FOR FUTURE 0F us.
ReV. I. A. Greene Declares
 Churches Must Cooperate

"Oh! How our churches need to get together in this business! If we do, not learn how to hang to- sether' in this important matter of religious education, then before long we shall all hang separately So said Rev. Theodore A. Greene. pas tor of the Center Congregational church, at meeting of Esther Stanley chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, yesterday afternoon. His subject Was Amer lean Ideals and Religious Educa- 1tion" and he entered spirited plea for religious education in the schools.
 He stated that if present children and their children ara to give re- ligion its rightful place In education and life, the churches must come closer together and must cooperate more largely and mora extensively than many of them have yet been willing to do. In that manner only can they thus make it possible for the public school. authorities to help them instead of having to ignore them, he said.
 "The most potent religious influ- ence in the life of any school is to be found in the moral and religious character of the teacher" he said. We know that the public schools of America are not trreliglous by any means. Why? Because their teachers are almost everywhere men and women of strong moral character and of definite religious conviction and experience. Thus. without directly teaching religion. these men and women, by the char acter of their discipline and by the spirit which they maintain in the life of the schools have been and are of great influence in determin- ing the character of American boys and girls.
 ''The best Christians are made not In the church school, but in the cradle and the nursery. Neither pub lie nor church schools can do the whole work of education. The family, in its home life, has the child first and the impressions which he re- ceives in the earlier days at home serve as a background and basis for all his subsequent education. Horace Bushnell held that the first three years of a child's life are more im- portant in their bearing upon his ed- ucation and character than all the years of discipline that may come afterward. What finer soil for gener- ating virtues. what better training ground for character, than the American Christian home could there be? We may well doubt whether this moral function of the family could ever be fulfilled by any other insti- tuition. Schools miss all the ties of personal affection. love and loyalty. They must deal with children in large groups. and in relatively cold and tmpersonal ways. No substitute has yet been tried or imagined, which can take the place of a real home.
 Did you ever stop to analyze for yourselves, the essential relation be- tween Christianity and the institu- tion of the family? The Christian re- ligion simply universities the re- lations of family life. Jesus teaching concerning God, as well as concern ing our duties, are based on these same family relationships. He tells us that God Is Our Father; and we are ,all brethren! Yet. how much our un- derstanding of these teachings de- bends upon the quality of our own family life. For example: It is very difficult for a minister to make God, the Father, real to a man who has had the misfortune to experience at home the misfortune of a weak or worthless father. The poor fellow simply cannot think of God that way, unless In his heart, by way of con- trast, he has some long cherished Idea of what the perfect and heav- enfy Father could be! But Chris tian family is one which established in the Christian convictions of the parents, seeks to express those con- victlons in its spirit and practice in order that its children may grow up to be children of God!
 "The only trouble here is, that the family is under fire in America to- day. I nour larger cities, changing conditions are rendering family life more difficult. I need not go into the many reason here. You know them as home makers perhaps even better than I. But do not forget this-the Christian church is vitally interested in maintaining in America the institution of the family. And the family is still the most necessary of all the agencies making for re- ligious and moral education. The family began because there were children to ecared for and taught. It must continue for the same req son. It is for the sake of the child that the family exists, and the phys ical begetting of the child's body is but the beginning of the education of the child's soul!
 Religious education Is absolutely essential to tho maintenance Of our best American ideals, and will fail to accomplish this desired end un- less we unite to do something about It." said Rev. MT. Greene.
 In conclusion, he said: "I know you will understand me. also, If l charge you last of all, to remember that your children are not likely to take seriously these important mat ters of Christian practice and faith study-yes. church attendance and reasonable Sabbath observance-unless you show them that you too take them seriously. God help us all to take our Ameri- can ideals and our religious duties to our children in these matters seriously. For only as we do, shall America be blessed"