Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-08-22
Youth and Religion

The subcommittee of the
Senate investigating juvenile
delinquency under the chair
manShip of Senator Kefauver
is doing a valuable work. not
only in the way of investiga-
ton but also in the way of
preventiveS. Already there has
been a great reform in COM
les. and similar reforms in
other fields are expected.
Reports have already been
issued on comic books, motion
pictures, television, obscene
and Topographic literature,
youth employment and edu-
cation. These valuable reports
are available to the general
public. I am informed, so long
as the limited supply lasts.
The report on juvenile delin-
quency and education should
especially be in the hands Of
every parent and educator. In
1t are printed interviews or
rather brief articles by 10 lead
ing educators presenting var
led aspects of our educational
system.
The alarming trend Of these
articles is to the effect that
in the present over-crowded
and poorly stated public
schools. deprived of all moral
or spiritual authority as they
are, very little can be done in
the way of assuming RESPONSE
bility for the children's moral
development.
1T is difficult enough for
= teacher to assume the res
possibility for the formal ed
ucation Of fifteen to forty
children. 1t is quite another
thing to assume responsibility
for their Socio-moral develop
ment. 1t should be noted that
the American public has never
accepted the idea that the
school shall designate the ma
ture and source of moral au-
thority. Nor can it simply re-
fleet it. The school in urban
American society functions
premarily as a bureaucratic
agency of formal education.
The school is, and probably
must remain, relatively inef-
fective as an agency in. pre-
venting delinquency, unless
there is marked change in
social values and a recon-
structing of the school as a
primary social institution in a
community setting"
This report in its entirety is
Illuminating, but disconcert-
ing. Now, in fact, can moral
training be given in our
schools, while the public edu-
cation is as secular and as
much divorced from religion as
1t presently is?
Religion is essential for the
development Of a moral char
acter. For religion gives not
only unquestionable directives
for the character but also fur
nishes effective motivation for
its development. To try to
build a character without reli-
gion is like trying to build sun
dried bricks without straw. It
cannot be done. Even those
who. like the humanists, are
presently trying to build char
acter without religion are re-
lying upon previous directives
OF the historical religions and
upon the moral momentum
previously built up by these re-
ligions.
A child can grow into a
youth studying industriously
history. sociology and econom-
les without ever learning that
there Is a God. And he can be-
come proficient in biology,
physiology and psychology
without ever learning that he
has a soul.
II there Is a God, and II
man has a soul. these two facts
are the most important focal
points Of knowledge in the
universe. And since they are
not and cannot under present
arrangements be taught in the
schools. they must be taught
in the home.
Nor can parents pass over
to the church the spiritual and
moral development Of their
children. For the church can
not in its few Sabbath hours
sufficiently influence the devel-
opment Of character. The
church can help. But the home
is the chief place where char
acter. good or bad is formed.
And character adequate to
resist the temptations and con-
fusions Of life can hardly be
formed without religion.
The Juvenile delinquent is
morally confused" says j.
Edgar Hoover. director Of the
Federal Bureau Of Investiga-
ton. He Is confused with
temptation, and he possesses
no moral standards TO give him
guidance. urge the re-estab-