environment in which to work out our ideals. And that is eminently
true in this case; therefore, wisdom dictates that we try to do our
work with reference to the conditions of the actual environment in
which we are placed. If, for apparently good reasons, it be not
expedient under present conditions to introduce systematic religious
education into the public schools, it is possible for us to make
provision in some other way for religion to have its rightful place in
the general training of our children. This would require a religious
school organization, with a curriculum that interprets religion as
ethical in its aim. It would require a scientifically graded moral
scheme with its corresponding religious sanctions; also the creation
of a literature to meet these demands. It would require, at least,
three sessions a week. It should be separate from the Sunday school,
where, with present conditions, sectarianism still enters into
education, and yet it should be supplementary to it. It would call for
a specially trained teaching force; and for skilled professional
supervision. All this ought to be done; it can be done; and it must be
done. We must do it in the interests of the individual, of the family,
of the community, of the state, of the nation, and of the brotherhood
of nations. It is a thoroughly practicable scheme. The literature
exists already; colleges, schools of religion, and theological
seminaries can easily become training schools for the preparation of
religious teachers. The only difficulty in the way, which is, indeed,
a serious one, but by no means insuperable, is the time-schedule of
the children. In my own judgment, if a real effort were made by the
churches of any community, a plan could be formulated in relation to
the public schools whereby the children would become available for
such religious instruction. If the community is a religious one, it
has a right to, and must insist upon, having the children a fair share
of the time for such purposes. If the moral and spiritual values are
the supreme values of society, then it is in the interests of society
itself that these values should receive proper recognition in formal
education for citizenship. The real trouble is, that the churches are
not really in earnest concerning this important matter. It has taken
an awful social cataclysm to make us realize that nations, like
families and communities, can hang together on no other basis than the
cardinal virtues, and that something more than a mere formal
recognition of these virtues is required for world-organization. Men
and nations must be disciplined in them, and the way to do this is to
begin in childhood. If the schooling of a nation in a gospel of
national egoism and hate be largely responsible for the present war,
with the brutal indifference of the German people to moral
considerations in provoking it and to humane methods of waging it, why
is it not possible to school the nations in those things that make for
good will and world-organization? To doubt it is to doubt the might of
right.
In conclusion, my plea is, that, in our efforts at world
re-organization, so far as religion is concerned, we adequately reckon
with its ethical character. Let us take, first, an ethical view of
God--that he is a righteous being, that he deals justly with all men
and all nations, that he cannot be used by any individual or nation
for unrighteous ends, that he is the father of us all, and that he
cooperates with men in their efforts to bring in the reign of
righteousness upon earth. And, secondly, let us take a more ethical
view of man; recognizing the worth and inalienable rights of
personality; that no man may be used merely as a means, but must be
regarded as an end in himself; and thus, whatever may be the outward
form of government, it must in essence be democratic, rather than
autocratic; that the law of interaction among nations must be the same
as the law among individuals--the law of benevolence or the law of
love. Let us develop a true sense of values in religion that will
place emphasis on the voluntaristic or ethical element rather than on
either the intellectual, pietistic and symbolical or aesthetic.
Finally, let us try to realize this program by thorough, systematic
religious education in which we shall emphasize the interests of the
child rather than the interests of the adult; by giving an ethical
interpretation to the curriculum; by organizing a trained body of
teachers; and by insisting that a fair amount of the child's time and
effort shall be devoted to education in the supreme values of society.
If we act on this program, if we make this really the religious basis
of world re-organization, we will make long strides toward the dawn of
a better day, when nations shall seek war no more; and the kingdoms of
this world shall become the kingdoms of our righteous God and his
Christ, whose gospel and life teach the universal fatherhood of God
and the universal brotherhood of man.
[1] Address delivered at the Fifteenth Annual Meeting of the National
Religious Education Association, New York, March 5, 1918. Republished
with modifications by courtesy of _Religious Education_.
[2] Paulsen, "A System of Ethics," trans., p. 559.
[3] On the servility of German university professors consult David
Jayne Hill, _Harper's Magazine_, July, 1918, pp. 30-33.
[4] _Monist_, XI, p. 571.
[5] See, for example, the views of Pastors W. Lehmann ("About the
German God"); H. Francke ("War Sermons"); J. Rump ("War Devotions and
Memorial Services for the Fallen"); K. Koenig ("Six War Sermons"); also
Tolzien and others in "Patriotic Evangelical War Lectures."
[6] Pt. I, ch. II.
[7] Isaiah 2:10.
[8] Hosea 6:6.
[9] Micah 6:8.
[10] Page 231.
Transcriber's Note:
Italics are enclosed in _underscores_. Hyphenated words have been
standardized. On page 67, "stablished" changed to "established"; on
page 167, "sancity" changed to "sanctity". Illustration on title page
is variant of Yale University crest.