Need of Religious Training in Childhood

Need of Religious Training in Childhood* BY J. H. PETERSEN I believe that the need of religious training in childhood can be better appreciated after a brief discussion of what religion is,

and the influence which it may have on the life of an individual. I shall therefore consider these phases of the subject first. In the first place, it will not be denied that there are several erroneous and conflicting views entertained, even by Latter-day Saints, with respect to religion and its function in education. Many look upon religion as something visionary and consequent! \

impractical — utterly useless to any one in the common everyday affairs of life. To them a religious person is one who is more or less a fanatic; one who is visionary, sentimental, and usually hypocritical; one who can not adjust himself to the ordinary affairs of industrial and social life ; he is out of tune entirely with the strenuous activities of the present day ; neither can he appreciatehuman frailties he is one who takes for granted everything ;

which tradition or authority may affirm, but deliberately closes his eyes to the facts of reason and experience, and to the accepted conclusions of science. Again, others think of religion only as a mass of rites and ceremonies, a compliance with which brings no perceptible benefits to the individual who obeys them. Others again will say "Religion may be alright, but it is something that :

concerns only the world to come and brings but little, if any. real good to us in this life." It may be said that there are at least six accepted, or authoritative, definitions of religion. They are, as given in the Standard Dictionary: Religion is a belief binding the spiritual nature of i.

man to a supernatural Being on whom he is conscious that he is dependent: also the practice that springs out of the recognition of such relation, including the personal life and experience, the doctrine, the duties, and the rites founded on it. 2. Any system of faith and worship. 3. An essential part or a practical test of *Read at convention of Religion Classes, Benson stake, Dec. II. 1911.

S88 IMPROVEMENT ERA the spiritual life. 4. Spiritual awakening and the conformity of heart and life to religious belief. 5. A state of life bound by monastic vows. 6. Conscientious devotion in practice. Most of these statements, if broadly interpreted and specifically applied to the theory and practice of the gospel of Jesus Christ, will be acceptable to Latter-day Saints. To us, religion implies a recognition of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, the divinity of Jesus Christ and the efficacy of his sacrifice in bringing redemption to the human race, the eternity of being, and the possibility of eternal progression. Our religion teaches us that to serve our fellow men is Godlike — that we should work as well as pray; that a pure heart and a chaste life admit to the divine and that he who does not love his fellow presence ;

man cannot love God that "pure religion and undefiled before ;

God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widow in their affliction, and keep himself unspotted from the world" to "put away lying, and speak every man truth with his neighbor" ; that "the idler shall have no place among us," and that "he who fails to provide for his own is worse than an infidel" that we ;

should regard the rights and the feelings of our fellow men and :

he who would take advantage of his neighbor or refuse to pay an honest debt is not a good Latter-day Saint. Our religion teaches us loyalty to our homes and our families, loyalty to our country, to the priesthood, and to nur Maker. Inasmuch as an explanation of what religion is also indicates, to some extent, the influence which it naturally exerts on mankind, the second phase of our subject needs not to be dwelt upon so extensively. Let it be sufficient to say that the motive force in civilization, the underlying agency in human progress, has been that subtle, refining, elevating influence which religion gives. Religion is also a restraining force which helps more than anything else to keep one from wrong doing. It sharpens the edge of conscience, impels one to righteousness, gives comfort and consolation when moments of discouragement and despondency come. Many who have been unwilling to recognize the potent influence of religion in times of health, peace, and prosperity, have been compelled to admit its comforting and hope-inspiring effects in times of poverty, sickness, and death. In times of trial it nerves the hand and steadies the head ; it mellows the baser passions and refines the higher sensibilities.

NEED OF RELIGIOUS TRAINING IN CHI LI) HOOD 389 A truly religious person will have worked into his very soul the virtues of industry, sobriety, loyalty, and integrity. His word will be as good as his bond ; he will have consideration and respect for the rights and feelings of others ; his faith in God and in his fellow man will be unshakeable; he will hold himself amenable to "the law and the testimony," as well as to the so-called moral code, ever striving to keep himself in harmony with the revealed will of God, as he understands it; he will not close his eyes to the numerous evidences in nature of the handiwork of God nor deny the testimony of an overruling Providence in the affairs of men. These are a few of the things that religion can and will do for everybody. Are such results worth while? In the light of these possibilities, need we ask, "Is there any need of religious training in childhood?" especially when we grant that, "as the twig is bent the tree's inclined." But the question is not so much one of the desirability of attaining these ends as of awakening an active interest which shall lead in that direction, in spite of the counter influences surrounding the children, which lead to failure and sin. The flowery path of ease, sensuous pleasure, and worldly fame, is seemingly much more alluring to childhood and youth than is the" straight and narrow way" which leads to life eternal. I believe that children are naturally good, but the best that is in them is frequently perverted by unfavorable influences of heredity and environment. To a certain extent, children may inherit evil appetites and inclinations which require much discipline to overcome and a bad environment may undermine and ;

destroy the noblest heritage. Again, the mind of the child is very impressions of childhood are likely to last forever. plastic, so that This fact furnishes one very important reason for the religious training of children. Another reason is that the home seldom does its full duty in giving children a proper outlook upon life, and a deep-rooted faith in God, coupled with a sincere desire and effort to do right.

If parentswould constantly hold up before their children the highest ideals of truth, faith, and honor, and then try to live these ideals themselves, the problem of religious training in schools, church organizations, etc., would not be hard to solve. As President Joseph F. Smith has said "It is the home that needs :

reforming." There is too much shifting of responsibility in religious training away from the home. The failure of the home

390 IMPROVEMENT ERA to do itsduty makes the task of the Sunday school, the Religion class and other organizations a very difficult one. Cold indifference to religious teaching on the part of parents in the family circle is often sufficient to annul the work of the most faithful and devoted teacher. Then again, there is the influence of the playground, the street corner, and the prevailing sentiment of the clique or crowd to which the child may belong, which, to a great extent, spoils all the good that the home and the Church have been able to do. A bad example, a "smutty" story, a coarse joke, or a slighting remark about the Church, the priesthood, or the sacred ordinances of the gospel, may be like a dose of poison Yet the child lives in the world, to the spiritual nature of a child. and hence he cannot avoid contact with its evil as well as its good influences. Therefore the need of adequate training to direct his footsteps in the right way. The number of so-called "educated tramps" in the world today, the crowded prisons and reformatories, the number of drunkards, thieves, fakirs and moral reprobates loudly testify to the crying need of religious training in childhood. A well-balanced education requires the harmonious development of all the human faculties —the spiritual nature not the least important. A one-sided education often leads to infidelity, and infidelity destroys instead of builds up both the individual and society. Men and women of faith are required to build up the kingdom, hence the children of today need that kind of training which will fit them to be the kind of men and women of which the world has the greatest need and we believe that the best training for this ;

purpose is to be had in the Latter-day Saint home, and in the organizations of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Smithfield, Utah.