Week-Day Religious Education

Week-Day Religious Education By Franklin S. Davis ALL who are interested in the future progress of the race are continually asking these two questions: 1. Fundamentally, what is the greatest need of the world today? 2. How best may that need be provided for? Latter-day Saints have always stood upon the platform that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the final solution of the world's prob- lems, and particularly the salvation of America. "Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it, shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven, if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ, who hath been manifested by the things which we have written." (Book of Mormon, Ether 2:12.) There are Americans, of course, who may disagree with this bold declaration. They have a perfect right to disagree and to worship any God whom they may choose, or they may not believe in or serve a God at all. America is a land of freedom and all men may "follow the dictates of their own conscience, let them worship how, when, or what they may." Nevertheless, the Latter-day Saints believe, and many other Christians share that belief, that really to prosper, the people of America must look to Christ and his gospel. Let it be assumed then that the first question; namely, "What is the greatest need of the world today?" is solved. The second question is not so easily disposed of. To begin, it might be well to survey the lives of people and ascertain just what they are doing. By this survey will be found that all of their ac- tivities may be classified and grouped into five great major institu- tions or relationships: 1. The home (all family organizations). 2. The club (all social, civic and welfare agencies). 3. The shop (all industrial, commercial and business enterprises). 4. The school (all educational institutions). 5. The church (all institutions designed for worship). There seems to be no activity of mankind which cannot be carried forward in one or more of these long-established institutions. The next step is to see how, if at all, these institutions have been and are now actuated by the Christian religion, or, in other words, how many of them arc Christian in character, and to what extent. This is very hard to determine. It amounts to finding out who may be called Christians or who may not be so designated.

476 IMPROVEMENT ERA However, it is not so important to know the unrelated facts regard- ing this problem as it is to know their tendency, and, in order to know this tendency, it will be necessary to compare these five in- stitutions of "today" with those of "yesterday." Without going into detail, since this seems unnecessary for the purposes of this article, it would seem safe to say that, while perhaps the sum total of Christian experience is as great and pure as it ever was (and there is healthy indication that it is richer and has greater significance and understanding than ever before), there has been a gradual shifting and changing in the objects and purposes behind these institutions. For example, the home and the school in the early history of America in greater degree, and the club and shop in a lesser degree, were permeated by profoundly religious practices. The early laws, customs, text books, curricula, and institutional charters offer ample evidence of this fact. Today, however, very little of a religious nature is to be found in the club (unless it be specifically set apart for religious worship), the shop, and the school; and there are some who point with warning to a tendency to abandon the home and the church, or at least change their objects and purposes to provide little, if any, religious atmosphere. As a matter of fact, at the present time there is quite a marked tendency to challenge these institutions. There are some who, if they do not advocate their abolition, prophesy that it will not be long before the home and the church will be memories of the past. They point to the tendency to do outside of the home everything which once was a part of the activity of the home. Education, rec- reation and worship, which formerly occupied exalted places in the home, are fostered almost entirely by other institutions. In fact, eating and sleeping away from home is coming to be quite common. Someone has said that the modern home is a place from which to leave, rather than a place to come to. Robert Colley Angell, in the March number of the Forum, in an article entitled "Roots of College Evils," has this to say on this subject: "Nowadays, the parents, distracted by other duties and absorbed in their own pleasures, turn the larger share of the task of education over to the schools; while the children do not find the learning process adventurous enough to compete with the more colorful pursuits at hand. * * * A quiet evening in the family circle, talking, reading, or playing games is a rare exception in modern American life. Parents as well as children find their amusement elsewhere after the evening meal." Mr. Angell has treated the lack of education and recreation in the modern home. It might be added that worship, or the fostering of the religious life of the family, has also been turned over to other agencies. Family prayer, the blessing of the food, scripture read-

WEEK-DAY RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 477 ing and discussion, seem to find but little place in the modern American home. As to the church, many debates have been going on relative to the question, "Why go to church?" The fact that there is a ques- tion about it is an evidence of a tendency to challenge the church. It at least indicates that the church is not filling the modern need. Henry Sloanc Coffin, in his little book. What is There In Religion? gets his question to the front by saying: "Shortly after the Armistice, a group of young people in a town on the banks of the Hudson were discussing the state of the universe, and they were mentioning factors to be counted upon in the remaking of a shattered world. One spoke of religion, and was abruptly challenged with the question: 'What is there in religion anyhow?' " Attention is called to these matters merely for the purpose of showing that the teaching of the Christian religion, which once was accomplished through the aid of all of the five major institutions mentioned, is now carried forward almost wholly by the church. As to whether this development is fraught with good or bad results remains to be seen. However, in view of the very great im- portance attached to the home by the Latter-day Saints, the tendency to give but little attention to religion in the home is looked upon with great alarm. As to the club, the shop, and the school, the disregard for the championing of religion is due, undoubtedly, to practical conditions. These institutions are of a public or semi- public nature, and in a land where everyone may have his own church and his own religious views without interference, there seems to be very good reason to look with disfavor upon any practice with which all could not agree. In fact, there has grown up in America this understanding: 1. That sectarian instruction shall not be given in public institutions. 2. That sectarian influence shall not be permitted in public institutions. 3. That public funds shall not be used for sectarian purposes. 4. That no one shall be compelled to attend or support any worship against his will. The result of this survey of conditions leads to at least one major conclusion, and that is that the church must shoulder the burden, almost wholly, of giving the needed religious training to the people of America. Church leaders all over America are sensing this responsibility keenly, and many worth-while movements have been launched to take care of the situation. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, briefly, is doing the following: 1. For the home: Providing home evening programs, sending teachers to th< home, urging religious exercises in the home.

478 IMPROVEMENT ERA 2. For the club: Providing priesthood fraternal orders and mutual improve- ment organizations. 3. For the shop: Providing and applying gospel principles in business relation- ships. 4. For the school: Providing agencies whereby the academic educational work of its members may have a religious setting. 5. For the Church itself: Providing ordinances, sacraments and instruction which distinctly give opportunity for worship. All of the foregoing has been reviewed with the aim of pro- viding a historical background for the purpose of this article, which is to show the objects and purposes behind the establishment and maintenance of week-day religious education in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. To the student of the history of the school in America, the following fundamentals are well known: 1. As heretofore indicated, early American education was essentially religious. 2. The establishment of public schools added significance to the separation of church and state and emphasized the importance of safeguarding those schools against the influence of sectarianism. 3. The subsequent development of public schools more and more forced the religious elements out of the curriculum. The reading of the Bible has been abolished in some states, although in others it may be read without comment. Prayer is permitted in school in some states, while prohibited in others. There is no question that all of these steps tending to dismiss religious instruction from the schools have been taken in good faith to meet practical situations. There could probably have been no other way out. This was the condition which prompted the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to promote week-day religious education, and so there was set up the Religion Class organization for ele- mentary school pupils and the Seminary for high school and college students. In other words, this Church is aiming to give to its boys and girls religious education so closely affiliated with the public school program that the training they get in the religion classes and seminaries will be considered a part of their week-day educational program. If this is adequately accomplished, two far-reaching prob- lems are solved: 1. One of the five great institutions of American civilization (the school) will, in effect, again promote the Christian religion, and the thousands of Latter-day Saint boys and girls who are happy to belong to the American system of education will again be taught to "serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ." 2. At the same time, the great American system of education will be safeguarded and kept free from sectarian control. The ideal, of course, has not been reached by these two agencies

WEEK-DAY RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 479 of week-day religious education. It might be said that only a start has been made, but the future may bring some startling develop- ments. Other churches of other states are establishing similar classes. For example, in 1925-26 the school authorities of the City of White Plains, New York, adopted a plan of dismissing certain school children in elementary grades once each week to enable them to receive ieligious instruction, according to their several denominations, out- side the schools. This action was taken in response to a very general sentiment among the citizens and was endorsed by practically all the clergy. Each parent was permitted to determine whether his chil- dren were to receive such instruction or not, and, if so, the place where given. The period selected was the last thirty minutes of the school day on Wednesday- — one not devoted to recitation, but a study, helping, or reading period. Certain factions disapproved of this arrangement, and suit was brought to discontinue the practice. The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, in January of last year, sustained the practice. It held that the rule adopted by the school did not violate the local constitutional provisions forbidding the school authorities to use its property or credit or money in aid of any religious de- nomination. It held also that the practice did not violate the com- pulsory education law, which provided that the children should remain in school for the "entire time" the schools were in session. The court further said: "The Legislature has not been unmindful of the rights or interests of parents rela- tive to the guidance and control of their children. * * * When the wish of par- ents for week-day religious instruction for their children involves no serious interruptions to school attendance, the state can have no purpose to defeat it." (See People vs. Graves.) As stated, many churches in America today are establishing these week-day classes of religion, and the future may bring what is truly hoped for, that all America will "serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ." In the words of Henry Sloane Coffin, who answers the query, "What is there in religion anyhow?" the Christian religion will give to the life of an individual, "refreshment, cleansing power, illumina- tion, fertility, buoyancy, serenity and adventure, beauty, division and unity, change and permanence." Dying "Words of an Infidel Voltaire: "I am abandoned by God and man, I will give you half of what I am worth." said he to his physician, Dr. Trochin, "if you will give me six months of life." When told that his life could not be restored, he replied. "Then I shall go to hell."