FUNCTIONS OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 275 



to be neutral toward the religious factor in civilization is, in fact, an 

 equivalent of what we call philistinism in respect to the other elements 

 of culture. 



What constitutes our environment is to be considered, too, not 

 merely from the historical viewpoint, but also from the philosophical 

 outlook, which surveys the question of what is real and what merely 

 appearance. What kind of reality is this which we call the environ- 

 ing world? The immediate form in which it presents itself is that 

 of a succession of sense-objects, but neither the intellect nor the 

 heart of man rests in this first aspect. In philosophy the intellect 

 and in religion the heart go forward to discover a supposed something 

 " far more deeply interfused," that is, the abiding reality of things. 

 The search may lead to any one of several conceivable kinds of reality ; 

 the question itself may conceivably be unanswerable ; but the prob- 

 lem that it undertakes to solve and the impulse out of which it 

 springs, are inevitable. Until we have at least faced the question of 

 ultimate realities, with its corollary of the ultimate destiny of man, 

 our conscious life hangs in suspense, unable to take possession of 

 itself or its environment. 



Education, considered as adjustment to environment, accordingly, 

 cannot have in view adjustment to the merely immediate aspect of 

 our world, but rather to the reality of it as far as we can discover or 

 divine what that reality is. Does or does not a divine presence en- 

 viron every growing child? Is there, or is there not, a benevolent 

 purpose in nature and history? Are our duties divine commands, 

 or are they not? Is there, or is there not, a divine government of 

 individuals and of nations that exalts righteousness and brings to 

 naught all the counsels of the wicked? To attempt to adjust a hu- 

 man life to its environment, or a nation to its environment, without 

 facing these questions, is to lack seriousness in the work of educa- 

 tion. Adjustment worthy of the name of education must be su- 

 premely adjustment to the real world as we believe it to be. 



No school system, in fact, does or can maintain complete neutrality 

 with regard to these deepest aspects of life. Even though specific 

 instruction regarding religion be avoided, some belief or disbelief, 

 some hope or hopelessness on this point creeps into the school in the 

 personality of the teacher. Drive nature out at the door, says an 

 old proverb, and she comes flying back through the window. There 

 is religion or irreligion in the schools, there is adjustment to some 

 view of the real world, wherever a man or a woman supervises a 

 child's development. 



We ought to insist that this inevitable part of school influence be 

 made intentional, deliberate, and amenable to our cherished faiths. 

 The non-committal habit regarding religion which the exigencies of 

 the time have begotten in us has served its purpose and it should now 



