356 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



taught with authority in public institutions. There is not a single 

 doctrine of Christian theology (save, perhaps, the altruistic law of self- 

 abnegation as a rule of conduct) that is not doubted or controverted 

 either within or without the aggregated Church. To begin with, there 

 are two great irreconcilable bodies, the Catholic and the Protestant. 

 Then there are the so-called atheists, the agnostics, the freethinkers. 

 Again, there are multitudes of sects calling themselves Christian, but 

 with differences upon expressions of supposed truth which they often 

 regard as essential. Such being the case, for the sake of religious 

 truth itself it would be unwise to have authoritative instruction given. 

 In addition, there are all the reasons above cited, which militate so 

 strongly against selecting a creed authoritatively out of the many that 

 are put forward. Moreover, in communities like the American com- 

 monwealths, there are special reasons against such an adoption. It 

 can not be done without contravening the organic law. Constitutional 

 guarantees of religious freedom are in force in most of the States. 

 For instance, the Constitution of the State of New York provides that 

 "the free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, 

 without discrimination or preference, shall forever be allowed in this 

 State to all mankind." Mr. R. C. Spencer, one of the Visiting Board 

 of the Wisconsin State Normal School, in an address before the school 

 criticising the religious ceremonies he witnessed (1886), thus expresses 

 the Wisconsin law : " Under the provisions of the Constitution of the 

 State, this school can have no religious purposes. The State has no re- 

 ligious duties to perform ; therefore this institution has none. Teach- 

 ers of public schools and in public institutions have as such no relig- 

 ious duties. On the contrary, the moment the teacher in his capacity 

 as such begins to exercise any religious function whatever, to exert 

 any religious influence upon the minds of those under his instruction, 

 that moment he infringes the reserved rights of the people." Not to 

 multiply examples, under such fundamental law as this, the teaching 

 in public institutions of any religious doctrines as conclusive truth in 

 the face of dissent, is such a misapplication of the powers of govern- 

 ment as to demand the most emphatic reprobation. 



Must we, then, altogether dismiss religious instruction from public 

 schools ? Certainly no complete knowledge of the progress of human 

 civilization can be obtained without including the influences of religion 

 and religious institutions. It is really indispensable knowledge ; and, 

 if not gained in schools, must be secured elsewhere. It also involves 

 questions of the gravest practical concern. Perhaps this kind of in- 

 struction belongs to higher institutions than those the state undertakes 

 to maintain ; though in a normal school, for the education of teachers, 

 it is most directly pertinent. And generally in public schools of higher 

 grade, those high enough, for example, to teach history, it would clearly 

 be an advantage if some account of the leading religious ideas and the 

 chief religious movements in the world's history were made the sub- 



