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CAN RELIGION BE TAUGHT IN OURPUBLIC SCHOOLS?Emerson O. BradshawPublished online: 28 Jul 2006.

To cite this article: Emerson O. Bradshaw (1940) CAN RELIGION BE TAUGHT IN OUR PUBLICSCHOOLS?, Religious Education: The official journal of the Religious Education Association,35:1, 32-39, DOI: 10.1080/0034408400350107

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32 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

One may be a pantheist but one must notthink that every reference to God in-volves pantheism. The kind of growthwhich we have been describing may occurin some individuals and groups even whileit is declining as rapidly or more rapidlyin other areas. Therefore this identifica-tion of God with growth by no means in-volves the idea of inevitable progress.There may be no progress at all and stillthis growth be going on all the time.There may be actual decrease o"f qualityand meaning in the world while growth ofthis sort never ceases. In fact, as we seechildren grow in the experience of qualityand meaning, we see old people decline.

How hardly is progress achieved againstdeath and decay and inertia generally!

We have tried to carry the analysis sug-gested by Hayward's paper on "God inEducation" to the point where distinc-tions emerge marking out the place ofGod in the process of education. How-ever, we must confess that after fivehours of intensive discussion one partici-pant asserted that he did not believe therewas anything in existence as this increasein sensitivity and responsiveness which wehave been describing. This shows howgreat is the difficulty of achieving mutualunderstanding and the consequent need ofdiscussion in these fields.

CAN RELIGION BE TAUGHT IN OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS?

EMERSON O. BRADSHAW*

THIS question was raised at the annualmeeting of the International Council

of Religious Education in February, 1939.It was there proposed to hold a conferencein 1940 for the purpose of discussing thetheme, "The Church and State in PublicEducation." The interest in the subjectseemed so immediate that instead of wait-ing until 1940 to hold a large meeting, twosignificant conferences were held in 1939.

The first one is known as the Ravine-wood Farm Conference, held at Pawling,New York, May 12 and 13, 1939. Therewere thirteen present. Dean Luther A.Weigle presided and Dr. F. Ernest John-son of the Federal Council of Churchestook a leading part in the discussion.

The second session was the PlentywoodFarm Conference, held at Bensenville,Illinois, near Chicago, November 4, 1939.Thirty-five were present including profes-sors, leaders from the public schools, min-isters and secretaries from interchurchorganizations. The Department of Chris-

*Secretary, Department of Christian Education,Chicago Church Federation.

tian Education of the Chicago ChurchFederation cooperated in calling this con-ference. Prof. Frank M. McKibbenserved as Chairman.

For purposes of orientation the follow-ing questions were formulated preliminaryto the holding of these conferences:

Why and when did we depart in our educa-tional institutions (public schools and colleges)from the early American conception that re-ligion should be treated as an integral part ofpublic education?

What are the religious institutional objections,if any, to religion being taught in the publicschools? Why do our churches net advocate it?

What are the present practices in publicschools with regard to religious instruction?Cite some of the best examples of what is beingdone?

Would the teaching of religion in the publicschools, free from creedal emphasis, endangerseparation of Church and State under our formof government and administration of education?How explain the popular objection to religion inpublic education?

What is the possibility of the vacation churchschool, the week-day church school and theSunday church school meeting this need?

What methods in the total program of educa-tion can be expected to restore religion to itsproper place in culture? Can the church as aninstitution do it alone?

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RELIGION IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 33

Since the Sunday school is the principal sourceof religious education of the Protestant church,will it ever answer the need?

Assuming entire freedom from legislative re-strictions, how can the teaching of history, sci-ence and literature be spiritualized?

Is there inadequacy in the subject matter ofpublic schools today without religion as part ofit? Is the exclusion of religion from publiceducation as conducted today likely to affectadversely public confidence in it? Will educationwithout religion lose the support of spirituallyminded people?

Can we devote, say eighty-five percent ormore of our time and effort to secular materialwithout religion in education and expect to haveany other than a secular society? Does it followthat society will remain largely material andsecular in interest as long as religion is de-partmentalized and segregated from the mainstream of education?

Does the omission of religion mean to youngpeople that religion "is a marginal interest, ofdoubtful importance" ?

Is it clear to the public that the state's partis to provide the educational opportunity andthat "the educational function is not vested inthe state"?

Is it true, as Prof. Paul Monroe states, that"the right of the individual to pursue his ownconception of education is preserved"? That theschool district and the people who constitute thedistrict are the ultimate judges ? That the state'sproblem is not with religion, but with sectarian-ism and indoctrination insofar as the use ofpublic funds is concerned.

Can Jews, Protestants and Catholics bebrought into sufficient agreement to develop acommon approach to public education and a pro-gram of religious instruction supported by all?

Looking forward to building up a litera-ture in this general field, it has been sug-gested that the following tentative studiesbe given consideration for publication:

Public education and religion in the UnitedStates, a study in educational policy.

Educational trends of church and state inAmerica.

Policies and practices with reference to re-ligious teaching and religious observances in thepublic schools.

Foundations of religion in childhood.Quantitative study of selected weekday schools.Present extent of weekday religious education.Religious education in state colleges and uni-

versities.

Against this background outlining acomparatively new educational develop-ment, we will undertake to review the dis-cussions and articles under the followingeight heads: from the point of view of thestudent, religion itself, the curriculum, the

teacher, the parents, the church, the state,citizenship.

I

From the point of view of the student.At six the American child enters the publicschool. All being well he emerges from iteight, twelve or sixteen years later "edu-cated." If he has been fortunate enoughto have finished high school and college hewill have spent by far the greater portionof his working time in school. The mostintelligent element of our population di-rected his education. The largest sum ofmoney spent for any public concern, saveperhaps that of crime, is made availablefor the education of this person.

He has learned to read and to write. Hehas been exposed to the best there is inliterature, history, government, scienceand art. His physical education has beengiven due attention. Physicians and recre-ational specialists have served his need. Tosome extent his education has been di-rected along the line of his future vocation.Vast quantities of textbooks and librarymaterial have been prepared for his en-lightenment. Expensive laboratories, gym-nasiums, playgrounds and other equip-ment have not been lacking.

Upon further inquiry it is found thatone of the major interests of the student,both now and in his adult life, is likely tobe religion. If it is not major, in the sensethat he is active in it and swayed by itsinfluence, he is at least aware of it as some-thing from which he shies away or inwhich he is active in trying to convertothers to the life of practical atheism.With such a major interest of such deepconcern to the home, to the church, and tothe synagogue—one that so fills the pagesof history, and is such a dominant note inliterature, art and music—is it not timeto seriously raise the question as to whyreligion in its own right is so meticulouslyexcluded from the public school experi-ence of children and young people.

II

From the point of view of religion. Re-ligion is so highly organized, capitalized,

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34 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

subsidized, professionalized, traditional-ized, and so curiously segmented andstratified that many difficulties arise intrying to reduce it to the dimensions ofthe classroom. There is the orthodox andthe unorthodox; the fundamentalist andthe liberal; the sacramentarian and theevangelistic; the Catholic and the Protes-tant ; the Christian and the Jew; the scien-tist and the religionist; the believer in Godand the unbeliever. Then there are widedifferences in opinion as to the variousforms of deification, including that of theVirgin, the Christ, the Bible, the Church,the Sacraments. There are even somereligionists who would deify man, andothers who would strip God of deity. Sucha godly Christian saint and world famoushumanitarian as the great Kagawa hassaid in our presence more than once thatif he were to have to choose between fun-damentalism and Buddhism, he wouldchoose Buddhism.

John Dewey thinks the use of the term"religious" instead of "religion" might bebetter. One man thinks he is religious ifhe paternalistically operates a business forprofit by means of which he provides aliving for a number of his fellowmen, nomatter how imperialistic the business maybe, or how unethical its administration.Another considers himself religious if hegoes to mass on Sunday regardless of hisconduct between masses; another if hegoes to church, listens to the sermon andtakes part in the offering, although he maytake part in shady deals between Sundays;another, if he pours out his soul and lav-ishly spends his money on some particularcharitable or benevolent hobby withoutmuch attention to the ethics of his activi-ties and interests in the other areas of hislife.

One may be perfunctorily religious inone or more of these ways, or zealouslyreligious concerning a point of view inreligious theory. It raises problems if heis not religious, in the best sense of theterm, in all areas of life. And so there isthe ever recurring question as to what itmeans to be religious and what the func-

tion of religion really is. In all of thediscussions of this theme, these and simi-lar questions have come up in one formor another.

I l lFrom the point of view of curriculum.

There are some who raise the question asto whether the cause of religion is reallyfurthered very much by the comparativelymeager and ofttimes weak efforts in recentyears to include it in the public schoolcurriculum; whether religion is not moresuccessfully taught indirectly than directly,implicitly than explicitly.

It has been said that in training schoolsand seminaries where the curriculum isalmost entirely of a religious nature thestudents may not be especially more reli-gious than they were previous to theirenrollment in these schools. Dean ShailerMathews in a vein of humor once saidthat if a professor of theology can keephis religion anyone ought to be able to.

It is believed by those who hold thepoint of view that, except along very broadlines, religion may fare better in the vol-unteer way in which it is now being han-dled in the churches, in the homes, on theradio, in public places, in the streets, inliterature, in music and in art; that it maysuffer when narrowed down to the con-fines of the public school text book, thelaboratory, and identified with other cur-ricular paraphernalia necessary for an in-tensive study of the subject.

Once a learner asked Jesus whether Godcould be found in places of worship out-side the Temple in Jerusalem. His im-mediate response was that "God is a spirit,and they that worship him must worshiphim in spirit and in truth." The death ofreligion for some has taken place when ithas been academically studied in the class-room, imprisoned in ceremony, formalizedby sacrament and paganized by institu-tional demands.

There is a growing feeling, however,especially among educators, that religionshould be studied in our public schoolsalong with science, art and other suchstudies. It is believed that in America

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RELIGION IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 35

where there are only three major divisionsof religion and where these three are sointimately related historically, a way canbe found to include religion in the publicschool curriculum.

There is the church in all of its expres-sions and ramifications down through his-tory; the synagogue out of which thechurch grew; Judaism out of which Chris-tianity grew; the English Bible producedby the church and the synagogue—itself amasterpiece of English literature; thevariations and differences in forms of wor-ship; how Christianity grew from an in-tensive evangelistic movement in Palestineto include almost the entire world; how ithas influenced government, art, music andliterature; how it came to divide into twomajor divisions, and how each of thesehas been sub-divided ad infinitum; and thepresent tendency toward unification.

Then there are the ethical and socialimplications; the peculiar way of livingimplied; the long list of imposing religiouscharacters whose greatness has been duelargely to the roles they have played inthe field of religion, and whose careershave been given only scant attention inthe annals of secular history. All of this,not to mention the dominating charactersof the Bible, especially Jesus Christ, who,across the centuries has been hailed asSavior by Christians, and who has beenregarded by the Jews as a prophet of thefirst magnitude. There is also the greatsubject of comparative religions thatcould be used for curriculum purposes inour public schools.

Many times in these conferences, andin the written articles, it has been saidthat the public school should conditionchildren and young people favorablytoward religion. Instead of leaving it out,thus constituting a question in their mindsand in the minds of the teachers as toits importance, "include it", they say, inorder to have the boys and girls fullyappreciate the meaning and the value ofworship and the good life which religionin any of its forms calls for.

Each student would of course be left

utterly free, however, to make his ownchoice of a church home, if he does notalready have one, or of the particularcommunion or faith with which he wouldrelate himself. It is not the school's busi-ness to change the student's political partyaffiliation or to preach one form of eco-nomic theory or form of government overagainst another. It is the business of theschool to give the student an understand-ing of all of these, including an orienta-tion in religion.

While writing this article, we pickedup a seventh grade public school textbookentitled, Success Through Health, byFowlkes and Jackson. Fowlkes is a pro-fessor of education in the University ofWisconsin. One of the Jacksons is a phy-sician, the other is a clinic librarian. Thebrief but pointed introduction was writ-ten by Dr. Charles H. Mayo of the MayoClinic.

This fascinating, well printed textbookof 333 pages, written in 1938, in the in-terest of good health habits, by outstand-ing authors in the field, is a good illustra-tion of what could be done in a text-book on religion. A rapid glance at itscontents demonstrates clearly the differ-ence between the conditioning of boys andgirls toward good health habits and whatmight be called indoctrination if it weredone by a fanatic on this subject, or bya faddist.

There has been woven into this veryinteresting book the activities of such peo-ple as Florence Nightingale, "the healthmissionary of India", Jane Addams, apioneer in social service, Admiral Byrd,the discoverer of Little America, and otherwell known world characters who hadpromoted good health along with manyother activities in the interest of the moreabundant life. These authors, however,only used the parts of the stories of thelives of these folk that have a bearingon good health. Even with such a uni-versally accepted idea as good health, theyare careful indeed not to leave the im-pression that the boys and girls were go-

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36 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

ing to be compelled to establish habits ofhealthful living.

One sentence will serve as an illustra-tion: "Considering all of this, one mightsay that if a person wants to be clean heshould at least have the following habits."Then follows a list of eight things to doin order to keep clean. One can easilydetect in this the spirit and method ofmodern educational procedure, whichprocedure will make it all the easier toinclude religious orientation in the publicschool curriculum when the time comes.

IV

From the point of view of the publicschool teacher. It is conceded that thegreat majority of them are actively re-ligious. This would naturally mean that,implicity at least, a certain amount of in-direct teaching could be considered re-ligious and moral. It has also been foundthat where legal and sectarian problemshave been solved and agreements reachedto conduct weekday church schools onschool time most of the teachers havebeen supporters of the schools. In manycases where weekday schools have beenheld in the school buildings the teachershave cooperated wholeheartedly. In NewYork City where the weekday work isdone after school hours, many teachersvolunteer their services. They also raisemost of the money among themselves toundergird the program financially.

When it comes to the preparation ofcurriculum materials in this new plan, theteachers and educators in the public schoolfield will become largely responsible forthe textbooks and other materials to beused in teaching religion much as is thecase in other studies. The teachers, how-ever, are not in a position to do the publiceducational work necessary to make it pos-sible to include religion in the publicschool curriculum. It will be their part toexecute the program after the publicand the state have decided to incorporatereligion.

Educators who direct the training ofteachers in schools of education are con-

fident that competent teachers can befound and trained in the schools of edu-cation for this specialized job of teachingreligion. From the experience of a limitednumber of colleges and universities in of-fering religious education there is everyevidence that young people well equippedintellectually, spiritually, and educationallywill gladly enter this form of teachingservice.

V

From the point of view of the parents.There is every evidence that the movementwill receive full cooperation. This con-clusion is based on the universal interestof parents in the religious and moral edu-cation of their children. Experience alsoshows that parents have cooperated fullywith the school and the church in advanc-ing the weekday church school movement.Parents do not hesitate to request thattheir children be excused for the weekdayclasses held on school time when they aremade aware that the school approves theplan. Furthermore there is widespreadfeeling on the part of parents that re-ligion is so poorly taught in many churchschools that they will undoubtedly wel-come an opportunity to have their childrentaught religion by trained and skilledpublic school teachers.

The quality of the teaching, such aswould naturally obtain if religion weretaught in the public schools, would attractparents to the plan. Enlightened parentssometimes withdraw their children fromSunday school because of the cumbersomeway religion and the Bible are taught.One particular case is that of a homewhere religion was by no means the up-permost concern of the household. Theparents wished very much to have theirchildren taught religion, especially theBible. It came about that the work wasso poorly done in the Sunday school thatthey took their children out of churchschool and the father, not an active churchman, told them Bible stories at bedtime.

There could be added to this the caseof another home of culture and educa-tion where the parents investigated Sun-

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RELIGION IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 37

day school after Sunday school to find aplace where they felt the Bible wasadequately taught, both New and OldTestament. They finally found that thiswas done to their satisfaction in a Jewishsynagogue and sent their children thereto Sunday school.

While we are citing cases, we wouldrefer to one where the children were beinginstructed in the meaning of Easter by aChristian teacher insofar as it could bedone in a mixed school without trespassingfrom the sectarian point of view. Theteacher in this particular class referred tothe new awakening in nature, and theinspiration that comes to all as wintergradually gives way to spring. When thelittle daughter of one of the homes wasvoluntarily reporting this lovely experi-ence the parents asked with due reserva-tion whether anything was said about thereligious meaning of Easter. She repliedthat the teacher said if they wished tolearn about the religious meaning ofEaster they must consult their parents,minister or priest.

All this, when we stop to give it evencasual consideration, drives home to usthe onesidedness of our curriculum andthe failure to make education all inclusive,due to the omission of one major universalhuman interest which is of such deep con-cern to parents and which in many respectsis so unsatisfactorily done by untrainedvolunteer teachers of religion in ourchurch schools.

VIFrom the point of view of the church.

It is not surprising that there is not foundany great amount of official campaigningfor the teaching of religion in the publicschools. From the statements that havebeen made in the recent conferences, itwould seem that for a quarter of a centuryalmost no pressure has been coming fromthat direction.

As for the weekday church schools,the churches have put forth a very feebleeffort indeed to have this interchurchmovement in religious education made apermanent part of the life of the church.

This failure is not altogether due to lackof interest, unwillingness to cooperate, orlack of understanding of the need. Itcomes from the failure of the ministersand lay leaders of the church to be suffi-ciently motivated to cause a shift of policyand principle with regard to interchurchwork. This same thing applies to theproblem of having the work of teachingreligion shared by the public schools.

While the motivation for this move-ment is not coming from the church offi-cially, it is coming from outstandingchurch leaders, both lay and professional.It must be said also that there is anever increasing number of churchmen whoare convinced of the need of this extra-church religious activity. It is reported,however, that in the past when the mat-ter of having religion taught in the publicschools has been suggested, it has beenquickly brushed aside by the official churchwith the comment that it involves theproblem of the separation of church andstate. This reply, it is said, is not madeas a result of rethinking the problem, butcurrently accepted as a matter that hasbeen permanently disposed of. The churchto date has hardly taken the trouble togo back into the historical background tolearn that there was never a time whenreligion was officially and legally separatedfrom the public school curriculum; thatthere are many places where religion isincluded legally; that in only one state isthere legislation shutting religion out ofthe schools.

Much less do we take time to go backin history to find that the reason for theapparent separation that has taken placeis due to sectarian interests on the part ofthe churches and the fear of one denom-ination or body of religionists that some-thing may be done in a public way to dis-credit the point of view held by another.A number of cases have been cited wherethis seems to be an outstanding reason.

Religion has, therefore, been removedfrom the schools by default as a resultof division and sectarian concern ratherthan as an outcome of any studied policy

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38 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

arrived at by either the church or thestate. The doctrine of the separation ofchurch and state has been brought tobear increasingly without any intelligentconsideration as to whether the inclusionof religion in the public schools is inreality unconstitutional or whether it doesjeopardize the principle of religious free-dom.

It is said by Catholic leaders that theydo not believe it is good policy to educatechildren and young people in a sectarianway without officially making due refer-ence to religion. They say that onlyabout half an hour each day is given toteaching religion in the parochial schools;that the major portion of the time is givento the study of subjects identical withthose taught in the public schools.

It was the secular atmosphere in whichpublic education was taking place thatcaused the parochial schools in Americato get their start. Modern Catholic schol-ars giving thought to this subject also notethe evil effects of a totally secularizedpublic school, sometimes voicing the opin-ion that they would prefer having religiontaught to Catholic children by Protestantpublic school teachers than not to have ittaught at all. Protestant church peoplewho have given this question considera-tion are saying practically the same thingwith reference to the teaching of religionby Catholic teachers.

VII

From the point of view of the State.To begin with, the public school is notnecessarily the State. In reality it is thelocal community organized to educate itschildren. It might almost be called a sortof parent-teacher association in which theparents and teachers enter into a mutualarrangement concerning the education ofthe boys and girls of the community.

In an article on this subject in Informa-tion Service, June 4, 1938, the followingstatement appears: "While the state is re-sponsible for extending educational op-portunities to all children, the educationalfunction is not vested in the state . . . The

unit of control in American public educa-tion is the school district and the peoplewho constitute the district are the ultimatejudges."

Until very recently the only funds in-volved in local public school educationwere those raised by the local communityitself. In a given township the number ofmonths of school held and the salarypaid to the teachers varied according tothe amount of money raised. Many of uscan recall adjoining townships in countrydistricts where one might have five monthsof school and another seven.

The matter of school administrationwas left almost entirely to the local schooldirectors. In a rural district these di-rectors had full authority to hire or firethe teacher, to see that there was coalin the coal house, and to look after theupkeep of the property. Not even thecounty had any authority in deciding theselocal matters. The county's job was tocollect the funds and to make the moneyavailable to the local directors through thetownship officials.

Within recent years the county and statehave been given larger powers. This,however, has been done largely for thepurpose of equalizing the funds availablefor teachers and equipment. Nothing hastaken place through legislation, it wouldseem, to change this fundamental principleof local autonomy. Whatever has hap-pened has served to enlarge the unit ofadministration and to bring about a great-er degree of cooperation both within andamong counties. These changes havetaken place gradually and have in no sensechanged the position of the schools withreference to the homes in the local com-munities where they function.

A careful study of the history of pub-lic school administration and policy wouldcertainly show that if there is any oneplace where the separation of church andstate does not apply, it is in the matter ofthe subjects the majority of the parentswould like to have taught in the schools,the school being interpreted as almost asresponsive to local community parental

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RELIGION IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 39

needs as the home itself, and not some-thing handed down from above.

In these conferences and articles it isheld that "the relation of the state to re-ligion and the relation of the state to thechurch are two very different questions.Religion is a communal experience thor-oughly intrinsic in social life . . . a phe-nomenon of all cultures . . . as primitive asthe economic and political moods . . . a con-cern of all the people of the community asa whole." (From Religious Education,May-June, 1938, F. Ernest Johnson.)Even though the American child is notborn into a state church as he is born intothe state, nevertheless he is born into re-ligion.

In the matter of "providing for educa-tion", as the constitution requires, thestate does not necessarily conduct schoolsfor the education of all the children. Par-ents may send their children to privatesecular schools or to parochial schools.They may even employ their own teachersand have the children instructed in thehome. The main function of the state inthis regard is to see that education is pro-vided. While it does not allocate fundsfor private instruction, it is required tosee that an educational opportunity is pro-vided for all. If parents should desire thelocal public school to offer courses in re-ligion as it offers courses in other fields ofculture, it is believed that this would notinvolve the policy of the separation ofchurch and state. It is becoming clear,also, that the problem of effecting thischange is largely a matter of changingprecedent rather than of changing thelaws, either constitutional or statutory.

It is suggested that the experimentshould begin in much the same way as inthe case of the weekday schools. Localcommunities should be chosen whereagreement could be reached with the leastdifficulty, and where sectarian differenceswould be least in evidence. A number ofexperiments of this kind would serve to

prove whether it is possible to answer inthe affirmative the question, "Can religionbe taught in the public schools?"

VIII

From the point of view of citizenship.Making due allowance for all of the goodwork now being done by organized re-ligion, for the important place of the home,for the significant role being played byconscientious teachers in the publicschools, the fact remains that, for themost part, the public schools are consid-ered secular institutions because their cur-riculum and classroom studies stop shortat the threshold of religion. When wetake into consideration another fact,which is often overlooked, that somefifty percent of our public school boysand girls have no direct contact withchurches or synagogues of any description,one may conclude that the battle of thedecades between secularism and sectarian-ism has been a costly one. Between thelines of church and school, religion is lostto many youngsters and spiritual illiteracygrows apace.

As the above words were being writtenthere crossed our desk an editorial signedR. W. S. from Metropolitan Church Life,New York, December 21, 1939. Thischurchman says, "In the face of a worldlike this the old argument that religionin education violates the American tradi-tion of the separation of church and stateis tragic nonsense. If we insist on ignor-ing religion in character and citizenshiptraining, there will not be any Americantradition to maintain . . . Let the springs ofthe spirit run dry and the life-givingwaters of democracy will disappear in thearid sands of tyranny . . . What the spiritof religion has created, only the spiritof religion can keep alive and cause togrow." Strong words these, but theytruly express the conviction of an everincreasing number of churchmen of allcommunions.

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