National Religion in Public Schools
The Christian Statesman, official organ of the National Reform Association, in its issue of July proposes that the second Sunday of September be made a day of prayer for public schools, and the plan is meeting with considerable response. This in itself seems innocent enough, but the Christian Statesman has as one of its avowed aims “to promote needed reforms in the action of the government touching . . . the religious element in [public school] education.” A number of sermon outlines for use on the second Sunday of September appear in the same issue. These, as well as the article “National Christianity in the Public Schools,” are intended to promote the idea that the “national religion” should be taught in the public schools. The very idea of a “national religion” is repugnant to the American who believes in the American principle of separation of church and state. It is true that certain remnants of the union of church and state, which was the condition in most of the colonies before the American Revolution, still persist in many of the State constitutions. This, however, is no proof that our nation should adopt a national religion, even if that be of a so-called unsectarian kind.