Teaching Religion by L. A. S.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Dec 28, 1905

Teaching Religion

By L. A. S.

The underlying principle of Protestantism is expressed in the phrase, “The Bible, and the Bible only.” This is the same as saying, The Word of God, and not the word of man; and this means, God, not man, the teacher of religion.

The evil change which came over the Christian church in the early centuries, and which marked the development of the papacy, was wholly the result of substituting the word of man for the Word of God in religious teaching, putting a human teacher in the place of the divine. When the Reformation arose, this process was reversed, and the people were taken back to the Word of God as the only authority and guide in the religious life.

The teaching of religion, that is, of Christianity, requires, on the part of the learner, an attitude of faith, and on God's part, the agency of the Holy Spirit. This at once severs religion from the province of state education, since the state can neither compel the exercise of faith nor exercise any control whatever over the divine agency through which God impresses his truth upon human minds.

Christianity can not be taught as other sciences are, because it is so far superior to all other sciences that only a divine text-book and divine agencies will suffice for the purpose. The science of Christianity touches the heart and character as well as the intellect, and determines destiny as well as the character of this present life. It has to do with the rights of God as well as the welfare of man. The teaching of this highest and broadest of sciences is the most important of all teaching, and he who imparts such instruction is the greatest of teachers. Jesus Christ was the greatest teacher the world ever knew.

The text-book of Christianity is the Word of God, and this text-book must be most rigidly followed. The ‘original’ thinker and investigator in this branch of teaching is a disastrous failure. No man is authorized to teach anything on his own authority or the authority of other men. None of the truths of Christianity have been produced or evolved by men. The part of the human teacher is simply to hold forth ‘the word of life,’ which God has given to the world. The most successful preacher, from a Christian standpoint, is he who can best call attention to the Word of God and most vividly impress that Word upon the minds of his hearers.

Because of the nature of the Christian religion, true Protestants oppose attempts to teach it in the secular schools, knowing that such attempts can only result in damage to the pupils and to the cause of Christian truth. Roman Catholics, on the other hand, favor religious teaching by the state because their religion, being the product of tradition, the word of man, and human authority, and having lost the divine from its make-up, is entirely adapted to human agencies for its propagation. The state can teach the Catholic religion or any false religion—it can not teach the religion of Christ.

L. A. S.