[From What the Colleges are Doing, Boston, Mass., November, 1923]

The inquiry into the place of religious faith in college education is manifestly a sign of the times. It implies a proper assumption of responsibility on the part of the college for the moral sanity of the coming generation. It acknowledges also, and that quite frankly, that institutions which stand as exemplars of our civilization, institutions which are supported by public funds to serve the public weal, must conserve not alone the broad highway of the intellect which they travel, and their own free outlook, but they must take account as well of the spirit and purpose that are to dominate and guide the intellectual power which they are calling into being. Neither cynicism nor cocksureness is as popular in younger college circles as it was in some instances a generation ago, for the college community has been brought face to face with two facts which give it concern: first, that there is no element in human thought so tenacious of its ancient prestige as religious conviction; secondly, that it is vital to the security of our free institutions that their religious backgrounds shall be, so far as is possible, generously cooperative, intelligent, and progressive.

[From the Christian Intelligencer & Mission Field, New York, N. Y., April 9, 1924]

The surprising news has been received from Tokyo, Japan, that the primary schools in that capital city are now open to Christian teaching once a week. There has been a conviction growing for some time in the minds of many leaders in Japan that their educational system is weak in imparting moral fiber to their children and youth. It may be as a result of this conviction that the mayor of Tokyo recently called into consultation Reverend S. Imamura, general secretary of the National Sunday School Association of Japan, and asked him to suggest the best method for the spiritual and moral education of the young citizens of Tokyo. Mr. Imamura presented a plan by which the speakers could be sent to the different schools once a week, and he agreed to secure the speakers. This offer the mayor at once accepted, and a program for the next few months was made out. This is a wonderful door of opportunity as well as a great responsibility for the Sunday school workers in Japan. It is one of the greatest things that has happened in the history of Christianity in Japan for many years. There are untold possibilities in the movement.

[From the Star, Kansas City, Mo., May 1, 1924]

Kansas City, Kansas, has tried for a year the plan of week-day schools of religious education, and is so pleased with the result that the schools will be extended and continued. They were begun with the idea of placing within reach of every school child of the city instruction in the Bible in connection with regular public school work. They were conducted by the churches in cooperation with the schools. Week-day religious instruction has come in many cities, including Kansas City, Missouri, because of a growing conviction that the youth of America should not be allowed to go through school without particular emphasis on moral and religious truth. The reiterated citation of statistics on juvenile delinquency and crime, together with revelation of an amazing ignorance of the Bible on the part of youth, was sufficient evidence of the need. The pressing question was how best to meet the requirement. There were the obvious and long-standing objections to use of the Bible and teaching of religion in the schools. It was not believed, except in rare cases, the effective religious instruction could be made a regular part of the public school work. Hence the plan, now receiving wide indorsement, of religious classes in the churches or some other place aside from but convenient to the schools. A particular merit of this arrangement is the possibility of providing specially trained teachers for the religious courses, teachers as competent as those in the public schools. That, among other features, gives this form of religious training an advantage over the usual Sunday school. As the religious instruction is not given the child without the consent of parents, it may help to link up the home, school, and church in their concern with modern youth.

[From the Herald, Glasgow, Scotland, May 12, 1924]

The Rev. Dr. Curtis, Professor of Biblical Criticism in Edinburgh University, gave an address on "Religious Instruction and the Modern Attitude to the Bible." If there was anything in the world worth learning, he said, the Bible was. If there was anything worth calling education, knowledge of that book was. There was a time in Scotland when the book was a sealed book. The Reformation tore off the seal, replaced the Latin with our mother tongue, and the book became at once the schoolbook of our race—became literally the first book and the last read in day schools in Scotland. The Bible became the oatmeal of the spiritual life—the daily fare in Scotland—just as in Palestine the Old Testament had been. ... The Bible was very heterogeneous. It was very variable in interest and in value. It appealed in different places to different stages in life. He confessed without the slightest reserve that in considerable regions or tracts it was a veritable wilderness for the young. But education needed variety, and there was no greater or more honorable or inspiring task for the teacher who was a teacher in heart and soul, than the task of making some precious elements within that miracle-working book luminous and significant and treasured in the hearts and minds of their Scottish pupils.

[Henry Ford in the Ford News, Dearborn, Mich., Jan. 1, 1924]

A man is educated when he knows how to do what he can do, and extract from his performance a sufficient economic, intellectual, and spiritual satisfaction. A man who cannot do that is not educated, no matter what his knowledge of books may be. That man is best educated who knows the greatest number of things that are so, and who can do the greatest number of things to help and heal the world. Schools are useful only as they put men in possession of their own powers; and they cannot do this without the earnest desire of their students to be so helped. Any man can learn anything he will, but no man can teach except to those who want to learn. Education is preeminently a matter of quality not amount.

[From the Pilot, Cambuslang, Scotland, Jan. 4, 1924]

On a manifesto issued by the Youth Section of the No More War Movement we read as follows: Everywhere today youth is in revolt. The boys and girls who suffered and still suffer as a result of the World War are joining hands across the frontiers and boldly commencing to build up a new civilization. It is well for the future that youth has imagination enough to conceive of a war-free world, and faith and courage to work for its realization. Our elders plunged us into a world of war. They have no adequate plans for building a world of peace. Their half-hearted schemes will not satisfy the bold enthusiasm of youth. Governments still spend their millions on scientific research—not for the benefit of mankind, but for its destruction. Everywhere is chaos, misery, and despair. Youth calls upon mankind to have the courage to end these things and to step forward boldly towards a war-free world. Youth says war is not inevitable. Youth says war can be abolished. War can be abolished by inspiring men and women to work in the spirit of service instead of in the spirit of greed, and by educating men and women to establish an international order expressing this fellowship ideal. Statesmen who live in the world of yesterday may say that "the world offers glittering prizes to those who have stout hearts and sharp swords." We say it is time that the stout hearts of youth refuse to wield sharp swords to win glittering prizes for statesmen and financiers. We seek not glittering prizes for a privileged few, but a golden opportunity of life for all.

[Mrs. Marguerite Wilkinson, in the Living Church, Milwaukee, Wis., April 12, 1924]

Religion is drawing closer and closer to science the world over. The relationship between the two is being studid more sanely and reverently than ever before. This makes thought necessary not merely for the clergy, but for the intelligent laity everywhere. Especially is this true in colleges where young people get the best that science and pagan philosophy have to offer and meet the boldest and most brilliant of man's arguments against religion, but often fail to find anything which might sustain them in the faith of their fathers, or enable them to build a greater faith of their own.

[David Englund, in the Record, Stockton, Calif., April 17, 1924]

You must speak to youth of religion in the language and terms of everyday life. Ask them not if they have been saved, but if they have accepted Christ or have made a decision to follow him. And, above all, the church must show the young people that the religion of Christ is the most practical thing in the world—that it gives the greatest joy in life. ... They will not accept religion on "blind faith." They must be told the "why" of religion, must the thinking young people. ... There must be demonstrated to them the fact that the religion of Jesus is reasonable. Have a reason for the faith that is in you, says the Bible.

[Rev. R. S. Loring, in the Sentinel, Milwaukee, Wis., March 3, 1924]

It was a wise man who said that he would not care who made the laws of a nation if he could write its ballads. Singing is more efficient than scolding. The social army may start upon receiving some sharp and stern command, but it continues to march cheerfully forward only to the music of the band. We cannot do without regulating law, but law alone will not get us very far. We need the music of wise and friendly words to suggest that we move in brotherly fashion toward a unified social life. Where force has failed, perhaps education ... may succeed.

[William Farwell, in the Mercury Herald, San Jose, Calif., May 26, 1924]

God is mindful of His own, and if a man serves Him with his whole heart and soul, and trains his mind to think according to the laws of the divine Mind and not according to those of the carnal mind, he will realize that he has a new life, a life that needs no apology. To this end one should watch his thoughts, casting out the negative and inviting the positive, constructive, life-giving thoughts to take their place in his mind.