A Central Flaw
By Dr. Robert E. Speer
The war has revealed to us the magnitude and gravity of our
whole problem of education. A democracy is not safe with such a mass of
illiteracy as the war has uncovered. But the problem is not solved simply by
decreasing the percentage of illiterates to the total population. We need not
simply education, but Christian education—training that issues in religious
conviction and Christian personality.
Among all the things that the chaplains and others who have
been in touch with the religious side of the Army have revealed to us, few are more
appalling than the lack of comprehension of the meaning of Christianity and of
the elements of religious faith, which were found to be characteristic of great
masses of our men, side by side with a widely prevalent and child-like
religious instinct.
Such ignorance is a central flaw in a self-controlled and
self-governed nation. Our strength lies in the intelligent religious
convictions of our people.
In the more comprehensive sense of the term the whole
problem of the church is now more clearly seen to be one of education. We have
to bring every available resource to bear to make the pulpit, the Sunday
school, the day school, the university, the theological seminary, all our
educational factors, efficient in carrying out the great task of the church of
training men and women in Christian character.
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