Public schools with Religious intent!
What would you think of a PUBLIC school whose motto states it is “for Christ and the Church?” How about a PUBLIC school that said it’s purpose was so that “youth may be instructed in the arts and sciences ...through the blessing of God..” or “to plant and under Divine blessing …propagate the Protestant Religion..“ one that requires students to “live religious, godly and blameless lives according to the rules of God’s Word, diligently reading the Holy Scriptures, the fountain of light and truth; and constantly attend upon all the duties of religion, both in public and secret”? What would you do about it????
Well, my friends, it’s too late. All of our original universities,( Yale, Harvard, Cornell, Brown, to name a few) and indeed the children’s schools were based upon the faith in Christ! Those mission statements came from them.
You can read about America’s religious history and the beginnings of our educational system on your own, but here are several gleanings I have posted from the internet. I hope the next time you think religion has no place in our schools, that you’ll remind yourself that religion is the reason we have America, and what was the basis for the founding of this great country, and of our educational system.
The first men and women who came to the ‘new world’ that eventually became the United States came with a particular religious and spiritual vision. Much of the history of higher education in the USA is therefore rooted in Christian teaching and institutions: for instance Harvard, founded in 1636, had as its early motto “For Christ and the Church.” (Schools in the USA.com)
It may come as surprise that when Yale University was founded on this day, October 16, 1701, it was by Congregationalist ministers unhappy with the growing liberalism at Harvard. It wasn’t called Yale then, of course, but rather the Collegiate School. The ministers donated forty books and declared their objective, that “Youth may be instructed in the Arts and Sciences who through the blessing of God may be fitted for Publick employment both in Church and Civil State.”
The purpose of the renamed school was “To plant and under ye Divine blessing to propagate in this Wilderness, the blessed Reformed, Protestant Religion, in ye purity of its Order and Worship.”
Students were required to “live religious, godly and blameless lives according to the rules of God’s Word, diligently reading the Holy Scriptures, the fountain of light and truth; and constantly attend upon all the duties of religion, both in public and secret.” Prayer was a requirement. Furthermore every student was instructed to “…consider the main end of his study to wit to know God in Jesus Christ” and “to lead a Godly, sober life.”
http://chi.gospelcom.net/DAILYF/2001/10/daily-10-16-2001.shtml Glimpses of Christian History
Established by the “New Light” (evangelical) Presbyterians, Princeton was originally intended to train ministers http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/society/A0860519.html
- 1809 Harvard having been lost to Unitarianism, Andover Seminary is founded
- 1812 Princeton Seminary founded
Modest in its origins, but blessd with professors marked by personal devotion to Christ as well as academic brillance, the name of Princeton Seminary became almost synonymous with erudidte (sic) biblical exposition, carefully worked-out reformed theology, and deep spirituality. In volume 1 of this magnificent work, Dr. Calhoun traces the moving story of the years 1812-1868 Church History Timeline 1800-1899 Churchtimeline.com
The Enlightenment in America was best represented by Benjamin Franklin, who clearly believed that the human condition could be improved through science. He founded the American Philosophical Society, the first truly scientific society in the colonies, and his academy grew into the University of Pennsylvania, the only college established in the eighteenth century that had no ties to a religious denomination.
New England Colonies
It has long been understood that the prime motive for the founding of the New England colonies was religious freedom. Certainly what those early colonists wanted was the freedom to worship God as they deemed proper, but they did not extend that freedom to everyone. Those who expressed a different approach to religious worship were not welcome. Puritans especially were intolerant toward those who held views other than their own.
The Plymouth colony. A more extreme view was held by the Separatists, a small group mainly from the English town of Scrooby, who opposed any accommodation with the Anglican Church. Unlike the Puritans, who were also referred to as Non-Separatists, the Separatists advocated a complete break with the Church of England. At first, the Separatists left England for the more tolerant atmosphere of the Netherlands, but after a while, their leaders found the Dutch a little too tolerant; their children were adopting Dutch habits and culture. When the opportunity arose to settle on land granted by the Virginia Company of London, the Separatists accepted the offer. In 1620, they set sail for America on the Mayflower. As a result of their migrations, the Separatists became known as the Pilgrims, people who undertake a religious journey.
Much of the religious disaffection that found its way across the Atlantic Ocean stemmed from disagreements within the Anglican Church, as the Church of England was called. Those who sought to reform Anglican religious practices—to “purify” the church—became known as Puritans. They argued that the Church of England was following religious practices that too closely resembled Catholicism both in structure and ceremony. The Anglican clergy was organized along episcopalian lines, with a hierarchy of bishops and archbishops. Puritans called for a congregationalist structure in which each individual church would be largely self-governing.
Massachusetts Bay was a theocratic society, or a society in which the lines between church and state were blurred. Church membership, for example, was required for men to vote for elected local officials.
CliffsNotes.com. New England Colonies. 19 Oct 2008
<http://www.cliffsnotes.com/WileyCDA/CliffsReviewTopic/topicArticleId-25073,articleId-25010.html>.
The church was built by Jane Stanford as a memorial to her husband, Leland Stanford, who died in 1893.[3] The Stanfords had intended that a church become “the centerpiece of the university complex”,[4] but being “open-minded ecumenicalists”,[5] they stipulated in the university’s original charter that a church built on campus be nonsectarian if “essentially Protestant“.[6 wikipedia stanford memorial church
Harvard, the Ivy League and the forgotten Puritans
Posted: June 30, 2007
How did the eight so-called “Ivy League” schools – Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Brown, University of Pennsylvania, Cornell and Dartmouth – go from being training grounds for Christian missionaries and ministers and respected citadels of higher education to what they are now – propaganda factories for every leftist, perverted, radical, tyrannical, failed ideology known to mankind? – Marxism, Darwinism, Freudianism, Higher Criticism, communism, multiculturalism, relativism, naturalism, positivism, socialism, liberalism, egalitarianism, feminist studies, gay studies, transgender studies, transvestite studies, outcome-based education, radical environmentalism, etc.Did you know that America’s oldest and most venerated colleges and universities like Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth were founded by the Puritans? Yes, those same Puritans who along with the Pilgrims were devout Christians and the original founders of America. What do we remember about the Puritans? Now, thanks in large part to the false prophets called “professors” of the Ivy League schools, we equate the Puritans inseparably with the Salem Witch Trials of 1692-95 where between 175-200 people were imprisoned, and, tragically, 20 innocent people were given the death penalty for allegedly being a “witch” based solely on the testimony of a few hysterical, emotionally unstable adolescent girls. This incident was indeed a dark chapter of history that has nevertheless been hyped up beyond reason by the secular left to erase the memory of the Puritans from the marketplace of ideas and from American history, from which they remain banished, even until this day. worldnetdaily.com http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?pageId=42348 A History of the Relationship between Cornell College and the United Methodist Church, by Reverend Richard Thomas, emeritus Chaplain & Prof. of History From the beginning, with a small fellowship of students at Oxford University, Methodism has been allied with learning and teaching. The American church has been a “ College-Related Church” creating and supporting hundreds of colleges along the frontier. Before the American Revolution, early Methodism established Asbury College as a place for the training of young minds in search of understanding. At the same time, the church established the Methodist Publishing House to make available the sermons of John Wesley and many of his tracts for the education of the ignorant laity. Early preachers carried Wesley’s Notes on the New Testament and the Forty-four Sermons in their saddlebags as they established places for new converts to meet and to worship. Even the uneducated clergy knew that learning was important and the Holy Spirit worked through the disciplined mind. Wesley was a professor at Oxford University and early advocated the joining of “knowledge and vital piety.” His founding of a private school in Bath, Kingswood School for the children of ministers, was by clear intent to demonstrate the importance of the life of the mind and the life of the heart.In the American frontier, Methodism founded or supported hundreds of colleges that began as advanced education beyond the usual eight grades. All this in a period when advanced education was not required for entrance into the ministry! Since the Gospel was not for men only, most of these new collegiate institutions included education for women, the laity, and potential clergy. The early leaders knew the frontier needed educated leadership for the church and for spreading civilization that included science and the arts. This notion was joined by a Jeffersonian ideal that democracy rested on an educated citizen who had a stake in society — a powerful combination that created the first church-related system of higher education since the Reformation. Faith and reason were not enemies but necessary for true discipleship and good citizens. Both the church and the new nation needed widespread institutions of learning. The twin factors were both transforming and reforming of personal and corporate life and, from the perspective of the church, necessary for growth in Christ. http://cornellcollege.edu/spiritual_life/institutional%20statement/revthomas.htm
October 21st, 2008 at 10:23 pm
Just because religion founded schools doesn’t mean that they still has to be taught in school. While it was one of the driving forces behind education, it also for many centuries before during the Middle Ages it was also the reason why even basic education was reserved for royalty because the catholic church had become corrupt with power. I firmly believe that those slogans were changed and that religion was no longer taught in public schools because as time progresses, many things in society change, for better or for worse. The people decided that because religion can niether be fully provenor disproven that it should not belong in an institution based on teaching children facts that have been proven and can be proven again if needed. Of course the higher you go in education the more abstract the information becomes and many alternatives may be explored simply because we don’t know and may never know everything.
My main problem is that when people try to advocate teaching religion is schools, it is mostly associated as an alternative to science. I personaly find that in modern society the scientific knowlege is much more valuable in order to survive in a very intellectualy competative international setting, no matter how spiritualy and emotionaly fullfulling religion may be. When it goes right down to religion versus science then it really comes down to either the vast knowlege of what someone thinks how something can be explained, versus the limited knowlege of what someone knows can be explained. Alot of things in religion cannot be proven and many ideas and consepts can be abstract with multiple interpretations, and with the exception of scientific theories, all of science can be proven because the only way something can become a law in scince is that it can be proven without a shadow of a doubt.
If you want your children to learn religion there are also alternatives to public school that can get equaly as well of an education (if not better) such as private and catholic schools.
October 22nd, 2008 at 4:05 pm
mirla, one does not need to teach religion in school to allow faith to be there. Indeed, evidences of faith and activities of same occur in our Capitol building almost daily. In fact, it was home to many Sunday services during the times of the foundation of our country.
You know, that’s what makes this country different than all the rest. That’s what makes this country better than most, in many respects. Our faith in God and our dedication to Him. This country began it’s existence to do just that. One can live in any other country of their choosing, if they don’t like it.
I suppose, since you are against religion being taught in schools, and only wish to have scientific principles there, that you have contacted your congressman to protest the forced “becoming a muslim” weeks and also the teaching of evolution then? I surely hope so. I do hope you are true to your own beliefs.
(For intellectual discussions about science and God, click on the link Reasons.org.)