# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1947_S285
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

PARISH EDUCATION 285

No.1.) Bible reading in the public school is not prohibited by the
Federal Constitution nor by any State constitution. Released~
time instruction is permitted, and in some localities the churches
are even permitted to hold religious instruction in public school
buildings. The Government employs chaplains to serve in the
Army and Navy and in our penal institutions. As Christian citizens
we approve of a friendly interest in religion on the part of the
State. The Lutheran Church has always maintained that re-
ligion is the foundation of the State. (Gerhard, Loc. XXV,
Par.173. Central Dist., 1870, pp. 4447.) We object only when
the religious freedom of any individual or group is infringed.

The Right of the State to Educate.—We hold that parents
have prior rights to, and the primary responsibility for, the edu-
cation of the child. According to the Scriptures, parents and the
Church have received from God the command to teach and to
train young and old. Education is a unitary process, and re-
ligion is a vital factor in the process. The divorce of religion from
education in secularized schools has proved harmful to America’s
citizens. But the State has been compelled by circumstances to
enter the field of education on a large scale. In its endeavor to
safeguard the religious freedom of all, it has prohibited the teach-
ing of “sectarian religion” in its schools. We believe this prohi-
bition necessary for the preservation of religious liberty. Though
we cannot approve of the divorce of religion from education, we
recognize the duty of the State to provide schooling for the mil-
lions of individuals who, without such schools, would grow up
illiterate. As Christian citizens we consider it our duty to sup-
port the public school system and to seek its best interests by
offering counsel and legitimate criticism, by serving on school
boards, and the like.

Christianity Not to be Made the State Religion.— We stand
opposed to those who would foist the Bible upon the State, who
would make Christianity, or any denominational form of it, the
religion of America by legislation or coercion. If the State were
to force any religious belief upon its subjects, the result would
be hypocrisy and resentment, eventually perhaps, rebellion and
anarchy. We hold that the State has no instrument with which
to evaluate and plan except reason and experience.

The Problem
Education Must Be Consistent with Human Nature. — When
the State enters the field of education, it must likewise be gov-
erned by reason and experience, not by the Bible. Its aims will
not be the aims of the Bible nor of Christian education, but such
aims as are derived from reason and experience. Whereas the