Jón Bjarnason Academy - 01.05.1935, Blaðsíða 15

are full of advice and suggestions. Every Christian must see
the vital necessity of Christian education and be interested in
and support this great and vital work!
Throughout the ages the church has handed down the
torch of learning! The early settlers of the United States had,
when they came, a high regard for the Christian religion and
“hard by the church” they built their schools. Eight of the
first nine American universities were established by the church.
Our Christian schools have a recognized place in modern
life. Several years ago President Hadley of Yale said: “I do
not believe you are going to make the right kind of citizen by
a Godless education and then adding religion afterwards. The
idea is wrong! Education and religion must go hand in hand!”
Dean Hawkes of Columbia University said: “It is the duty of
the colleges to develop the whole man, social, intellectual,
esthetic and religious. An education which does not accomplish
this, fails, in so far as it falls short of the ideal.”
There is a recognized place for the privately endowed and
state universities. They advance the frontier of knowledge and
conduct an “eternal search for scientific truth.” We however
deplore the advanced knowledge, and science, falsely so called,
which is tearing down the bulwarks of our civilization, and
endeavoring to undermine the foundations of our religion. In
view of this, we cannot over estimate the value and function
of higher schools, for the Christian education of modern youth.
The Christian college of today educates men for business, the
professions—men who love the high ideals of Jesus. It exalts
learning and enthrones Jesus Christ. It believes that the words
of Jesus and Paul are worthy of study as well as those of
Socrates and Aristotle. It believes in Godliness as well as
knowledge, in morality as well as learning, in character as well
as culture. Education, without a recognition of God and the
Gospel of Christ, is frequently more a liability than an asset
to the individual and the nation.
George Washington sounded a great principle when he
said: “Let us with caution indulge the supposition, that mor-
ality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be
conceded to the influence of refined education, on minds of
peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to ex-
pect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious
principles.”
Christian education is the solution of many of the prob-
lems which perplex humanity today. Educators, journalists,
criminologists, jurists, politicians might study with profit the
results of a thorough Christian education, and compare its
merits with a purely secular education. The latter is impotent
in spiritual and moral spheres. Education is no guarantee
against crime and immorality. There are some thirty doctors
now serving time in Leavenworth penitentiary, and of the 66
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