480                 A. M. E. REVIEW.

  Dr. Pritchett declares:  "There is no reason why Chris-
tian education should not be as characteristic of a State col-
lege as of any other, if by Christian education one means
instruction in the underlying fundamental truths of re-
ligion. The State draws a line, and rightly, at religious in-
struction, which means denominational instruction."
  It is evident here that Dr. Pritchett is not making a care-
ful discrimination in his use of the words "Christian," and
"religious,"  and  "denominational."    The  fundamental
truths of the Christian religion are that Christ is the Divine
Son who came to earth to reveal to men the love of the
Father, that he is the Divine Saviour of men, that he is our
Pattern, that he founded his Church to call men to live the
Christ life, and so manifest the glories of the Father, and
that he proclaimed himself to be the Resurrection and the
Life, so that he that believeth in him hath everlasting life.
Are these the fundamental truths of religion in which Dr.
Pritchett says instruction should be given in the State Uni-
versity? We do not think so. On the contrary, would he
not call instruction in these fundamentals "denominational
instruction," and declare that the State rightly draws the
line there?  When he declares that the State draws the
line rightly at "denominational instruction," does he not
really mean at "Christian" instruction as opposed to Unita-
rianism, Judaism, deism, and the like? Christianity and re-
ligion are not identical terms. Religion may be taught, and
none of the fundamental elements of Christianity be in-
cluded.  But such teaching cannot be called Christian teach-
ing. The instruction to which Dr. Pritchett refers as proper
in a State college would not be regarded as insufficient by the
Church because it is not religious, but because it is not pos-
itively Christian, because it is indeed a blending of some-
thing to which neither the Protestant, the Catholic, the Jew,
the Mohammedan, nor the unbeliever can definitely object-
except on the ground that it is so fragmentary and incom-
plete as to be of no value to any one.




			

OHS/National Afro-American Museum & Cultural Center Serial Collection

African Methodist Episcopal Church Review, Vol. 28, Num. 1

Volume:  28
Issue Number:  01
Date:  07/1911