FOOTNOTES: 

[7] For a brief statement see Brinton, Religions of Primitive Peoples, Lecture 4, Sec. 7; also Todd, The Family as an Educational Agency.

[8] See Webster, Primitive Secret Societies, chaps. i, ii.

[9] On the place of the family in different religious systems see the fine article under “Family” in Hastings, Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics.

[10] See Lecky, History of European Morals, chap. ii.

[11] Quoted by Lofthouse in Ethics and the Family, p. 8, from W. Hall, in Progress (London), April, 1907.

CHAPTER V

THE MEANING OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION IN THE FAMILY

Sec. 1.  THE FUNCTION OF THE FAMILY

With the brief statement of the history of the family and of its function in society which has already been given we are prepared to put together the two conclusions:  first, that the family has an educational function, in that it exists as a social institution for the protection, nurture, development, and training of young lives, and, secondly, that it is a religious institution, the most influential and important of all religious institutions, whenever it realizes in any adequate degree its possibilities, because it is rooted in love and loyalty.  It exists for personal and spiritual ideals and, in Christianity, it is inseparably connected with the teachings and the ideals of Jesus.  It is educational in function and religious in character, so that it is essentially an institution for religious education.  Religious education is not an occasional incident in its life; it is the very aim and dominating purpose of a high-minded family.

Sec. 2.  WHAT IS RELIGIOUS EDUCATION?

To make this the more clear we may need to clarify our minds as to certain popular conceptions of education.  Education means much more than instruction; religious education means much more than instruction in religion.  Many habitually think of an educational institution as necessarily a place where pupils sit at desks and teachers preside over classes, the teachers imparting information which is to be memorized by the pupils, so that, from this point of view, a Sunday school would be almost the only institution for the religious education of children in existence, because it is the only one exclusively devoted to imparting instruction to children in specifically religious subjects.  Such a view would limit religious education in the home to the formal teaching of the Bible and religious dogma by parents.  The memorizing of scriptural passages and of the different catechisms once constituted a regular duty in almost all well-ordered homes.  Today it is rarely attempted.  Does that mean that religious education has ceased in the home?