"Thirty Years In Hell" Or, "From Darkness to Light"

by Bernard Fresenborg

Therefore, we demand that the "book of books" be kept where the rising generation shall come under its moral teaching without party or sectarian comment, so that all may understand the fundamental principles upon which the science of our common law rests, and thus one of the objects of the order is "to maintain the public school system of the United States and to prevent sectarian interference therewith, and upholding the reading of the Holy Bible therein."

The argument that the reading of the Bible in the public school should be abolished because it is objectionable to the conscience of some comes only from the Church of Rome, and applies with equal force against the moral code of jurisprudence, because it is objectionable to the conscience of the anarchist, and the conscience of the anarchist is just as sacred and entitled to as much respect, under the law, in this free country of ours as the conscience of any one else.

We have just as much right to take the moral code out of our common jurisprudence as to take the Bible out of our public schools, because the moral code of the Bible is the moral code of our common law.

We desire the Bible to be kept in the school as the standard of moral truth, as the dictionary is kept there as the standard of words and their definitions. As the unabridged dictionary contains all the words of the English language, so the Bible contains all the truths of Christianity. Every book has a part of the words of the dictionary, so every Christian creed has a part of the truths of the Bible. As there never was a book written that contained all of the words of the dictionary, so there never was a creed written that contained all the truths of the Bible. Therefore, as the dictionary and not the books is the standard for words and their meaning, so the Bible, and not the creeds, is the standard of moral truth. A man can take the words in the dictionary and write a bad book, but that is not the fault of the dictionary, but of the man. A person may take passages of Scripture and misapplied truths and write a bad creed, but that is not the fault of the Bible, but of the creed-maker. But every man who takes the Bible as a whole has a complete standard of moral truths.

It is claimed that the Bible should not be read in the school because there are passages that are not proper to be read before children, or a promiscuous audience, but this is only claimed by Catholicism. Yes, and there are words in the dictionary that it would be just as improper to use and define before children or a promiscuous audience as any passage in the Bible. Therefore, it would be just as reasonable to exclude the dictionary as the Bible from the school room on this hypocritical argument in favor of false modesty.

The man's conscience that will object to the reading of the Bible in the public school will ultimately object to the moral code of our jurisprudence, and such a conscience is dangerous to our form of government, inimical to the best interests of society and good government, as has been clearly demonstrated in the past. The Mormons claimed the right under our constitution to live in polygamy, as that was their religion and the way they served God according to the "dictates of their own conscience." But the supreme court decided they could not worship God according to the dictates of their conscience if their worship was a violation of the moral code common to all. Thus all must submit to the moral code irrespective of their individual conscience. So the Bible should be read in the public schools, irrespective of the conscience of any, until the majority of the government of the people, for the people and by the people shall say: "Away with your Bible, away with your Sabbath, away with your Christian jurisprudence, and give us infidel, revolutionary France, or lawless anarchy, or the inquisition of the dark ages!"

Our public school is the mill that is to grind out this standard of morality, knowledge and patriotism common to all. Hence we must have the Bible in it as the standard of morality, and primary principles of literature, science and art, the standard of knowledge, and the American flag and its essential principles as the standard of patriotism. Our American school system is like a great paper mill, into which are cast rags of all kinds and colors, but which lose their special identity and come out white paper, having a common identity. So we want the children of the state, of whatever nationality, color or religion, to pass through this great moral, intellectual and patriotic mill, or transforming process, and thus lose their foreign peculiarities and come out not as Germans, Irish, English, Huns or Poles, but as Americans, having the common identity of morality, knowledge and patriotism that is essential to true American citizenship and good government stamped upon their minds, and when they pass through this mill of purification they then begin to lose confidence in the heathenish doctrines of Catholicism.

In a government where the people are the rulers, intelligence and education are necessary to maintain the nation's stability. Under this belief, the public school system of the United States was founded.

Following are expressions of prominent Americans on the general subject of popular education:

President Hays: "I am firmly convinced that the subject of popular education deserves the earnest attention of the people of the whole country, with a view to wise and comprehensive action by the government of the United States. The means at the command of the local and state authorities are in many cases wholly inadequate to deal with the question. The magnitude of the evil to be eradicated is not, I apprehend, generally and fully understood."