Essentials in Church History / A History of the Church from the Birth of Joseph Smith to the Present Time (1922), with Introductory Chapters on the Antiquity of the Gospel and the "Falling Away"

by Joseph Fielding Smith

There are 873 associations in the Church, with a total enrollment of 70,816 officers and children.

The Religion Classes

Since the first year after the Church was organized it has maintained schools in which religion has been taught. Even in their early persecutions and drivings, whenever a sufficient number of members settled in any locality long enough to justify it, some suitable person was selected to teach and a school was organized. Religion was always a prominent study in them, and the study of the Bible was common in most of the schools of the nation.

When the schools began to be maintained by the state, however, and people of all religious beliefs were obliged to pay taxes for their support, the Bible and all religious teachings were banished from the public schools because of the jealousy of the patrons over religious tenets. When this movement reached the settlements of our people in the West they yielded to it, but with deep disappointment, and to make up this loss the authorities of the Church established a system of Religion Classes to be held before or after school, and taught by volunteer teachers who serve without pay.

In these Religion Classes the more practical principles of the Gospel are taught, and in such a way as to induce to good and noble actions. The organization and methods of teaching resemble those of the day school whose work they are designed to supplement. Up to the present time these classes are held only once a week, except in a few instances, but the original purpose and ultimate aim is to have them meet daily as other day school classes. In this way the religious and moral elements, now so lacking in the work of the public schools and so much needed to guide and control intellectual efficiency, will be supplied, and a more balanced development secured.

The Religion Classes are a part of the Church School system and are under the supervision of the Church Commissioners of Education. Classes are organized in almost every ward in the Church and about 50,000 pupils are enrolled. —Horace H. Cummings, of the General Board.

The Genealogical Society of Utah

The Genealogical Society of Utah was organized at a meeting held in the office of Franklin D. Richards, Church historian, November 13, 1894. It was decided by those present to organize a society the purposes of which were “to be benevolent in collecting, compiling, establishing and maintaining a genealogical library for the use and benefit of its members and others; educational in disseminating information regarding genealogical matters; and also religious.”

The officers consist of a board of seven directors, and a president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer and librarian, who were to be selected from among the board of directors. The original members were Wilford Woodruff, George Q. Cannon, Joseph F. Smith, Lorenzo Snow, Franklin D. Richards, John Nicholson, Amos Milton Musser, James H. Anderson, James B. Walkley, Abraham H. Cannon, George Reynolds, John Jacques and Duncan M. McAllister.

A room in the historian’s office was tendered by Historian Franklin D. Richards, for the use of the society “until such time as circumstances required a change of location, the use of said room to be free of charge.”