How to teach religion

Book i Copyright^ 0

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT;

BY

JOHN HENRY EVANS, A. B.,

Instructor in English at the Latter-day Saints' High School, Salt Lake City, Utah, and author of "One Hundred Years of Mormonism M

AND

Head of the Department of Education at the Latter-day Saints' High School, Salt Lake City, Utah

The Deseret News, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1912

Copyright, 1912 by

JOHN HENRY EVANS and P. JOSEPH JENSEN,

Dedication

In the hope of raising the standard of instruction in our religious organizations, be it ever so little, this work is dedicated, first, to all our teachers of religion who feel that they do not know enough about teaching and who would like to learn more, and, secondly, to all parents who are anxious to give their children systematic intructions in the home, but who feel themselves lacking in a knowledge of how to do this

Preface

THIS work was written in the belief that one may teach more effectively by knowing how than by not knowing, and that the more clearly one knows the better one can do it.

It aims to state in a clear, simple, and non-technical way some of the fundamental principles of education and then to show how these may be made use of in the teaching of religion.

No doubt, in aiming at a popular statement of these principles we have lost something in technical accuracy, but we have preferred to be understood by those for whom we have written than to be commended for strictly professional virtues by those who may never read our book.

"How to Teach Religion" grew, first, out of a general demand for such a work in the Religion Classes of the Church, secondly, out of a request that such a one be written for the use of instructors in the priesthood quorums, and, thirdly, out [5]

of a feeling that a work of this sort might be welcomed by teachers in other religious organizations and also by parents in such stakes as have one evening specifically set aside for the home.

The book is equally adapted for the work of the Sunday School, the Primary Association, and the Improvement organizations as for the organizations named above. Also it may be read with equal profit, we think, by parents and teachers individually or studied by the latter collectively, as, for instance, in, ward preparation meetings or stake unions. The work as here given was, before being published, used successfully in monthly stake meetings with workers of the Religion Class in five different stakes, a few minutes at each meeting being devoted to some educational principle before the regular study of lessons was taken up.

Of course, we have borrowed extensively. Our debt, however, is greatest to Professors Dewey, James, and Thorndike.

Contents

I. The Teacher of Religion 9

II. What the Teacher Has to Do .. . 16

III. On Developing a Sense of Re-

II

"^T" THEN we wish to go on a jour- %/%/ ney we first consider our object

* * in going, where we are to go, and how much wt can afford to spend on the trip. If we have a house to build we can do so to better purpose if we know beforehand whether it is to be a barn, a residence, or a church. A professional watchmaker can mend our timepiece better than one who has not given watchmaking any attention. A physician can deal more effectively with typhoid fever than one who knows nothing of medicine. In a word, a person can always do a bit of work, physical, mental, or spiritual, a great deal better when he has first learned how to do it.

And teaching is no exception to the rule. It goes without saying that you can [16]

re.ach your aim better in the class-room if you know something about the nature of the mind, something about the principles according to which it learns, and something about what you are to teach, than you can if you have not given special attention to these subjects. And other things being the same, the more clearly you know these, the greater will be your success as a teacher.

Now, what are we attempting to do when we teach? What is the teacher's specific problem? In reply we may say that every teacher who conducts a class is endeavoring, whether he knows it or not, to do two things : first, to give ideas to his pupils and, secondly, to get the children to respond to these ideas. Let us restate these purposes in some detail so as to grasp them fully.

And first as to the giving of ideas.

We cannot easily overestimate the importance, individually and socially, of this matter of giving and receiving ideas. The [17]

boy Joseph Smith, for instance, got an idea from the New Testament that when he lacked wisdom he should pray for it. What followed? First, he meditated over the passage, then he went out into the grove near his father's house to apply it, and received as a result that splended first vision. This was the individual benefit to him. But out of that first revelation to the Prophet has, in the main, sprung what we know as "Mormonism."

As a matter of fact, the range of the idea-getting apparatus of the child is tremendously wide, and it ought to be comparatively easy to get the ideas the teacher wishes to give, providing we go about it in the right way.

First of all, there is the sense of touch. You take up a wooden ball in the hand; you feel the solid substance; the nerves carry the impulse to the brain; and the mind gets an idea of hardness and of roundness. Secondly, there is the sense of taste. If you put sugar or vinegar into the mouth there comes an idea of sweet- [18]

ness or sourness. Thirdly, when we come near a rose and the aroma reaches the nostril, we have an idea of smell. In the fourth place, we have the sense of hearing. The ball drops on the floor, for instance; air-waves are created; these reach the brain through the auditory nerve ; and the result is an idea that the ball has fallen. The range of hearing varies from thirtytwo vibrations per second to forty thousand, in the acutest ear. The fifth sense is of sight, produced by ether-waves varying from four hundred and forty trillions per second to seven hundred and ninety trillions per second.

All these senses — touch, taste, smell, hearing, and sight — are the various avenues through which ideas reach the mind. They are all, moreover, of material objects, beginning with solids, passing through liquids and air-waves, and ending in the most delicate ether-vibrations. But the important point here is the wide range of the idea-getting organism, the numerous points of contact of the mind with [19]

the outer world. Through one or more of these avenues to the mind the teacher is to give ideas to the children.

So much for the first part of the teacher's problem — the means through which he gives ideas. We now come to the second part, namely, the response, or the expression of these ideas, on the part of the class.

A word, in passing, on the importance of expression, educationally and religiously.

Professor James used to say, "No impression without correlative expression/' This, he declared, should be the maxim of every teacher. The ultimate purpose of all teaching is behavior, conduct. To quote again from James, the teacher should regard his task "as if it consisted chiefly and essentially in training the pupil to behavior; taking behavior, not in the narrow sense of his manners, but in the very widest possible sense of fit reaction on the circumstances into which he [20]

may find himself brought by the vicissitudes of life * * * Not to speak, not to move, is one of the most important of our duties, on certain practical emergencies."

That is the viewpoint of a modern philosopher. The viewpoint of religion is the same. "Be ye doers of the word," urges the sacred writer, "and not hearers only." And our Savior closed His great Sermon on the Mount with the solemn injunction that whosoever heard those sayings of His and did them would be likened to a wise man who built his house upon a rock. Similarly the Lord has declared in our own day that only he who "keepeth His commandments" can receive "a fullness of truth."

Now, expression, response, behavior, may, roughly speaking, take on one or all of the three following aspects :

In the first place, the idea given may bring about right feeling in the child. When we hear or read of some one doing a kind act we immediately have a positive [21]

pleasurable emotion, irrespective of whether or not we go and do likewise as a result.

Or, in the next place, an idea may put us in a better attitude toward life. Was it not the author of the "American Revolution" who said that when a boy he thought of God as a terrible being whose eye was constantly on little Johnny Fiske searching for imperfections? The true conception of God, of course, is that while He knows our sins He is interested in our good works as well and takes joy in our progress ; and this idea puts us instantly in a proper mental attitude with respect to the external world and our duty in it.

Or, thirdly, an idea may cause us to act, to do something. In some cases it may cause us not to act. As soon as the Prophet Joseph was in full possession of the idea of the sacred writer, he went out into the woods to put it to the proof. The action may not necessarily be immediate. And we must not be disappointed if it is [ 22 ]

not. For "no truth, however abstract, is ever perceived, that will not probably at some time influence our earthly action," in its widest sense of speech, of writing, of yeses and noes, of tendencies from things and tendencies toward things, whether in the future or in the immediate present.

In this connection it ought to be said that there is an idea-expressing apparatus as well as an idea-getting apparatus. The hands and the organs of speech, for example, are as much a part of us as the organs of touch and taste and hearing, and as such require attention in training. In the teaching of English, for instance, the instructor pays even more attention to writing and speaking — expression of ideas — than he does to the imparting of ideas on this subject. And so it should be in all training for religious and moral conduct. The organs by which we express ideas need to be trained. When the teacher has given the idea, only part of his work is done. The circuit must be com- [23]

pleted, there must be expression of the idea in feeling, in attitude, in action.

Nor is it enough that the teacher have a mere knowledge of this important fact. He must make a conscious effort to have the circuit complete — of idea and consequent action on the part of the pupil.

Ill

IF you, as a teacher in any of our religious organizations, or as a parent in the home, had the absolute assurance that you could make of your class or your children whatever you wished them, what would that be?

No doubt the answer in both cases would be the same — to make of them thorough-going Latter-day Saints. For if they are thorough-going Latter-day Saints, you know that they will try to be good citizens, to be moral and intelligent — in a word, to be good men and women in every activity of life. To be a Latter-day Saint, however, means not only that we do certain things but that we do them voluntarily, that we choose to do them.

Hence we purpose in this section to point out the necessity of giving attention [25]

to this element of choice in the education of our youth, to show how foundational it is in human character, and, so far as may be, to indicate the lines along which development should take place.

Beyond all question the principal of free agency is one of the things essential to the existence of intelligence — it is one of the fundamental things about us. We exercised our agency in our spirit-state before we came here. Adam and Eve had their right of choice before the Fall. Indeed prior to our earth-existence the Lord decreed that man here should be free to choose his own course. Every person "is independent in that sphere in which God has placed" him, to act for himself, "otherwise there is no existence. " were we not free to choose for ourselves there could be no such principle as repentance in the gospel plan.

The term "intelligence" comes from two Latin words, one of which means "between" and the other "choose." Now, [26]

whenever we are confronted by a situation involving a moral choice, we go up if we choose one way and down if we choose another. In the long run, every man must choose for himself. No one can do that for him.

It follows, therefore, that in every educational system, religious or secular, the training of the will-power should be fundamental. And the matter becomes increasingly important as life becomes more and more complex, and choice difficult. Andrew D. White, in a recent statement, quotes approvingly from Dr. Arnold to the effect that "the one thing which is more important than any other in a student is a worthy exercise of the will-power, the ability to declare and to carry out the declaration 'I will' or 'I will not/ and to found this declaration and action on good reason." And Mr. White adds, "It is for this reason that I have always exhorted my students to cultivate the worthy exercise of will-power/' [27]

Temptation assails us in the world as it assailed Christ in the wilderness.

First, an appeal may be made to our senses. "If thou art the Son of God, command that these stones become bread !" To-day more perhaps than at any time in the past is it imperative that we train our bodily powers, because the more perfectly the organs of our body act as an instrument the more efficient will be our mind. But perfection of body comes usually only as we have overcome temptation of the senses. Our bodily appetites must be controlled. The first glass must be turned down. The tobacco-habit must not be formed. And certain positive habits must be established. All this not only in the interest of our spiritual welfare but of our material welfare as well. And so our boys and girls must be trained in the exercise of the power to choose between right and wrong, so that when they meet a moral crisis, small or great, they will pass it according to their best light at the time.

• Then, again, appeal may be made to spiritual pride. "If thou art the Son of God, cast thyself down" as a challenge to the protection of the Almighty. Our boys and girls must be trained so that, when this temptation comes, they will choose as Christ did.

Finally, appeal may be made to our love of wealth and fame. "All the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them will I give thee if thou wilt bow down and worship me." Our youth on the farms and in business will come sooner or later to the point where they must choose between God and gold. They may see the situation clearly — God on the one side, gold on the other. Indeed, they may want to go on the side of God. But unless their wills have been pretty well stiffened in a thousand minor temptations they will not choose the right side. Also professional men in the Church, may be tempted to make shipwreck of their faith in order to win greater success in their vocation. Their wills must have been [29]

trained by the time they reach this point so that they can decide properly.

But how can the religious teacher and the parent aid in the development of will-power in the youth?

First, it must be clearly seen by him that the will-power cannot be developed in a day. We can not go to bed at night men of weak wills and rise in the morning men of great will-power. Power of will must grow silently through long and patient exercise. One cannot go on yielding to a thousand petty temptations through a period of years and reasonably expect, at the end of this time, to have signal power of decision in the great issues of life. The first step in the training of the will-power in our young persons is therefore for ourselves clearly to recognize this important fact and then to act on it.

In the next place, every normal young person ought to know these two things : first, that he is responsible before God for his actions, and, secondly, that being [30]

responsible, he must learn to choose for himself in every situation according to the best light he can obtain.

Without entering into any niceties as to the influence of heredity and environment in human conduct, we rest the case on the broad statement of individual responsibility. In our Church children are accountable before the Lord when they are eight years old for what they do, and after that increasingly so. And this fact they should clearly understand, and that as early as possible.

As to the other point, if children understand that they are expected to choose for themselves between alternatives of conduct, the probability is that they will put it into practice. Doubtless they will make many errors of judgment, but they should nevertheless be encouraged in cultivating their power of choice, for here alone, if anywhere, lies the key to their ultimate independence and progress. At all events if the parent or the teacher insists on deciding every question for the [31] '

child the result will be more or less inability in the child to decide rightly when there is no parent or teacher about.

Lastly, children and young persons should be given opportunity and help by both parents and teachers to decide their own problems for themselves.

A child has, say, fifty cents. Shall he be allowed to spend it, or must he save it? The average untrained child will doubtless want to spend it, where it may be the best for him in this particular case to save it. Now, the parent may decide this question for the child by putting the money in the bank. A better way would be to balance, with the child, the present necessity against a future need, and so help him to decide for himself to put the money away. Thus two points may be gained : judgment in the child will be trained and his will-power, his power of wisely deciding for ; himself, be encouraged.

Again, a boy is offered a cigarette. Will he smoke it or not? Most likely [32]

if his Sunday school teacher or his father is around, he will not smoke it. But what will he do if they are not? That is the test of his character. Then, too, if he takes it, will he take another and another and another till he has formed the habit of smoking? Here, at all events, is his opportunity to decide. It may not be possible for parent or teacher to train this boy in such a way as to make him say no ; but, surely, training him so that when he is confronted by this situation he will think about it, training him so that, thinking about the situation, he decides for himself, with a keen sense of his personal responsibility in the matter, the chances are he will say no.

Once more, every boy who accepts the priesthood promises to do certain things, namely, attend to his duties in that calling. He should therefore perform those duties faithfully and intelligently. Pressure from without may for a time induce him to do this. But the probability is that as soon as this pressure is removed [33]

he will throw off the responsibility in his calling. Hence prior to and during this period of youth, parent and teacher alike should induce in him, if possible, a sense of his personal responsibility in the matter so that he will choose to do his duty.

According to the report of the Juvenile Court office in Salt Lake City for the year 1911 — and the fact implied in these figures is borne out by juvenile statistics all over the nation, — the ages of greatest delinquency are from thirteen to eighteen. The figures are: at 13 years the court had up for offenses 117 boys and girls; at 14, 105; at 15, 151; at 16, 135; at 17, 116; whereas before that period the highest number (at 12 years) was 89,and afterwards (at 18) was 46. This period represents the age when the sense of independence and free agency is greatest. At this age, the boy "knows more" than his father. Now, if the boy and the girl have been carefully trained in choice and personal responsibility before they reach these ages, the chances are greatly lessened [34]

that they will go wrong; the chances are greatly increased that they will pass safely this dangerous period.

The whole point, then, is to make every event in the life of the boy or the girl an opportunity for the cultivation of judgment, of setting one thing over against another, and then of learning to choose for himself in the best light obtainable. A boy or a girl who has been thus trained in the exercise of judgment and of choice can be more safely trusted to shift for himself than would otherwise be possible; parent and teacher may feel confident that whatever situation confronts him where he must decide between right and wrong, he will choose the right. The law of growth in responsibility, therefore, is, place responsibility on the boy and girl, but not so much as will break them down, and let them act under it.

IV

IN the preceding section we endeavored to show that our young people should get, as early as possible, a sense of their individual responsibility and that they should receive special training in the exercise of personal choice. Here we intend to supplement that idea by another which grows out of it ; namely, that they should also be trained to think, with a view of judging justly and accurately. For if one must choose for oneself, it is clear that one must know how to choose, must get out of any given situation exactly the right thing to do. And if one is to do this in critical situations, one must have formed the habit of judging in small situations. We shall therefore discuss in this section the ways in which the class [36]

recitation may contribute to this desirable end.

In every walk of life we have occasion to exercise our judgment — occasion to consider two alternatives of conduct for the purpose of choosing between them.

As citizens and dwellers in society we have frequently to decide whether any given act of ours is that of the wolf or the brother. Our lawn needs water, say, at a certain hour, and the city ordinance forbids our using it at that particular time. We must set the condition of the grass over against the effects of violating a law. Or, again, we break out with a rash. Shall we hide it from the health officer at the risk of spreading the contagion or shall we sacrifice our own convenience and freedom for the public good?

As religious beings also we have to judge between alternatives of conduct. Teachings are given us that we must accept or reject. It is sometimes necessary [37]

to think in order to decide. We are block teachers, or we are bishops, or high councilors, or we have been set apart to do a given work. In every one of these capacities we are required to exercise judgment — to decide what to teach, to decide how to judge this case before us, to tell what to do in any given situation.

Judging, like every other power of the mind, must be trained. We cannot go on taking snap judgments for many years and then reasonably expect to judge rightly in a complex case, merely because we may want to judge rightly.

Now, in every act of judging there are several elements, which instructors who wish to cultivate this attribute in their pupils should keep in mind. These elements are brought out in a revelation to the Prophet Joseph Smith concerning the procedure of the high council in cases before them.

In the first place, the council is to hear the witnesses — to gather all of the facts [38]

in the case. Then the speakers who have been appointed on both sides are to speak. They analyze the evidence; they segregate that which is evidence from that which is not, with a view to getting at the facts that bear on the case. Thirdly, these men apply the evidence thus sifted to the particular case for the purpose of ascertaining whether a law of the Church has or has not been broken. The decision is next rendered by the president, who calls upon every councilor present to express his judgment by voting with or against him. Finally, under certain conditions all are urged to seek divine light on the situation through prayer. Everything done throughout the trial is to be done in equity and justice.

While this illustration of the elements in the act of judging is taken from what the high council should do in the trial of a case before it, still this is what every one should do when he is called upon to judge in any given situation.

He should have all the facts before him [39]

as he judges, else he should withhold judgment, he should analyze these facts with a view to separating the true from the false; he should endeavor to ascertain the direction in which the facts point; and if he "lacks wisdom" he should "ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not." Then he is in a position to decide what to do or what not to do. what to believe or what not to believe.

Of course, not every case requires this great care in judging. When you meet your friend on the street, you decide instantly that it is So-and-so. It is not hard to tell whether you ought to go to town or not. These and thousands of other judgments you are called upon to make every week, are more or less easy. But there are others that are not easy except to those who habitually take snap judgments, who jump at conclusions. Shall a young man go to college or not? Is this particular person whom we thought our friend, a rascal after all or not? Is there really a clash between religion [40]

and science, and if not how can we remove the seeming difference? Shall we get married in the temple or by a justice of the peace? Here are types of situations that confront many. They are not to be disposed of in the same way in which you would decide the question as to whether or not we ought to go to town. They are critical situations — turning points in our lives.

The point here, however, is that judgment can be trained and should be trained, and that the teacher in our various organizations may help in this training. But how?

To begin with, the instructor who undertakes this, need not make young pupils conscious that he is doing it, but it should be a conscious matter with him. nor does the work need to be openly done, so to speak. The teacher does not say to his class, Now, to-day we are to train our judgment. Rather should he say, not to the class but to himself, How can I make [41]

every recitation yield training to my pupils in judging, in thinking that will produce sound judgment?

Having decided to use every lesson in this way, the instructor will next proceed to keep in mind two things : First, he will not wander himself in the recitation nor allow the class to wander, but, secondly, he will hold everyone down to the subject of the lesson. Let us see how these suggestions work out.

In almost every class there are tendencies, on the part of the teacher and on the part of the pupils, to bring to bear on the lesson ideas that do not belong in it. And this comes about in accordance with a natural process. The mind naturally associates one thing with another. One thing happens with another, and whenever the one comes to mind the other comes to mind also. Or two things look alike, and the one brings w T ith it the other. You go to your matchbox, say, and finding only one match there, you wonder what you would do if you were out all [42]

alone with only one match and it went out. This calls up a story you were told once of a boy who went to look for horses in a snow storm, who got lost, and whose only match failed to kindle the damp wood. And so on, and so on.