ostracism, he finds it expedient to attend the services. He goes through with song, prayer, responsive reading, or whatever form the exercises may take, carefully concealing his lack of sympathy with them. In this way a definite species of hypocrite is developed. Our colleges, to their unspeakable shame, are full of such products. They occur among instructors as well as students, for the instructors must add to the reasons of the student the additional one that they wish to retain their positions. Consequently such instructors attend and even assist in conducting services with which they do not feel the least genuine sympathy. The fault is not that of instructors and students, for they came for educational purposes to an institution which avows that its aim is educational, and that no distinctions are made on account of religious attitude. The fault is that of the college, in bringing to bear a compulsion of such a sort that there is no resort but submission and consequent hypocrisy.
Granting, therefore, that the denominational college is a pernicious and undesirable incubus upon the American system of public instruction, it becomes advisable to define the term more exactly, and to make it more clear that in it are combined church and state inasmuch as religious education and general education are here given in combination, in an institution exempted by law from taxation. The denominational college may then be defined as follows: A general educational institution which (1) was not founded by and is not supported by the state (state in this sense including national, state and municipal governments), which (2) aims to further the cause of some one religion or of some one religious denomination, which (3) holds daily religious services during each college week, which (4) makes some limitation in regard to the church membership of its trustees, president, or teaching force.
The examples given in this article will be from protestant rather than from catholic or Jewish colleges, simply because the writer is best acquainted with the protestant colleges. The statistics given are based upon those of the United States commissioner of education, who makes his report chiefly concerning protestant and catholic colleges. The conclusions drawn, however, should be the same for all religions and religious denominations.
Beginning with a consideration of the second clause in our definition, we may see the method in which this is accomplished, from the following quotations. In the original articles of incorporation of a highly reputable college we read as follows:
The object of this institution shall be to promote the general interests of education and to qualify young men for the different professions and for the honorable discharge of the various duties of life.
In the historical statement of the catalogue of the same college we find:
