onception of the province of civil government, and the
mission of the public school. Had God delegated to civil
government the teaching of religion, a failure to do it by means of
the public school might merit the above criticism. The State, in
providing for the teaching of reading, writing, and mathematics,
without leaching religion, is simply attending to its legitimate
business, which the Church does when it attends to the teaching of
religion. The term "godless" cannot be applied
5
with any more consistency to the common school because the Bible
is not read and religion is not taught in it, than it can be to schools
of phonography, telegraphy, or art, because the Bible is not taught
in them, or than the term traitor can be applied to the Church,
because it does not teach the princip
