Bishop Hines Addresses Education Convention
Diocesan Press Service. November 27, 1972 [72193]
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- "Decline of political prosperity is coincident with the decay of domestic religion," said Presiding Bishop John E. Hines of the Episcopal Church recently at a national convention of Episcopal schools. Bishop Hines was quoting a treatise by John Ruskin on the demise of the city-state of Venice which he said could be applied to "any civilization, any culture, and socio-political community human history has known. "
" There is a documented, inescapable relationship between the quality of men's faith, and the vitality and durability of men's community structures. " This, said the bishop, "puts religion at the very heart of every dynamic that affects the life of men."
Speaking to 700 headmasters, chaplains, and teachers at a triennial meeting, Hines touched on the doctrine of "separation of church and state." "Nobody," he said, "could endure a political system run by bishops . . . but if we permit separation of church and state to degenerate into separation of education on the one hand, from moral, ethical, and religious values on the other, then we have constructed a monster."
" The two-fold justification for church-sponsored education is openness to truth and concern for students as persons, stemming from a basic religious faith which undergirds the institution," said Hines. He continued "Greatness in an institution is a twin, compounded both of skill and purpose, of technique and of ends. A school or college can grow great in size, great in fabric, or great because teachers draw out embryo scientists, teachers, and doctors -- patent skills . . . so that ignorance is finally vanquished. We must hold with this twin of greatness. In our jungle world, to be second best can be fatal. "
"We cannot, however," said Hines, "neglect the other twin, purpose. This twin gives the first-named both validity and power. The responsibility of a church- sponsored school is to remain committed to the truth because we are committed to Christ as truth, hospitable to new ideas because 'the spirit bloweth where it listeth,' given to self-criticism . . . and unafraid to pit the Christian hope against the whole world."
The Presiding Bishop closed with a quotation from Christ: " If any man will keep my commandments, and walk in my ways, then shall he be my disciple indeed. And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. "
" If, " Bishop Hines said, "the institutions and people of Christian persuasion plan to render a unique service to a world in peril of its life, and render it on a campus, this can only be done on the basis that such a declaration is still the truth. "