This is a severe judgment, but it is a deliberate one, and if it is true it is not unfair, as it certainly is not unfriendly. My own life has been continuously identified with churches and educational institutions, and I would not have it otherwise; but I do not see how anyone who has intimate and sympathetic acquaintance with them can deny that they are suffering from a profound dualism that they know not how to heal. Of the general sincerity of their idealistic views of man there need be no doubt; that both church and school exercise a wholesome influence upon conduct in various respects is gladly conceded; it is their lack of plan and method for the organization of life, individual and collective, that is now in question. Now, this lack is about the worst possible; for it not only permits mint, anise, and cummin to get out of perspective; it not only foreshortens each institution’s picture of itself; it also encourages the positive evil of an illusory self-organization in the form of fair words and fair sentiments instead of adequate purposes. Assent to ideals, and emotional identification of oneself with America, the church of all ages, or the will of God can be a species of self-love and self-sophistication. Sunday after Sunday the churchgoer says “Yes” in his heart to the prayer of confession; “Yes” to the Godward aspirations of Scripture, hymn, and supplication; “Yes” to the admonitions of the preacher and to every reference to love for man and consecration to the Kingdom of God; and, departing from the sanctuary, he has a comfortable self-feeling because he is a “Yes” man. He is on this side, is he not? In school and college another set of sentimental assents is evoked. Sportsmanship, patriotism, good citizenship, admiration for the honesty, honor, and unselfish devotion shown by our heroes--towards all these a “Yes,” a sincere glow, and “This is what we are.” A large part of the economic power of the Western world is in the hands of men who worship the God of the prophets and of Jesus; yet we know that business and industry will proceed during the week upon principles other than those of love to God and man. The leaders of our civic life, and most of the followers, have come out of our own schools for generations, but neither our political parties, nor our officers of state, nor our accepted state policies clearly reflect the idealism of these schools. It is not hypocrisy that creates this gulf; rather, confused helplessness in the presence of mixed motives. There is even some awareness of this helplessness, but this awareness usually leads to little more than speeding up the “Yes, yes” experience.