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XVI
Latter-day Prophets and Socialized Education
The Views Of Brigham Young
If it be true that socialized education does in fact constitute the sin of enforced priestcraft, and if an education without God is a curse rather than a blessing, why have latter-day prophets not spoken out against it? It may come as a surprise to many that back during the days before public schools were common in Utah, but were being advocated in some quarters, the prophets made their stand very clear—they were opposed to the education of children with public funds. Later on, after the principle had been incorporated into the constitution and laws of the state, and the people had come to accept it, little was or has been said.
Brigham Young, who was the prophet during those early days when the issue was being most hotly debated, fought valiantly against the adoption of tax-supported schools. He was bitterly criticized for so doing as the following excerpt from his general conference address of April 6, 1877 indicates:
Many of you may have heard what certain journalists have had to say about Brigham Young being opposed to free schools. lam opposed to free education as much as i am opposed to taking property from one man and giving it to another who knows not how to take care of it.
But when you come to the fact, i will venture to say that i school ten children to every one that those do who complain so much of me. i now pay the school fee of a number of children who are either orphans or sons and daughters of poor people. But in aiding and blessing the poor i do not believe in allowing my charities to go through the hands of a set of robbers who pocket nine-tenths themselves, and give one-tenth to the poor. Therein is the difference between us: i am for the real act of doing and not saying. Would! encourage free schools by taxation? No! (SD 18:357)
It is quite probable that in the above comments, President Young was replying to criticisms of his stand which appeared in the Salt Lake Daily Tribune from time to time, one of which reads as follows:
Of course such a soul-crushing priestly despotism can only exist where the people are kept in squalid ignorance; and we may naturally look that the voice of our Infallible masters should be raised against education and free schools. ‘lam opposed to free schools, ‘said Brigham Young at a conference held a couple of years ago, ‘and to all legislation in favor of free schools.’…Apostle-delegate Cannon, under the eye of his divine master, whose mere echo he is, condemned free schools as degrading and pauperizing to the minds of the young.. . we will quote the gist of this disgraceful speech from the Ogden Junction, a perfectly orthodox Mormon sheet. The apostle said: ‘There was an idea in some quarters that the greatest boon which could be conferred upon Utah was free schools. He begged to differ with those who clamored for free schools. Their Arguments were very taking but very sophistical. If you want to pauperize a community, commence by giving them something they never earned. If the state owed to the child schooling, it also by a parity of reasoning, owed to it food and clothing at public expense. If he wanted to destroy in a child’s mind that feeling of energy, self-respect and self reliance, which all should have, he would impress upon him that the state owed him something upon which he could depend’
And Apostle Woodruff who dedicated the Mormon Temple at St. George a few weeks ago…figured up that the cost of free schools would eat up the entire property of the territory— real and personal—in twenty years, and recommended that the Saints save from their whiskey and tobacco indulgence the cost of educating their children. (Salt Lake Tribune, Jan. 23, 1877)
Enough of the above article has been quoted to enable the reader to observe the intensity of criticism against Brigham Young’s stand and also to show that his views were shared by other Church leaders, were openly declared, and widely known.
How The State Of Utah Came To Adopt Public Schools
The ENABLING ACT passed by the United States Congress under which Utah was permitted to join the Union as a state, contained as one of the conditions thereto the following:
That provision shall be made for the establishment and maintenance of a system of public schools, which shall be open to all children of said state and free from sectarian control.
In compliance with this condition, the following provisions were included in the Utah Constitution:
The Legislature shall provide for the establishment and maintenance of a un!form system of public schools, which shall be open to all children of the State, and be free from sectarian control…The common schools shall be free… (Art. X, sec. 1-2)
And so as a condition of statehood, a public school system was forced upon the people with the common schools (grades one through eight) being “free.” However, when the state legislature began to support high schools with public funds, the then Prophet of the Church, Joseph F. Smith expressed himself in General Conference thus:
i hope that i may be pardoned for giving expression to my real conviction with reference to the question of education in the State of Utah. The government of the State has provided for the common schools up to the eighth grade, and meets the general expenses of these schools.…In addition to these, we are having forced upon the people high schools throughout every part of the land i believe that we are running education mad i believe that we are taxing the people more for education than they should be taxed. This is my sentiment. And especially is it my sentiment when the fact is known that all these burdens are placed upon the lax payers of the state to teach the learning or education of this world. God is not in it. Religion is excluded from it. The Bible is excluded from it. And those who desire to have their children receive the advantages of moral and religious education are excluded from all these state organizations, and if we will have our children properly taught in principles of righteousness, morality and religion, we have to establish Church schools or institutions of education of our own, and thus the burdens of taxation are increased upon the people. We have to do it in order that our children may have the advantages of moral training in their youth. i know that i shall be criticized by professional ‘lovers of education, ‘for expressing my idea in relation to this matter. (CR 10/1915:4)
The Views of President John Taylor
That prophet who most forcefully and persistently expressed his opposition to subjecting LDS children to non-LDS teachers was the late President John Taylor. In 1877, some three years before becoming president of the Church, he ran for, and was elected Territorial Superintendent of Schools. Although the Brethren were opposed to public schools, the Territorial Legislature had voted funds for this purpose, and doubtless the Church leaders felt that someone with the Church point of view should occupy this sensitive office, therefore Apostle Taylor became a candidate. This placed him in a very difficult position as is illustrated by the following remarks made by him in General Conference of April, 1879:
And then we want to study also the principles of education, and to get the very best teachers we can to teach our children; see that they are men and women who fear God and keep his commandments. We do not want men or women to teach the children of Latter-day Saints who are not Latter-day Saints themselves. Hear it ye elders of Israel and you school trustees. (sd 20: 179)
President Taylor, as well as all Latter-day Saints who accept the counsel of their leaders, want only teachers for their children who have a testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel. But how can parents select their children’s teachers under socialized education? They cannot do so as is explained by President Joseph F. Smith in his statement quoted above, Latter-day Saints are just as entitled to have LDS teachers as Catholics and Protestants are to have teachers of their faith. But as has been stated heretofore, the parents cannot select their childrens’ teachers under a system of public education unless they are willing to support two educational systems at the same time.
President Taylor was so opposed to the Latter-day Saints subjecting their children to non-LDS teachers that he gave it as his opinion that parents who did so would not make it to the Celestial Kingdom:
lam told in the revelations to bring up my children in the fear of God. Now we are engaged…in building our temples…that we may become united and linked together by eternal covenants that shall exist in all time and throughout eternity. And then when we have done all this go and deliberately turn our children over to whom? To men who do not believe the Gospel, to men who, according to your faith are never going to the celestial kingdom of God.…And you will turn your children over to them. And you call yourselves Latter-day Saints, do you? I will suppose a case. You expect to be saved in the celestial kingdom of God Well, supposing your expectations are realized, which I sometimes doubt, and you look down, down somewhere in a terrestrial or telestial kingdom, as the case may be, and you see your children, the offspring that God had given you to train up in his fear, to honor him and keep his commandments, .
And supposing they could converse with you…what would be their feelings toward you? It would be, Father, Mother, you are to blame for this. I would have been with you if you had not tampered with the principles of life and salvation in permitting me to be decoyed away by false teachers, who taught incorrect principles. And this is the result of it. But then 1 very much question men and women’s getting into the celestial kingdom of God who have no more knowledge about principles of life and salvation than to go and tamper with the sacred offspring, the principle of life which God entrusted to your care, to thus shuffle it off to imbibe the spirit of unbelief which leads to destruction and death. I very much doubt in my mind the capability of such people getting there. (SD 20:107-8; see also ID 19:248; 20:48, 60; 22:222, 315; 24:168, 352; 26:97, 112)
President Taylor has support for his position in the following scripture:
And also trust no one to be your teacher nor your minister, except he be a man of God, walking in his ways and keeping his commandments. (Mosiah 23:14)
He also believed that Church members should have their own books for their children’s education:
And then with regard to our educational pursuits, let us do all we can in that direction. Some people talk about the means it takes; why money is not to be compared with intelligence. I wish we had our own text books, published by ourselves and read by our children. I think such things are indicated in the Doctrine and Covenants. (ID 20:169)
The scripture to which he doubtless had reference reads as follows:
And again, you [W.W. Phelps] shall be ordained to assist my servant Oliver Cowdery to do the work of printing, and of selecting and writing books for schools in this church, that little children also may receive instruction before me as is pleasing unto me. (D&C 5 5:4)
These quotations should be sufficient to indicate the attitude of the Prophets toward socialized education in the early days of the Church. Since the practice became law, and the people have overwhelmingly accepted it, for the most part the prophets have remained silent. The following scripture may explain the situation:
It is given unto many to know the mysteries of God; nevertheless they are laid under a strict command that they shall not impart only according to the portion of his word which he doth grant unto the children of men, according to the heed and diligence which they give unto him.
And they that will harden their hearts, to them is given the lesser portion of the word until they know nothing concerning his mysteries; and then they are taken captive by the devil, and led by his will down to destruction. Now this is what is meant by the chains of hell. (Alma 12:9, 11)
In this connection, we might also contemplate the following prophecy by Nephi which says that in the last days, the Gentiles would reject their prophets and the Lord would cover their seers.
But, behold, in the last days, or in the days of the Gentiles—yea, behold all the nations of the Gentiles and also the Jews, both those who shall come upon this land and those who shall be upon other lands, yea, even upon all the lands of the earth, behold, they will be drunken with iniquity and all manner of abominations— For behold, the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep.
For behold, ye have closed your eyes, and ye have rejected the prophets; and your rulers, and the seers hath he covered because of your iniquity. (2 Nephi 27:1,5)
The Unimportance Of The “Precepts Of Men” And The “Wisdom Of The World”
It is the “vainness, and the frailties, and the foolishness of men” which makes it possible for them to believe that their own meager, and ofttimes erroneous store of knowledge is of such importance that it must be forced upon everyone. It is precisely because of these weaknesses that “they hearken not unto the counsel of God,” and because they will not hearken they believe in enforced priestcraft. But no one can convince them that “their wisdom is foolishness.” On the other hand, so arrogantly certain are they of the value of what they think they know, that they want to force everyone into the same mold of socialized education to learn it.
The relative unimportance of the worldly knowledge being taught in the public schools of today can be demonstrated by observing what happened to three great men of ancient times who had no opportunity to obtain such knowledge. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob made their living tending flocks and herds in a desert country. They lived completely outside of what we call “civilization” and had none of the “advantages” we ascribe to it. Certainly, they had no formal training in secular matters and even had they been given the opportunity of such training, the great bulk of the learning which educators of today deem important would not have been available. Much of the world’s history was yet to occur; very little of the “great literature” had then been written; and nearly all the discoveries of science were still to be made. Nonetheless, the scriptures tell us they “are not angels but are gods.” (D&C 132:37) All the knowledge essential to the attainment of the supreme goal of existence was theirs. What they did have was a knowledge of the things of God. Without this, “wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth [us] not. And [we] shall perish.”
Only Those Who Lack Faith In The Omnipotence And Justice Of God Can Believe In Priestcraft
Anyone who believes in the omnipotence and justice of God and consequently has faith as did Alma of old that
the Lord doth grant unto all nations, of their own nation and tongue, to teach his word, yea, in wisdom, all that he seem fit that they should have... (Alma 29:8)
will not use compulsion to spread knowledge. A person with such faith will realize there is nothing which he or anyone else can do or fail to do which will defeat justice. He will know that all men will receive the exact amount of knowledge which the Lord in His wisdom “seeth fit that they should have,” and no one can give them any more than this or withhold from them what they deserve. A person with such an attitude will seek only to learn the Lord’s will and do it, fully realizing that if God is just, the only person’s fate one can determine is his own.
But men have an extremely difficult time developing that kind of faith. Even Alma had to restrain his desires “to set the world straight” by reminding himself that God is at the helm and everyone will receive their just dues. One of the greatest lessons in the scriptures is taught by Alma’s experience. It will be remembered that this prophet (Alma II) in his younger days was going about trying to destroy the Lord’s Church when an angel appeared to Alma and told him:
Alma,…why persecutest thou the church of God? For the Lord hath said: This is my church, and I will establish it; and nothing shall overthrow it, save it be the transgression of my people. (Mosiah 27:13)
Alma felt the almighty power of God and was fully convinced, as the angel had said, that no mortal power could overthrow the Lord’s Church save it were the wickedness of those who belonged to it.
He repented of his great sins, but in doing so he suffered as few men in mortality are permitted to suffer—he experienced “eternal torment,” or the “pains of a damned soul.” So exquisite was his torment that he wished to “become extinct both soul and body.” (Alma 36:15) No physical suffering can compare with it, but it is something unrepentant Church members must go through for the Lord has said:
Therefore I command you to repent—repent, lest I smite you by the rod of my mouth, and by my wrath, and by my anger, and your sufferings be sore—how sore you know not, how exquisite you know not, yea, how hard to bear you know not.
For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent;
But if they would not repent they must suffer even as I; (D&C 19:15-17)
Alma became one of the greatest missionaries of all time. So exceedingly anxious was he that men should avoid the sorrow and the eternal torment which he had experienced that he cried out:
O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people!
that they should repent and come unto our God, that there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth. (Alma 29:1-2)
But just as Alma had been brought to realize by his earlier experience that the Lord’s work could not be hindered by man except according to the laws of justice, now he recognizes that the Lord’s work cannot prosper except according to those same laws. And so he chastises himself for desiring to preach to all the world with a trump of God:
But behold, I am a man, and do sin in my wish; for I ought to be content with the things which the Lord hath allotted unto me.
I ought not to harrow up in my desires, the firm decree of a just God, for I know that he granteth unto men according to their desire, whether it be unto death or unto life… (Alma 29:3-4)
Then in the following verse, Alma acknowledges the great truth which is important to our discussion here—that every person obtains that exact knowledge to which he is entitled:
For behold, the Lord doth grant unto all nations, of their own nation and tongue, to teach his word, yea, in wisdom, all that he seeth fit that they should have; therefore we see that the Lord doth counsel in wisdom, according to that which is just and true. (Alma 29:8)
If a person can bring himself to believe the profound gospel truth that God is indeed just to all men; that each one works out his own salvation; and that the only soul one can save is his own, he will take a completely different attitude toward the ills of mankind than otherwise. He will seek only to know what the Lord wants him to do about ignorance, poverty, sickness, etc., and then try to do it. He will learn the Lord’s methods of handling these problems and follow them. He will recognize that compulsion is the devil’s plan and avoid using it.
If God is not omnipotent and just; if He does not govern in the affairs of men and of nations; if a person’s knowledge and his salvation which is dependent thereon are determined by the chance actions of associates who are ofttimes unwise and sinful—then are we mere pawns on the chessboard of fate being moved here and there by blind forces over which we exercise little or no control.
Although we have reached a terminal point in our discussion of the Lord’s plan to provide free agency and Satan’s plan to destroy it, let us undertake to confirm the conclusions drawn by viewing these plans in the light of scriptures dealing with the kingdom of God, the kingdom of Satan, and the Gentile apostasy of the last days.
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