Excerpt from The Youth's Liberal Guide: For Their Moral Culture and Religious Enlightenment Every attentive observer of the tendency which the culture of our Age follows, must have noticed that the old religious ideas are in conflict with the new. While natural science, philosophy, and, in general, civilization in every branch of life advance, the denominations of the Church are still constantly uttering the old watchword: "Cling to the orthodox faith " In every province of human knowledge the use of reason is permitted, except in the domain of religion. In the Old World an ecclesiastical council decrees the infallibility of the Pope; in the New, the churchmen try to fetter liberty of conscience by introducing the Bible into the public schools, and building on its authority the Constitution of our country. That is not the way to advance. Let us strike at the root of the evil; let us give to youth a liberal education In this rests the hope of our country, the future of humanity. Five years ago the author published a d104 Book for the Sunday Schools of the German Free Religious Congregations in America ("Leitfaden fur den Unterricht in den Sonntagsschulen Freier Gemeindenj Milwaukee, Wis."). It was authorized by their Supreme Board, and has been since in general use in most of those schools. This work having subserved so valuable a purpose in the liberal education of the German youth, the author was encouraged to attempt the publication of an English edition. It is a liberal guide for the moral education and mental enlightenment of children. It aims at the destruction of erroneous theological views, and is adapted to the principles and development of liberal science. It contains: First - A doctrine of human duties and rights, established upon the nature of human reason, and illustrated by examples collected from standard English and American authors, both in prose and verse. Secondly - The history of the principal religions. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.