RELIGION IN THE BOY SCOUT AND GIRL GUIDE MOVEMENTS
―― ボーイスカウト・ガールガイド運動における宗教 ―― An address by the Chief Scout to the Joint Conference of Commissioners of both Movements at High Leigh, July 2nd, 1926
次の文章は、B-Pが1926年7月2日に、英国ボーイスカウトガールガイドコミッショナー合同会議で講演した「RELIGION IN THE BOY SCOUT AND GIRL GUIDE MOVEMENTS」の講演録です。この講演の内容は、渡辺昭氏が述べられたとおり※、B-Pの考えを最も明確に示していると感じます。スカウトライブラリー所蔵の資料を基に私がテキスト化して邦訳し、ここに載せました。〈下線は元資料に引いてあったものです〉
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RELIGION IN THE BOY SCOUT AND GIRL GUIDE MOVEMENTS
An address by the Chief Scout to the Joint Conference of Commissioners of both Movements at High Leigh,
July 2nd, 1926
I have been asked to describe more fully than has been shown in "Scouting for Boys" what was in my mind as regards religion when I instituted Scouting and Guiding. I was asked "Where does Religion come in ?"
Well, my reply is "It does not come in at all. It is already there. It is fundamental factor underlying Scouting and Guiding".
It is, all important that this should be fully understood by Commissioners so that they can explain it to our Scouters and Guiders as well as to outsiders who may want to know about it.
It is a question on which real broad-mindedness in one's own and fullest; consideration for the feelings of others have to be exercised, because it is, and rightly, the subject of all others upon which people feel most deeply. I cannot hope that all will agree with me in every respect, but at any rate ours is an attempt to break down those jealous barriers between creeds which have come down to us from medieval times.
I think if the war did no great good to anyone at least it taught us that patriotism for one's country is not only narrow but harmful if it does not see beyond its own horizon and recognise and appreciate good in other nations, and that mutual respect and good-will rather than jealous criticism between peoples is the only way to ensure peace and prosperity in the world.
As in nationalism so it is in religion. Support of one's own form of belief is a right and proper thing, but it becomes narrow sectarianism when it does not recognise and appreciate the good points in other denominations; if it fails to look with broadened and sympathetic view on the efforts of others to serve God it fails to help in bringing about God's Kingdom upon earth.
The aim of our Movement is generally understood to be that of making Happy, Healthy, Helpful citizens, i.e. good citizens. This implies, if you analyse it that they are possessed of and practise religion. But in this material age, with distractions and pleasures more than ever accessible, the training of the spirit is becoming correspondingly difficult, and is too largely neglected. Our aim in the Movement is to give such help as we can in bringing about God's Kingdom on earth, by inculcating among Youth the spirit and the daily practice in their lives of unselfish goodwill and co-operation.
These virtues were laid down for such of us as are Christians by Christ, more particularly in His Sermon on the Mount; and they are equally applicable to all worshippers of God, whatever form of religion they may adopt. Therefore, in our Movement we do not give preference to any one form over another where all are working for the best in accordance with their respective beliefs.
By the term "God's Kingdom" I mean the prevailing of love in the world in the place of dominance of selfish interest and rivalry such as at present exists.
Religion has so far failed to overcome the Devil of self.
Self is the first aim of nine-tenths of individuals, just as it is of every so-called "Patriotic Nation". The promotion of self means ultimately War; it is the rule of the devil in the world. It's antithesis, unselfish love and service, would express God's rule in the world. Religion is the carrying out of God's rule. Religion has so far failed to overcome selfishness. One result has been the industrial and social troubles which are harassing every civilised country. Another has been the Great War between the leading so-called Christian nations of the World.
Another result is that reconstruction after the war has not come up to expectation. All this is largely because in striving after economic and material results the spiritual side has been neglected.
Thus it is not any one particular church that is at fault but all of them to some degree.
Mr. J. F. Newton. Writing recently in the Atlantic Monthly, reminds us that Jesus said The sheep and the goats are not the believers and the unbelievers but the unselfish and the selfish.
In the Church of England people are deploring the falling off in Church arid Sunday School attendance and rather assume there from a falling off in religion.
But it seems very probable that there is as much religious feeling as ever, if not more, lying close below the surface in the nation, though it may not express itself in Church-going. This is said to be largely due to doubt rather than to indifference. Carlyle said "The religion of a man is not the creed he professes. His religion is his lifer what he acts upon and knows of life and his duty in it. A bad man who believes in a creed is no more religious than the good man who does not".
And Mr. J. F. Newton Says - "The best men are not those most sure of their salvation but those who do not indulge in morbid reflections on their own spiritual state but put their power into a life of love guided by truth. Many a man who has only a hazy idea of what it means to love God is doing so all the time by helping his fellows along the road. Religion is not a thing apart from life, but life itself at its best."
Falling Church-going returns are not proof of falling religion. At the same time the late Bishop of Winchester's report on the religion of young soldiers during the great War showed what a vast number of our average young men are without religion of any kind, and exposes a great want of training in the principles as well as the details of Christianity; while the War, the industrial troubles, the social upheavals, all speak to a want of practice of Christian spirit among men of all classes and all countries.
Personal experience behind the scenes in France during the Great War where I was in close touch with our young soldiers more than confirms the conclusions arrived at by the Bishop of Winchester, since very many of my young friends opened their hearts to me to an extent to which they confessed they would not go with their parson. Some of them had vague recollections of what had been taught them in Sunday School classes but they could not connect these children's stories with the conduct of their life and still less as helpful to them in their present predicament of having to face death at any moment. It was pathetic. (For further details of this experience see appendix giving an account of it which was published during the war, in the Weekly Despatch.)
The Archbishop of York said "Religion attracts but the church repels" and experience tells us that there is very considerable truth in this. Some account for it by saying that the Church is not up to date enough being held back by the tenets of divines of three hundred years ago, which tenets have been made almost as authoratative as the Gospel itself; and that this does not appeal to men today.
In one instance of "doubt" in the minds of men who wish to be religious I note a correspondent who said that he realised that Moses in his code of "Don'ts" warned us that God was a "jealous God who would visit the sins of the father on the children for any disobedience of the law"; a gospel of fear. But he realised on the other hand that Christ urged us to do good in the spirit of willing service and sacrifice, and that we would find our reward in Heaven; a gospel of hope. Yet opposite as these methods are the Mosaic Law is enjoined in the Prayer Book of the Church. Which was he to follow ?
On the other hand others speak to the danger of a Church being too up to date where it clothes the fundamentals of religion with theological trappings to such an extent that the fundamentals get lost sight of. (Another correspondent asked whether he should adopt Christianity or Churchianity !)
Religion is not a science reserved for the learned else it would merely benefit the scholars and be beyond reach of the poor, nor is it a fetish else it would possess merely the weakest characters, the emotional, and the superstitious.
The truth is that provided we look to it in its original simplicity, religion is as up to date for general use today as it ever was. Work and conduct are what count. Not everyone that sayeth "Lord ! Lord !" - but he that DOETH, etc.
Abe Lincoln, When asked what his religion was replied "When I see a Church which has these words written over its Altar "Thou shalt love thy God with all thy heart and with all thy mind, and secondly thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" that is the Church to which I would belong".
That is where many men stand today, and more will stand tomorrow. They want to get back to direct and simple fundamentals.
Evolution is going on in the personal freedom and self-determination as well as in the general education of youth. We older ones must recognise it if we would be up to date in giving ideals for our young people. Even in the last thirty years the younger generation have emerged from the cocoon of Victorian discipline, which was applied front without, to the freer stage of regulating their conduct by their own control from within.
(Hence the greater need for character training if that self-control is to be on the right lines and not to degenerate into self-licence).
Similarly in their religion, as in their conduct, they no longer stand to be ruled by dogma, but are apt to seek for, themselves knowledge and reasons for faith. They want the fundamentals rather than the various forms in which these have become disguised.
Bishop Barnes of Birmingham says "We cannot make a new world by presenting men with old clothes. Jesus had a message for all time, a message of vital importance to our own age.
If we preach that message we preach the Christ. If we half bury it under an elaboration of ritual and ecclesiasticism we leave men free to doubt whether we really believe the Gospel of the Son of Man".
(As a sign of the times and the spirit of enquiry among the youth I would quote the fact that a Wolf Cub was being told of the wonders of the universe by his Cubmaster whom he rather stumped by asking the question whether with the many millions of planets like our own Christ had visited them also.)
The main aim in the plan of the Boy Scout and Girl Guide Movements has been to give some form of positive training rather than merely to inculcate negative precepts, since the boy or girl is always ready to do rather then to digest.
Therefore we put into their activities the practice of good turns in their daily life as a foundation of future good will and helpfulness to others.
The religious basis underlying this is common to all denominations and we therefore interfere with the form of none.
The Promise that a Scout or Guide makes on joining has as its first point "To do my duty to God". Note that it does not say be loyal to God since this would be merely a state of mind, but to DO something, which is the positive active attitude.
It comes about therefore that the first step before the Promise is taken is to see that the youngster has some perception of God.
Experience, especially with the poorer, less educated children, (and in the cavalry we were taught to go by the pace of the slowest horse) Nature Study gives the most understandable and eagerly grasped method. In studying Nature we soon realise that no two creatures are exactly alike. No two human beings out of all the millions are identical in form or feature or finger-prints, similarly no two are exactly alike in character. Yet when we try to teach religion we do it to a class in a Sunday School as if all were of the same mould in temperament, receptivity, thought and character.
Dean Inge has said truly "Religion cannot be taught, but it can be caught". We try to teach them through precepts and elementary theology, within school walls, while outside the sun is shining and Nature is calling to show them through their eyes, ears, noses and sense of touch, the wonders and beauties of the Creator.
As Dr. Hector Macpherson recently said - "Scientific enquiry into the Universe was not hostile to Theism but a hand-maid of Religion. The primitive emotions of wonder and worship which the starlit sky aroused in our ancestors are heightened and deepened by the results of modern astronomy". Astronomy has demonstrated the oneness of the Universe and at the same time has given us some perception of the illimitable, of distances beyond our capacity to realise, running as it does to six million billion miles.
Without going to these lengths and dealing with the objects nearer home, each child can imbibe for himself, under general encouragement of the teacher, the wonders and beauties of the Universe around him, and thus develop an outlook of wider interests together with some realisation of the Creator and of the spiritual side of life. He can also realise that he is one among God's creations and has his part to play in the general evolution of nature.
This is one practical way by which the young soul can be attracted and led to a realisation of God. The further step is to show that God is love working around and within each one.
The rest is then easy. The boy can then realise better that part of his "Duty to God" is to take care of and develop as a sacred trust those talents with which God has equipped him for his passage through this life.
The body with its health and strength and reproductive powers to be used in God's service, the mind with its wonderful reasoning, memory and appreciation, that place him above the animal world; and the soul, that bit of God which is within him, namely Love which can be developed and made stronger by continual expression and practice.
Thus we can teach them that to do duty to God means not merely to lean on his kindness but to do his will by practicing love towards one's neighbour. If this can be brought about as a general rule then indeed shall we find Heaven upon earth.
The further Promise of the Scout or Guide is to carry out the Scout Law which in effect emphasises and indicates the line of conduct in oneself and towards one's neighbour, much on the lines of the sermon on the Mount.
Moreover the Scout Law is a series of "Do's" in the right spirit, it is not a code of Don'ts under threat of punishment.
It is only through goodwill and co-operation, that is through cheerful service for others, that a man reaches true success, i.e. Happiness.
For then he finds that Heaven is here in this world and not merely a vision of the next.
With the coming of goodwill and co-operation, the petty discords that have divided the nation will cease, classes and creeds will no longer profess to be brothers while acting as enemies and dividing the house against itself.
With goodwill and co-operation nation will sympathise with nation and politicians will find it no longer possible to drag into war peoples who are friendly disposed to each other. They will find that it is the will of the people which counts. We have seen in our experience how national patriotism carried to an extreme makes for war with other Nations in spite of the efforts of statesmen to check it. And so it is with creeds. The heads of different denominations are trying to come together in the greater bond of inter-denominational Christianity, but their chief difficulty lies not entirely with the other denominations but father with the more devoted adherents of their own faith.
The development of broad mindedness of good-will and helpfulness is urgently needed in the coming generation to bring creeds together, to bring peoples together.
It is a duty of grave responsibility for all classes, but of future importance and of extraordinary promise.
Experience shows that Boy Scouts and Girl Guides respond in a remarkable degree to the call of service. We have, in Great Britain and the Dominions, Some nine hundred thousand Scouts and Guides, and over two million about the world.
These are the coming fathers and mothers of many more millions in the near future. If they are imbued with the right spirit and practice of religion in their daily lives they will be the media for passing it on to these many more millions within the next few years.
So we Scouters and Guiders have before us, if we use it aright, a golden opportunity of helping the churches, and the high privilege of making, through our training of the youth, a direct contribution to the coming of God's Kingdom of Peace and Good-will upon earth.
ボーイスカウト・ガールガイド運動における宗教 SFK
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