5. How to Spoil Religion for Children
1. Have them repeat (or babble) the catechism from the earliest possible age (according to Professor Carl von Raumer, from the time they are three)!*
2. Have their mothers force them to recite long prayers every morning, afternoon, and evening!
3. Require them to recite the catechism daily in school from the very beginning!
4. Make them learn long and difficult hymns.
5. They must memorize, word for word, hundreds and thousands of biblical passages, sayings, and psalms (especially the seven psalms of penitence)!
6. They must learn and repeat Bible stories word for word!
7. The memorized passages should be "prayed" daily on an individual and choral basis (with use of the repetition circle invented in Mecklenburg).
8. In religion class, a teacher should use unctuous language in extended prologues and epilogues!
9. Introduce special liturgies for schools (as in Brandenburg)!
10. Force the children to attend excessively long children's services (like Herr Sluymer)!
11. Introduce prayer practice (as is Brandenburg).
12. Force upon them the sort of songs and beliefs whose content is as strongly opposed to the beliefs of their parents as is possible!
13. Make confirmation lessons as boring as possible, so that the pupils can hardly wait for the moment they are confirmed!
14. It never does any harm to scare and intimidate by making them afraid of hell.
16. [sic] It is a proven strategy to slander and repress reason, especially with intelligent children!
17. An imposing priestly appearance and the claim of unconditional authority do their part to secure lasting effects.
And so forth.
* It will surprise no one that the same medicine often recurs, given the relationship and similarity of their goals and intentions. The doctor who proceeds rationally prescribes the same medicine for different illnesses in different combinations; only the homeopath uses only one medicine for each illness. But our most modern pedagogical healers are no friends of the homeopathic apothecaries; they love the masses. The Herr Pastor and the Herr Teacher in Schönebeck prescribe schoolchildren 120 church hymns to enhance their memory and they characterize the results as "very pleasing." The healing methods of the world famous Dr. Eisenbart have been responsible for even greater miracles.
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