Digital Witness
a message displaced
The Bible on the steps of Simon Gratz, Philadelphia.
A 7 part series published by the Philadelphia Inquirer in 2011 examined what it called "more than 30,000 serious incidents - from assaults to robberies to rapes - that occurred during the last five years" in Philadelphia public schools.
Including 4000 assaults, on teachers.
"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked: Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice ? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle."
- George Washington, his Farewell Address, 1796
a message displaced
The Bible on the steps of Simon Gratz, Philadelphia.
A 7 part series published by the Philadelphia Inquirer in 2011 examined what it called "more than 30,000 serious incidents - from assaults to robberies to rapes - that occurred during the last five years" in Philadelphia public schools.
Including 4000 assaults, on teachers.
"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked: Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice ? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle."
- George Washington, his Farewell Address, 1796