June 11, 1905

In his baccalaureate sermon to the Class of 1905, President Taylor returned to a theme on which he had spoken out on several occasions, his concern with the vulnerability of the separation of church and state. Recent action by Congress, granting money for sectarian schools among Native Americans, seemed to him, once again, to blur this important line. While urging the graduates to strongly defend the separation doctrine, he emphasized also his belief that education without strong moral and spiritual components was a weakened or perhaps even a failed education. Ethics and morals could be taught, he told the class, without entering into religious matters.