The Bible Wars: Religion, Morality, and Schools in an International Age

Abstract

What protagonists called the “religious question” proved to be one of the most controversial issues relating to education in the last decades of the nineteenth century. When, in 1869, the school board in Cincinnati, Ohio, voted to end the practice of Bible-reading, the upshot was a fierce national controversy known as the “Bible Wars.” Historians have studied this contest in some detail. But a key element—the international dimension—remains largely untold. As supporters and opponents of Bible-reading made their case, overseas models were a vital point of reference. The controversy also brought into focus once again the vexed figure of the Puritan.