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716 lines
33 KiB
Plaintext
716 lines
33 KiB
Plaintext
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11 page printout
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Reproducible Electronic Publishing can defeat censorship.
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**** ****
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PROTESTANT MENACE
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TO
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OUR GOVERNMENT.
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A LECTURE
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DELIVERED IN INVESTIGATOR HALL, BOSTON, BEFORE
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THE INGERSOLL SECULAR SOCIETY,
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SUNDAY, JAN. 27, 1889,
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BY L.K. WASHBURN.
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BOSTON:
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PUBLISHED BY J.P. MENDUM, INVESTIGATOR OFFICE,
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PAINE MEMORIAL BUILDING, APPLETON STREET.
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1889
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**** ****
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THE BOSTON INVESTIGATOR.
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For more than fifty years this paper has maintained the battle
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for Liberty against a world of opposition. And these were years
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"that tried men's souls." But "the good old Investigator," (as so
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many of its readers are pleased to call it,) has never from the
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first wavered or faltered for a moment in this long and unequal
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combat. It has borne the brunt of the battle. With this half a
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century of faithful service behind it, it may well be called "the
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tried and true friend of human rights." It has had for its grand
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aim the elevation of man through the truth and inspiration of
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Mental Liberty and moral education. True to its name it has
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investigated all subjects deemed worthy of attention. It has
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investigated religions, politics and customs -- investigated the
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dreadful superstitions of the past, the wicked shams of the
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present, and the seductive delusions regarding the future.
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In short the Investigator is the people's paper. Col. R.G.
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Ingersoll says of it, "The Investigator is the best of all Liberal
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papers." Reader please let us have your subscription.
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**** ****
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Published every Wednesday at Paine Memorial Building, Boston,
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Mass. By J.P. Mendum. Edited by Horace Seaver.
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Price, $3.00 per annum, single copies 7 cents, Specimen copies
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sent on receipt of a two cent stamp to pay postage.
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**** ****
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Bank of Wisdom
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Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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1
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PROTESTANT MENACE
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TO
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OUR GOVERNMENT.
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MR. CHAIRMAN, LADIES, AND GENTLEMEN: --
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It is essential that we understand what our Government stands
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for; that we recognize the principles upon which it was founded and
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the purposes for which it exists, in order to realize the present
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anomalous condition of things, and to see the contradiction between
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theory and practice as illustrated in the actual affairs of our
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national life. It seems like repeating the familiar knowledge of
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the school-room to say that our Government stands for human rights;
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that chief among these rights is liberty, and that the very
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inspiration of our existence as a people was the demand for
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political freedom.
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The purposes of our Government is identical with its
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principles, to secure to man the freedom which it declares to be
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his right. Our Constitution guarantees the citizen of this nation
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the blessings of "liberty," and our Government should make good its
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word.
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our nation was born in a land which had passed through a
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religious experience that embraced persecution and toleration,
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fanaticism and common sense. The narrow religious spirit of the
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Puritan broadened into the philosophic temper of Franklin, and the
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rational faith of Jefferson and Paine. The events that immediately
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preceded the struggle for independence on this Continent which
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commanded the attention of the inhabitants of the Colonies, were of
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a political character. Whatever there was of religious or
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ecclesiastical interest was either pushed aside or forgotten in the
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more important matters of political Government.
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The King of Great Britain had oppressed beyond endurance his
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American subjects, and the indignation of the Colonists was
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ripening into rebellion. The question that appealed to every heart
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was one of human rights. The heel of tyranny was on the necks of
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the people, and their sufferings had passed the bounds of
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submission. Let us understand that among all the alleged grievances
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against the King by the Colonists, there was no religious
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oppression complained of. Among the causes assigned for separation
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by the American people, there was no mention of religious wrongs or
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religious injustice. The step taken by the Colonists then was not
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to secure any religious reform, but solely to secure a better
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political Government.
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These are the facts: The question of political independence
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from Great Britain was discussed with little or no reference to
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religious institutions; the war of the Revolution was fought with
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the one idea of political independence as the objective point of
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the struggle; the celebration of the victory which the American
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army achieved was a rejoicing over the political independence which
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the Colonies had won. Our Government was established for no
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religious purpose. It is well for this fact to be emphasized at the
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present time.
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Bank of Wisdom
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Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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2
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The founders of our Republic, whatever their individual
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religious convictions or opinions might have been, imposed no
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religion upon the nation. The State was to recognize no church, but
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to allow equal religious liberty to all. This principle was
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affirmed in the strongest language in the National Constitution:
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"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of
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religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." We may rest
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assured, however, that those most interested in ecclesiastical
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matters were not indifferent to the fate of religion, but the vast
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importance of political success overshadowed and kept in abeyance
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any sectarian or religious ambition which might seek gratification.
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Perhaps another reason that the assertion of religious liberty was
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engrafted on the Constitution, was, that many of the leaders in the
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struggle for independence were Freethinkers. Men who had become
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emancipated from superstition, and who were familiar with the
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history of ecclesiastical persecution, would not willingly see a
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new-born nation committed to hands that cared more for the
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interests of a church than for the rights of man.
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It was fortunate for the human race that the foremost minds
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which gave form and direction to our Government were not religious
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bigots or fanatics. On no other Continent, and at no other period
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in the history of mankind, had there existed circumstances so
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favorable to the triumph of human freedom. Liberty was in the air.
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It fell to the people as a natural right. If there was manifested
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any disposition to shut it out of the National Constitution, it did
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not succeed, There were men who had thought deeply, who were
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determined that no union of Church and State should be permitted in
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this country. We have in the United States no established religion,
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no national church. The letter of the Constitution has not been
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violated. Congress has made no law prohibiting religious freedom.
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For over one hundred years the American people have boasted that in
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this land there was no union of Church and State.
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In theory we have religious liberty in the United States, but
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in fact we have not. While there has been no legislative act that
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commits the nation to any form of religion, our Government has kept
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up a sort of religious flirtation with Christianity ever since its
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foundation, and has shown it favors and granted it immunities which
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cannot be reconciled with its principles of Secularism. If our
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nation has no religious intentions, every act which relieves the
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Christian Church of a just burden is dishonorable and unfair to
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those who do not wish to help support this ecclesiastical parasite.
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It is said that our Government has never declared itself in
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favor of any religion, and yet ecclesiastical property has been
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exempted from taxation; ministers have been paid for praying by
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State and Nation; money has been granted by City and State for
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sectarian purposes; the Bible has been read in our public schools;
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the Governors of our States, and the President of the United
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States, have appointed days of fasting and prayer, and commanded
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the people to pay them the respect of religious observance, and
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various laws, having for their object the control of Sunday in the
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interest of Christianity, have been enacted and enforced in nearly
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all the States and Territories of the United States of America. We
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have an illegitimate union of Church and State in this country, and
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Bank of Wisdom
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Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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3
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it is time that it was broken up. In the face of such facts as we
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have mentioned, the Constitution which declares that "Congress
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shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, needs to
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be vindicated.
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The National Constitution guarantees religions liberty to
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every citizen, and gives every State in the Union the power to take
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away this liberty. As a citizen of the United States, I am not
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bound by any religion, but as a citizen of Massachusetts I am
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compelled to regulate my actions by the faith of Christianity.
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Every State can make, and has made, laws abridging religious
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liberty. Such laws to-day give the Christian Church the legal right
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to take away human freedom, but every such statute is contrary to
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the supreme law of the land, and should be abrogated. It is time to
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cry "halt!" to the religious power in this country. The march of
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events under the flag of freedom takes us into no ecclesiastical
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camp. We must decide which is of most value to our people, the
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Christian religion or the principles embodied in our National
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Constitution; the Protestant Church or a free Government, This
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question is being forced upon our attention, and is up for
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discussion.
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I insist that while every religion is free to propagate its
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faith by all the ecclesiastical arts known to priest and minister,
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no church has the right to claim the power of the law to shield it
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from just criticism, or to enforce its faith upon the people. Our
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nation is not a Christian nation. All the legislation in the
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interest of the Christian Church is contrary to the declaration of
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our principles. Every statute that has for its object the
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enforcement of the Christian religion is religious oppression. I
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always try to think as well of my fellow beings as I can. I would
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like to do justice to those men and women who are trying to have
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our Government "stand up for Jesus"; and I will admit that they are
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sincere in their efforts, that they honestly believe that we should
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be better, more moral and upright as a people, if some
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acknowledgment of our national dependence upon the Protestant
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religion could be secured from our Government. I will also admit
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that Calvin was perfectly sincere in his belief that the doctrines
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of Serviettes were dangerous to the soul of man, and that in his
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approval of the burning of Serviettes he was perfectly sincere,
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I will admit that the Massachusetts Puritans who hung Quakers
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on Boston Common were sincere in their cruel and barbarous
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persecutions, and that it was with all sincerity that they branded
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with hot irons people whom they looked upon as heretics. I will
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admit that the Christian prosecution of Abner Kneeland for
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blasphemy was sincere, and that this grand man, called "the grey
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father of American Free Thought," was sent to jail for an honest
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expression of an honest faith in perfect sincerity. I will admit
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that the Unitarians were sincere in their fear and hate of Theodore
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Parker, when he was a living power in this city, and that sincerity
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dictated the tardy repentance which has moved the Unitarian
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denomination to pay him the tribute of respect and honor which it
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has but lately laid upon the brow crowned with death. I will admit
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that all Christians are sincere in their hatred of Freethinkers,
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and that the Christian Church hates most sincerely that most-hated
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Freethinker whom we to-day have met to honor -- THOMAS PAINE.
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Bank of Wisdom
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Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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4
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Sincerity has been the excuse of one-half the villainy of the
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world, and the apology of the other half. It has been the fair face
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of too many foul deeds. Thousands of crimes and wrongs and
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cruelties have been born from the heart of this word. We cannot
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deny sincerity to the Mohammedan in his fiendish barbarities to
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Christians, nor equal sincerity to Christians in their equally
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barbarous retaliation. We feel that the dupe of religious
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excitement is sincere in whatever he says and does, but we cannot
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for this reason endorse his flaming rhetoric, or imitate his pious
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gymnastics. I presume that every bigot and every fanatic in the
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world is sincere.
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Let us ask the Protestant Christians of the United States, who
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are working to get their religion endorsed by the Government, if
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they are suffering from political injustice, if they are victims of
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political wrongs? Are they singled out among the inhabitants of
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this country for legislative afflictions? Are they compelled to
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observe against their convictions any particular day of the week as
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sacred above another? Is their property taxed unjustly; taxed to
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support a worship which they cannot join and a religion which they
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cannot accept? Are their children compelled by the laws of the
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State to listen to the reading of religious books which are
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obnoxious to them. Do they hear prayers in our legislatures that
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are offensive to their ideas of right?
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The necessary and just demand is not for the Government to
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give further aid to the Protestant Church, but to stop the
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immunities which this church now enjoys. In view of the many wrongs
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and evils which others have to bear on account of the privileges
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granted to this church, every Christian should hang his head in
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shame and blush with guilt before the American people. The truth is
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this: The Protestant churches of the United States want to control
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our Government for the advantage of their religion. They already
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have secured enactments in all of our legislatures which give them
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power to injure in mind and estate those who do not accept the
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Christian faith. Yet in face of this fact, and in face of the
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National Constitution, which says that Congress shall not prohibit
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the free exercise of religion, there is a movement among the
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Protestant party for greater ecclesiastical authority.
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We cannot be blind to the efforts being made by Christian
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fanatics, nor can we see such attempts to weaken our political
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Government and strangle our political liberty without a protest.
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That the people who are seeking for religious power in this country
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are honest and sincere in their endeavors, is not any reason why
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our citizens should stand idly by and see their political
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institutions overthrown, and the freedom won by the patriots of the
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Revolution destroyed by the bigots of the Christian Church.
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The Protestant menace to our Government is much too serious to
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be dismissed with the selfsatisfying assurance that there is no
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danger in this land from the ecclesiastical power. There is a more
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imminent danger than most people are aware of, and there is
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apprehension lest it be seen too late. The Christian Church, to
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hide its base motives, is proclaiming that the increasing
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skepticism in this country threatens the moral foundation of
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society, and that its further spread endangers the very existence
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Bank of Wisdom
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Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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5
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of our Republic. It is seeking to create a sentiment against the
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spirit of free inquiry, which has challenged its authority and
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exposed its false claims to Divine guidance. The endeavor to foist
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its religion upon the nation is for the purpose of getting the
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power to stamp out Liberalism in the United States.
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Upon any true and faithful representation of the work of Free
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Thought in the world, the Christian Church would be unable to
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arouse any prejudice against it. It is only by raising the cry of
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"Infidelity" that it can succeed. The word "Infidel" is "mad dog"
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to the ear of the average Christian. Start this cry and he at once
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arms himself with the cudgel of slander and abuse, and is ready to
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engage in any crusade that promises the speedy extermination of his
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enemy. But we do not purpose to allow Liberalism to be
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misrepresented by Christian lips without demanding satisfaction.
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Liberalism is the honest result of honest thought. It is the
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expression of honest convictions. As Liberals who have outgrown the
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influence of the Christian dogmas upon the mind, we take the
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position that such growth assigns us. We are outside of the
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Christian Church because we do not belong inside. In our criticisms
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of the Christian superstitions we have performed what we believed
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to be a duty. We hold that Christianity as a religious system is
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both false and wrong, and that we do the world a benefit by
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exposing its falseness and errors. Liberalism has never lifted a
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hand in persecution, never imprisoned science or burned doubt.
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Liberalism has sided with the wronged, the oppressed, the enslaved
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everywhere. Liberalism has been heroic in its devotion to truth,
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sublime in its endurance of wrongs, and self-sacrificing in its
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pursuit of what is right and best for man. And yet the Christian
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Church has ever treated those who have rejected its faith as
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enemies of all that is pure, good, and true.
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Christianity has persecuted men in all ages; it has tortured
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doubt, burned unbelief, and led science and truth to the stake and
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the gallows. It has sided with the oppressor, with the slave-
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holder, with the great and powerful everywhere. It has pursued
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liberty with the hate of a tyrant and the venom of a priest. It has
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treated knowledge as a spy and truth as a traitor. It has made vice
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a virtue by putting a premium on a profession of faith, and virtue
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a vice by punishing the publication of an honest doubt. And yet
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this priestly piety has the audacity to pose as the friend of
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science, of knowledge, of truth, of liberty, and of man.
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The Protestant Church asks our Government to give it the right
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to teach its dogmas to our children, when there is not a Christian
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minister on the earth that can defend these dogmas before the court
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of common sense. The Protestant Church asks our Government to
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compel the people to observe the Christian Sabbath as a day of
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|
religious worship, when it knows that not one-fourth of the people
|
|||
|
of the nation look upon Sunday as any holier than Friday.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The truth is that Orthodoxy is regarded as a theological
|
|||
|
comedy by the intelligence of the world, and as being played
|
|||
|
chiefly for the benefit of the actors' fund." It has been apparent
|
|||
|
for several years that Christianity was losing its hold upon the
|
|||
|
faith of mankind, and those who get their living out of this
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
6
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
superstition have exhausted every physical and mental resource to
|
|||
|
save Christianity for the purpose of saving themselves. Every
|
|||
|
device has been resorted to that promised to postpone the
|
|||
|
dissolution of this theological body, and every means tried that
|
|||
|
held out the faintest hope that this "arrested development" of
|
|||
|
human thought would yield the salaries of those who preached it for
|
|||
|
at least another generation.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Various efforts have been made to take away the rights of the
|
|||
|
people to save the Christian superstitions, but no more flagrant
|
|||
|
violation of the liberty guaranteed the citizens of this Republic
|
|||
|
has ever been attempted than is contained in the present endeavor
|
|||
|
to have Congress pass what is called a National Sabbath Law. Do our
|
|||
|
people realize what this law means? Do they KNOW what the power of
|
|||
|
the Protestant Church would be if backed up by the power of our
|
|||
|
Government? Let me read enough of the text of this proposed law to
|
|||
|
show how far the Christian Church would go to save its
|
|||
|
institutions. The bill, which is expected to become a law, was
|
|||
|
introduced in the Senate of the United States by Mr. Blair, on the
|
|||
|
21st of May, 1888. It was read twice, and referred to the Committee
|
|||
|
on Education and Labor. On December 18th, 1888, it was ordered to
|
|||
|
be reprinted. This bill is entitled; A bill to secure to the people
|
|||
|
the enjoyment of the first day of the week, commonly known as the
|
|||
|
Lord's Day, as a day of rest, and to promote its observance as a
|
|||
|
day of religious worship." It reads as follows: --
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
|
|||
|
the United States of America in, Congress assembled, --
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
That no person, or corporation, or agent, servant, or
|
|||
|
employee of any person or corporation, shall perform or
|
|||
|
authorize to be performed, any secular work, labor, or
|
|||
|
business to the disturbance of others, works of necessity, and
|
|||
|
mercy, and humanity excepted; nor shall any Person engage in
|
|||
|
any play, game, or amusement, or recreation to the disturbance
|
|||
|
of others, on the first day of the week, commonly known as the
|
|||
|
Lord's Day, or during any part thereof, in any territory,
|
|||
|
district, vessel, or place subject to the exclusive
|
|||
|
jurisdiction of the United States........
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
See. 2. That no mails or mail matter shall hereafter be
|
|||
|
transported in time of peace over any land postal-route, nor
|
|||
|
shall any mail matter be collected, assorted, handled, or
|
|||
|
delivered during any part of the first day of the week."
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
There are certain provisos which are not important to our
|
|||
|
purpose. Sections 3, 4, and 5 relate to commerce between the States
|
|||
|
and with the Indian tribes; drills, musters and parades; and the
|
|||
|
payment and receipt of wages. Sec. 6 refers to such labor and
|
|||
|
service as are not deemed violations of the act, but says that "the
|
|||
|
same shall be construed so far as possible to secure to the whole
|
|||
|
people rest from toil during the first day of the week, their
|
|||
|
mental and moral culture, and the religious observance of the
|
|||
|
Sabbath Day."
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
7
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Here is a deadly blow aimed at religious liberty in this
|
|||
|
country. Such a bill as this is the attempt of religious despair.
|
|||
|
Any endeavor to explain it on the ground of public necessity, or in
|
|||
|
the interest of public morals, is the veriest hypocrisy. Who
|
|||
|
demands such a law as this bill proposes? What is it demanded for?
|
|||
|
Have not the people who wish to go to church on Sunday the liberty
|
|||
|
to do so? Does any one deny them this right? Does any one object to
|
|||
|
their going or try to stop them?
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Here is the truth: This bill is not to secure to those who
|
|||
|
wish to observe the Sabbath in a religious manner the right to do
|
|||
|
so, but it is for the purpose of preventing those who wish to
|
|||
|
observe it differently from so doing. It is an effort to coerce the
|
|||
|
conduct and consciences of men. It is compulsion. This act of
|
|||
|
desperation on the part of the Protestant Christians of the United
|
|||
|
States is a confession that their religion is a failure, that
|
|||
|
without the arm of the law to compel people to observe Sunday as a
|
|||
|
holy day, the church is powerless to secure such observance.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Has no one but a Christian any rights in this country? Is
|
|||
|
there nothing else of importance in this land but the church? Are
|
|||
|
the only affairs of great moment those that relate to religion? Has
|
|||
|
it become necessary for the Government to sanction Christian
|
|||
|
opinions and observances in order to make the people respect them?
|
|||
|
Then their usefulness is past; they can only be supported by the
|
|||
|
oppression of the people. Let Congress pass this National Sabbath
|
|||
|
Law, and it will soon be asked to pass a law for the endowment of
|
|||
|
the church and the support of the clergy.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The Protestants of this land are not restrained from teaching
|
|||
|
their religious dogmas or observing the ceremonies of their
|
|||
|
religion. Worship is free. A clergyman may teach the most absurd
|
|||
|
faith, the most ridiculous superstition, and the law protects him.
|
|||
|
It is not for liberty of conscience that the Christian Church
|
|||
|
demands the passage of this Sabbath bill; it is to kill liberty of
|
|||
|
conscience and take away the rights of the people.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
We are informed that a petition, signed by fifteen millions of
|
|||
|
names, praying for the passage of this bill, has been presented to
|
|||
|
Congress. What a spectacle in a free country! Has it come to this?
|
|||
|
Have we forgotten the lessons of persecution that we can wish to
|
|||
|
re-enact religious tyranny? Has toleration, then, been a failure?
|
|||
|
Has Christianity taught its adherents no higher justice than to
|
|||
|
deny to others what they wish to enjoy themselves?
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
This Sabbath bill is an attempt on the part of Christians to
|
|||
|
take away the liberty of their neighbors. It is for the purpose of
|
|||
|
compelling the people to accept their religious opinions, to oblige
|
|||
|
them to attend church and support Christian worship. This proposed
|
|||
|
law is a blow at private rights and public blessings. It aims not
|
|||
|
only to take away the freedom of the individual, its object is to
|
|||
|
stop public benefactions. The United States mails are to be handled
|
|||
|
to please Christian ministers. They are to be all locked up
|
|||
|
Saturday nights and not opened until Monday morning. The railway
|
|||
|
trains, that carry the mails, are to stop Saturday night wherever
|
|||
|
they happen to be, when the hand of the clock points on the dial to
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
8
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
the hour of twelve, and to remain there twenty-four hours. No
|
|||
|
letter is to be collected or delivered on Sunday. The only holy
|
|||
|
service on the so-called Lord's Day is the service conducted by the
|
|||
|
priest or minister in a Christian Church!
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The bill to secure the religious observance of the Sabbath is
|
|||
|
the measure of Christian intolerance in the nineteenth century. It
|
|||
|
reveals how much of bigotry and fanaticism there is yet alive. It
|
|||
|
shows us the spirit that animates the Christian Church, and it
|
|||
|
shows us moreover the desperate straits to which it is reduced to
|
|||
|
save its religion. If Christians had founded this Government there
|
|||
|
would have been no freedom in it. Liberty would have been no larger
|
|||
|
than the Apostle's creed. We are reminded upon this occasion of
|
|||
|
those words of Thomas Paine: -- "Of all the tyrannies that afflict
|
|||
|
mankind, tyranny in religion is the worst."
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Protestants have yet to learn that liberty of conscience is
|
|||
|
not the right of a few but of all; that people are not to ask a
|
|||
|
church what they shall accept as true, or to regulate their
|
|||
|
behavior by what a church says is right. Not only does a Government
|
|||
|
"derive its just powers from the consent of the governed," but a
|
|||
|
church derives its authority from the acquiescence of man. When
|
|||
|
that authority is exercised arbitrarily it is to be resisted. The
|
|||
|
powers of all organizations of whatsoever character are conferred
|
|||
|
by man. There is no other source of authority. The pretended
|
|||
|
derivation of power from God is imposition. Such a claim cannot be
|
|||
|
defended before intelligence, and dare not be made except where
|
|||
|
fear and cowardice make the mind a slave.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The Protestants of the United States, in their attempt to have
|
|||
|
enacted a National Sabbath law, aim to usurp the rights of others.
|
|||
|
They propose to play the role of tyrants, to teach their religion
|
|||
|
at the point of the bayonet. I think I do not mistake the temper of
|
|||
|
the American people when I say that they will not submit to this
|
|||
|
tyranny. We must have fair fighting to-day. The spirit of the age
|
|||
|
sides with the wronged. There is but one way that people can be
|
|||
|
made to observe Sunday as the Lord's Day, and that is by convincing
|
|||
|
them that this day belongs to him, and not to the people. The
|
|||
|
Protestant churches know that they cannot defend their dogma of the
|
|||
|
Sabbath, know that there is no reason, no sense in their ideas of
|
|||
|
Sunday. They are not honest enough to acknowledge the truth. They
|
|||
|
dare not come out, and let this question be decided by the facts.
|
|||
|
They know that there is no warrant in Nature, for their foolish
|
|||
|
notion of Sunday. The truth is against them, and so they ask the
|
|||
|
Government to come to the assistance of the Lord.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
It will take more than the Congress of the United States to
|
|||
|
settle this question -- more than the passage of a bill to secure
|
|||
|
the observance of Sunday as a day of religious worship, to convince
|
|||
|
the intelligence of the nineteenth century that one day is better
|
|||
|
than another or to be used for a different purpose, except as
|
|||
|
mankind find it convenient or desirable. We are in danger of
|
|||
|
meriting the criticism of the Hindoo who remarked that " Christians
|
|||
|
want six days set apart for cheating man, and one day for cheating
|
|||
|
God."
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
9
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
I know of no question that engenders more of hypocrisy than
|
|||
|
the Sunday question. There is in the action of the Protestants in
|
|||
|
this country more than a menace to our liberties on one day of the
|
|||
|
week. Let this Sabbath bill before Congress become a law and other
|
|||
|
tyrannous measures will follow at its heels. If there is any
|
|||
|
expectation that a more rigid religious observance of Sunday will
|
|||
|
result in a purer moral atmosphere such expectation is doomed to
|
|||
|
disappointment. Tyranny has never yet borne a virtue.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
For our Government to endorse any Christian dogma is to exceed
|
|||
|
its powers. There would be no religious meaning in such an act. It
|
|||
|
would simply be a concession to bigotry which would result in
|
|||
|
arousing the people to the real nature of Protestantism and to
|
|||
|
their duty towards this pious tyranny. People will not be converted
|
|||
|
to Christianity by an act of Congress. The fond faith that a pious
|
|||
|
text on our national coin would teach the people to reverence the
|
|||
|
divine name did not materialize into the expected piety. A true
|
|||
|
life has never yet come from a false education. Instead of
|
|||
|
Christians wishing to have placed upon our money the inscription,
|
|||
|
"In God we trust," it would have been more consistent for them to
|
|||
|
put upon their God: -- In money we trust.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
It will do no good to pass a law which is not demanded by the
|
|||
|
welfare of the people. An unjust statute has been the mother only
|
|||
|
of wrongs. Our Government has nothing to do with the religion of
|
|||
|
its people -- no right to interfere in religious matters, only to
|
|||
|
see that one party or sect does not oppress another.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Congress would stultify the Government were it to pass the
|
|||
|
National Sabbath bill. Were this bill to become a law it would be
|
|||
|
unconstitutional. I do not believe that sixty millions of people
|
|||
|
should be enslaved to please fifteen million bigots.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
**** ****
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
THE BOSTON INVESTIGATOR.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY MORNING.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
At Paine Memorial Building, Appleton St.,
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
BOSTON, MASS.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
HORACE SEAVER ............. EDITOR.
|
|||
|
JOSIAH P. MENDUM ........... PROPRIETOR.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
[ENTERED AS SECOND CLASS MAIL MATTER.]
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
TERMS:
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
One copy, one year --------------- $3.00
|
|||
|
One copy, six months -------------- 1.50
|
|||
|
One copy, three months ------------ .75
|
|||
|
Two copies to one address ---------- 5.00
|
|||
|
Five copies to five new subscribers 11.25
|
|||
|
Single copies -------------------- 8 cts.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
10
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
All letters should be directed to JOSIAH P. MENDUM,
|
|||
|
PAINE MEMORIAL BUILDING, Appleton St., Boston. Mass.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
**** ****
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Thomas Paine's
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Political, Theological, and
|
|||
|
Miscellaneous Writings.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
COMPLETE WORKS OF THOMAS PAINE -- Three volumes, 8 vo., cloth.
|
|||
|
Price, $7,00; postage. 50 cts.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
PAINE'S POLITICAL WRITINGS -- TO which is prefixed a brief sketch
|
|||
|
of the author's life. Two volumes. Price, $5,00; postage, 35 cts.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
PAINE'S THEOLOGICAL AND MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS. -- 8 vo., cloth.
|
|||
|
Price, $2,50; postage, 20 cts.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
THE RIGHTS OF MAN. -- An answer to Edmund, Burke's attack on the
|
|||
|
French Revolution. 8 vo., cloth. Price, $1,00; postage, 20 cts.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
COMMON SENSE AND CRISIS. -- Revolutionary pamphlets addressed to
|
|||
|
the inhabitants of America. Price, $1,00; postage, 10 cts.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
LIFE OF THOMAS PAINE -- With critical and explanatory observations
|
|||
|
on his writings. Price, 1,00; postage, 8 cts.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
AGE OF REASON -- With examination of the Prophecies, essay on
|
|||
|
dreams, &c. Price, cloth, 75 cts.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
COMMON SENSE -- TO which is added a brief sketch of the author's
|
|||
|
life. Price, 15 cts.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
AGE OF REASON -- Being an investigation of true and fabulous
|
|||
|
theology. Price, 20 cts.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
FOR SALE AT THE INVESTIGATOR OFFICE.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
**** ****
|
|||
|
Cosmian Hymn Book,
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
A COLLECTION OF
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
ORIGINAL AND SELECTED
|
|||
|
HYMNS
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
FOR
|
|||
|
Liberal and Ethical Societies,
|
|||
|
for Schools and the Home.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
COMPILED BY
|
|||
|
L.K. WASHBURN
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
FOR SALE AT THE INVESTIGATOR OFFICE.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
PRICE, $1,50.
|
|||
|
**** ****
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
11
|
|||
|
|