OCR Text |
Show AN ODIOUS TEST. One of the most odious tests ever applied to a candidate for a public office of trust under our government or, in modern times, under that of England, is the religious test. "A man's religion is a matter between himself and his God alone," is a maxim that has attained universal acceptance in England and especially in America, and in no part of this Union outside of Utah would a religious test be tolerated by the citizens. But in Utah to-day it is being applied. Grand jurors, the guardians above most other public functionaries of the people's rights, institutions and money, are being rejected because of their peculiar religious belief. True the Edmunds law provides that trial jurors in cases of bigamy or polygamy, may be rejected because of the practice or belief in the rightfulness of either, but there is no law that warrants the rejection of any but trial jurors in cases of bigamy or polygamy, on a religious test. On many occasions in the past the enemies of the "Mormons" have brought failure upon their schemes merely through overreaching themselves, and if the Supreme Court of the United States sustains the action of the Third District Court in rejecting grand jurors because they admit a belief in "Mormonism," it will be a matter of great and legitimate surprise. |