Show RELIGIOUS POLYGAMY UNDER the above heading the new york independents independent a leading landing religious religions weekly attempts to prove that It mormon plural marria marnia marriage age may be rightly and constitutionally suppressed an p bylaw by law of course the independent calls to its support the decision of the supreme court of the he maffed united states in the reynolds i case from which it quotes largely I 1 mid uld deduces the following althe the fact that one religiously believes in euch buch marriage la is no off ense against the law JAW if he stops with his belief but it if he ha proceeds to put hia hla belief into practice then he comes commes in contact with the law jaw and the law comes in contact with him as an offender if he says bays that b he a la Is right on this subject and that the law jaw is wrong and hence that the law should give place to hig big opinion as to what is right or wrong then he makes an assumption of himself which if admitted would be the destruction of civil government it if he claims that the practice results from his religion and is 13 necessary to carry out the principles of that religion then he assigns a reason for the practice of which the law laws in dealing with him can never take any notice I 1 this Is ia merely putting in other W words the absurd opinion framed tor lor the supreme court by attorney general devens that the protection afforded to relf religion kion gIon by the constitution only extends to belief and does not include the practice of reli gion and this is to bay say in effect 8 ff act that the guaranty of religious free dom given in the first amendment to the constitution means nothing at all for the liberty of mere belief cannot be destroyed it requires no law to protect it the mind cannot be controlled by par lia ila amenta lisments li menta ments or congresses Con greases people will believe what commends itself to their understanding and no legislation can prevent them religion con coh consists elsts of something more than belief it is nothing without practice scan an lesta testa establishment blish of religion Is ia the eheart of action unless something is done thare will be no such thing as an establishment of religion and it is this very thing that congress is prohibited from interfering with by the cons ti that body is by the same article forbidden to interfere with the free exercise of religion does not this include the practice of religion as well as the belief in it what would the independents belief in baptism and the lords supper amount to if its ita editors and readers where prevented by law from being baptized or partaking of the sacrament what protection would be offered the jews in their loub loua rite of circumcision if they were only allowed to believe in but not to practise il congress has just as 03 much right under the constitution to pas pasa a a law prohibiting the jewish practice pratt cc of circumcision as aa the mormon tico of marriage and an d when it starts jn in on this line of departure it may pass laws forbidding baptism or any other religious rite because in the language of devens 1 adopted by the supreme court and endorsed by the independent laws are made for the tho government of action actions 8 and while they cannot interfere with mere more religious belief and opinions they may with practices under sueh buch a ruling where Is ia the limit to governmental interference with any establishment of religion or the treo freo exercise thereof the it makes the guaranty of the con rit uit ution a complete nullity it leaves no religious liberty but that which all people have of necessity namely the tha freedom to believe what seems right to them it is the liberty of religious action which needs to be preserved and protect ed and it was for this that the amend ment to the constitution was passed or its framing and adoption were a farce falce but bat the tha question will be ased asad has not the lawmaking taw law baking making department the right to legislate against crimes committed in hi the name or under the pretext or plea of religion we answer unhesitatingly it has but the mistake Is in classing the marriage zarri system of the latter day balents saints with essential crimes for instance the supreme court of the united states in the decision des ision ro re berred toj tos to said sald suppose one believed that human sacrifices were a necessary part of religious worship would it be seriously contended that the civil government under which we lived could not interfere to prevent the sacrifice or if a wife religiously believed it was her duty to burn herleif upon the funeral pile of her dead husband would it be beyond the powen power of the civil government to prevent her from carrying her belief into practice so here asa aba I 1 jaw aw f tor for or th the a organization of society under dr the th exclusive domin damin dominion fon fou of the tho th united slates it is provi provided lied cled that tei iel plural ai mattlage ahall not be allowed I 1 thib this is tha the kind bind of logic by which I 1 the conclusion of that august tribunal bunal bunai was reached laws may bo be passed pas ed to protect the destruction dast ruction ol of life therefore they may be enacted against the increase of life the rights of life libert ilbert liberty yand and the pursuit of happiness are inherent natural inalienable any interference with those rights or either of them should be made punishable bylaw by jaw even if attempted under the name of religion laws in a republic are made for the pro lection of the citizens in the free exorcise of their natural rights not to oppress them nor prevent their legitimate pursuit of happiness when it does not infringe upon the rights of others if mormon marriage contained any element of force cr de of liberty or property any disruption ot of society or breach of public order orders tt it might come within uhe the jurisdiction of secular law jaw but under the american system of government it cannot be rightly interfered with by congress and the supreme court of the united states has railed failed to show aherin it has any analogy with the crimes cited as reasons tor for its suppression and however decisive ane ruling of that court may be in law its Us are not in accordance with sound reason but fill the mind with wonder at their lack of logic and of that clearness of judgment that might be expected of so high a judicial body the independent says it has gino no idea of proscribing any man for hib bib religious belief 21 how very magnanimous nani mons mouei we may have just as much dead faith as we please but no such faith as aa is shown by works if those works do not suit the independent we may think what we choose so long as wo we do nothing more than think this is very liberal indeed and we ought to feel under groat great obligations to the new york yon k regg religious organ thank you for nothing mr I 1 r Jn independent dependent but how does that paper reconcile this avowal with its endorsement of the latest proposition against the people of utah the present cry for the legislative commission involving the disfranchisement of the mono gamio mormons cormons Mor mons 11 to is neither more nor less lebs than a crusade against religious religions belief bailet and the independent has declared that it has been nil rill along its opinion that this to Is tho the only feasible plan of destroying 19 Mormonism y the truth is the independent like all the other truly pious sectarian journals and preachers cannot cope with the truths of mormonism by fair and scriptural means and therefore desires the political destruction of its adherents as a method of putting down their creed we are sorry that the independent and its contreres confreres con freres should bo be so BO cruelly disappointed but wo we absure assure them that as true as there is a god in israel mormonism will be alive and a power in the earth long after those who have fought against it have gene to their graves and their accounts |