Show frons from frona the boston index tf elli CHURCH AND STATE 11 AS SEEN THROUGH THE MORMON QUESTION ars tarreal TO THE LIBERALS OF 1 I 5 I 1 AMERICA amerida AME ItICiA B BY T W CURTIS if ashow in the power of thellie the liberals of america to strike a blow for freedom to create a revolution in fact in public sentiment on a the theme the most vital to the interests of the republic state secularization or the total separation of church and state a question that has long iong gonea beg ging ug but which by a providential fate late is s being forced on the attention of the american people compelling them through li the acts of their national councils tda to a confession of its prime importance in cd to what can I 1 allude but to the action of Con congress ress on utah affairs I 1 the mormon briem problem is the problem of church an and state nothing more I 1 nothing less the superstition of the ages is being brought to bay thebold the hold hoid of the rocky mountains however is not its last or only refuge nor is mormonism its worst type by any means though it be an attempt toward the realization of that parent dogma a theocracy it was born too late and has too much of the sap of the nineteenth century in it it knows too well weli because of its own experience the nie nil meaning aning of religious bigotry and intolerance and yet it has the bible on its side though it has the christian church against it what is the history of thac the tha church h arch but a ceaseless attempt to brain its own offspring on the plea piea of her heresy of course coarse and the heresy this time is not polygamy but revelation the mormon people were driven time anda and again aln ain before that feature of hebrew social life was grafted engrafted en on their system of faith but theory of heathenism is raised by the sects that their I 1 cause may be made to appear the cause dause of all in anis way government is made their tool virtue their cat does liberalism join in the crusade would I 1 could answer no if not an abettor neither can it be a spectator silence gives consent i the mormons cormons Mor mons adversity is the liberals brals opportunity the cause I 1 plead is not that of the mormon but of the liberal A principle is at stake its voice is what I 1 hear my respect for liberalism is such that I 1 think it would throw the shield of its protection over the weak and oppressed though it should prove to pe a despised mormon but you zou have a demand to make of both hoth mormon and christian to you liberals they are one liberalism is no respecter of bf persons justice is its sole aim between man and man T there ere is 19 no more connection between church and arid state in utah than in any other othen state in the union the difference bein that the bulk of the inhabitants of that territory are of one falth faith and consequently of of one party and and the minority there feels just justas tas much craving ng for fai power and pelf as in any other part of the land they ask congress to mend their fate by an exercise of arbitrary arar y power in this cause politician and ii priest are yoke fellows as neej neven never b before hoid they are the servi seral A tors at once of a widespread wide spread prejudice and fanaticism and of their own interests at the same time the judge is a missionary the minister a politician olit ician in their hands already are gle jle the off meers officers of governor secretary judges marshals prosecuting attorney land re register recorder surveyor general ener clerks of court commissioners revenue assessors and collectors postal agencies gen cles cies army contractors etc utah is is more than for her mis deeds whatever they may be in being kept in a condition of territorial vassalage while others mere striplings strip lings by her side are one after another up raising the shield of state sovereignty elg eig nty uty but gut let me more clearly intimate something of the spirit of the governments dealings with utah a fair sample rie eie of its pluck and wisdom in t the bill ill lil before it is to disfranchise the mormon women to transfer the trustee trusteeship s hi 1 of the church into f foreign hands a and ana 19 to abolish the emigration fund company a proceeding which in view of the leniency d displayed 1 s toward towar ot other or hristian christian c chur 4 urcile urelle clies ciles is a triple act of tyranny without a parallel in any government of modern times fiust woman be dis franchised because she does not use har bar vote in a manner to please congress if such a principle were made universal what would become of our liberties the amount of church property in the territories allowed a single corporation is in massachusetts it is twice that amou abou amount t the catholic diocese of new york is supposed to be worth i and upward why the mortgage on the church of the messiah unitarian new york city was over a hundred thousand dollars the saints conform to the law after the same manner as the other denominations by distributing their funds orm or accumulations among bishoprics bishoprick bish have they not the same right the immense properties owned by the various denominations throughout the couii coull country try is well known and then what is the warrant for stopping immigration immis ration nation to utah has the mormon no right to assist his needy friend or relative across the waters Is this a crime the condition of the mormon emigrant I 1 assert notwithstanding all that ilat has been said to the contrary to be instead of the worst above the avera average c as I 1 also must affirm and challen challenge ze all disproof that the morality of the mormon people is at least as as the average of any state or section of the union but though all that rumor may say of the mormons cormons be true I 1 maintain that the wisest course in which the only true remedy is to be found in intact fact would be such as I 1 shall try to sketch in this appeal and which I 1 believe to be what you liberals have been working for these numbers of years na nay Y input I 1 put on record here the prediction that if by your neglect or in in spite of your protest these new metho methods s are tried in utah they will fail the mormon women will be truer to their rell religion lo 10 1 l and their husbands the bunds lunds the t gh e resources of the church will be augmented mormon immigration will grow larger instead of leims leiss the lukewarm aul wui wili wul feel the contagion oi of the increase of zeal among the faithful and the rising generation will be stirred into a more chivalrous attachment to the cause for which its parents have already suffered so much mormonism will gain and not lose while the government will but be heaping headin disgrace on itself and it is right it should should be so the mormon t thinks h sit it a proof of the divinity of his religion it Is a proof of the hellishness that will sometimes creep credi into the action even of a government like this it illustrates the principle of compensation do unto others as you would be bedone done by the tha best policy to be pursued toward utah is to bring its people into still closer relations with us to invoke no other agency for the correction of its errors than that which is in force throughout the union to trust much to the influences of 0 I 1 that civilization of which we boast so much if it is impotent to combat this small sect without resort to acts of special legisla legislation tio it is already doomed and the sooner it recites notice to quit the better if a sect rises says thomas jefferson whose tenets would subvert morals good sense has fair play and reasons and laughs it out of doors without suffering the state to be troubled with it utah offers the constitution of her new state of deseret which isare Is fre from any taint of theocracy more so than thau most of the constitutions of the other states and is even more liberal than many being specially favorable to the wor Ing wenand visions for a minority representation but there are certain conditions to which the new state should subscribe in good faith but these conditions are to be required of all the component parts of the union A refusal to accept them should be visited by the same penal tyson all and today to day in point of fact there are states part participating cl in the full benefits of the union j that are no more entitled to them than utah at this moment As regards polygamy the question is not so much as to whether it is right or wrong morally as to whether marriage is a thing to be regulated by law and whether its control belongs to the state or nation the answer has been ft given ven yen bythe by the practice of the country it is a matter of I 1 legislation and falls within the separate juristic tion of the states how various and conflicting are the marriage laws of the union I 1 the we laws in some states are worse than none at all and their general ton tan tendency dency Is to conf confuse use and unsettle all ideas on the subject of the relation of the sexes our marriage laws are the foe alike of morality and wedlock and the chief reasons f for fon or this state of things are 1 the double bases on which those laws rest civil and ecclesiastical sias 2 the assumption by the several states of f full fuli uil ail legislative power in the premises monogamy exists in this or that state because the statute decrees it and this or that form of marriage solemnization is e ta and also of divorce the st stat at ute ate so decrees the statute of pennsylvania for instance begins all marri marriages awes not contrary to the teachings of of atie the revealed word of god etc and this strikes esthe the keynote key note of the legislation hitherto throughout the union it is implied when not expressed i I 1 but this is not the whole of the indictment by any means the ways in which the old alliance between church and state is maintained are these recognition co 1 tion of god or christianity in sti state te constitutions reli rell religious lous ious test oaths Sabba tarlan yaws laws laws chaplain cies cles in legislatures army and navy reading I 1 of the bible and requirement of ot other er religious exercises in the public schools fast and thanksgiving proclamations exemption of church property from taxation appropriations of public money for sectarian purposes holding marriage as both a sacrament and civil contract here is something from the constitution of the state of massachusetts where the index is published and whence hails the senator who has reported the bill for destroying the last vestige of liberty in utah 61 li we therefore the people of massachusetts S acknowledging with grateful f ul hearts the goodness of the great legislator of the universe ili in ann aff affording ord us inthe lathe in the course of his providen ces etc and andin in the statute book we read as follows whoever wilfully blasphemes the holy name of god by denying denbin cursing or contemptuously reproaching pro aching goddis god his creation judgment or final j judging of the world or by cursing or contemptuously reproaching jesus christ or the holy ghost or by cursing or contemptuously reproaching pro aching the holy word of god contained in the holy scriptures or exposing pos i ng them to contempt and ridicule sh shall shail 1 1 beyl betl be imprisoned fined etc 61 the school committee shall shall shail require the dally daily reading in the public schools of some portion of the bible without written note or oral comment etc the oath of office in this same state once read I 1 do declare that I 1 believe in the christian religion with a firm persuasion of its truth etc which ras has recently been Jeen chan changed 4 ed to 4 so 0 help me god much more might be quoted to the same general effect here are some of sundby sung by the children in our public schools we praise thee god for the gospel light hail uail thon thoa glorious three in one worthy thon thou to reign alone and the light of hoad revealing made the bloodstained blood stained cross app appear earP liberals of america what have you u to say to this will you not now while w nl e this mormon difficulty is before the public bestir yourselves to have unsealed the eves eyes eyes and understanding of the community on this great question q es for in the current discussion its essential features are entirely lost sight of it is your our duty to reveal its true nature ani ang and mark its full import though the democratic party criticises criticizes what the republican party does it is no more disposed than the latter to take the initiative in this great reform liberals must do it public opinion there is none or it is impotent just now of sentiment and chicanery there Is no lack legal claptrap clap trap and literary abound laboring to supply the missing links in the charge of the ecclesiastic holding up his hands in holy horror at sight of so great a sin as ully toly polygamy eamy Famy when david a man after gods od s own heart had bad as many wives as all the polygamists in utah put together aether and as many concubines as they have ave wives and when our christian communities too have a pretty fair sprinkling rin kling g of of men after davids own hp heart e and when too other evils are b by no means scarce compared with which alch polygamy is as laure pure as the blush of moral but it Is not my purpose now to speak of that putrescent social vice that dogs the steps of eur civilization offering its own comment on our dealings with utah but of those irregularities rather in the republican household which we may call the concubinage of church and state this alone requires that you yon should act will you not speak out shall shail not that liberal sentiment which years of agitation has created be utilized shall liberalism be browbeaten in this tills way after the exertions it has made in this direction I 1 maintain that the motive and the theory of the action pursued by government to toward ward utah are wrong a transparent shame and hum humbug bu to put it mildly I 1 that 7 they ey conflict with the spirit that created our government and has supplied liberalism with its maxims and appointed it its ita mission in our time if this be true what forms can your you r action take I 1 propose that a petition be sent to congress a mammoth petition the liberal view and sentiment the he church has busied itself in this way having already emptied a cartload of petitions on the steps of the capitol yet truths whispered accents shall outweigh them all but you will do more than utter a sentiment you yon will make a demand your appeal will be to principle to reason to tho constitution of the united states your petition will be based base d on two principles one of which is the amendment to the constitution ution congress cong ress shall guarantee to every state in the union a republican form of government and shall protect each of them from invasion ll 11 the other principle is that of wise statesmanship which deals with effects til through tilou h their causes and finds ili in a beneral fi iral irai law that criterion of action nv which aich renders rendena all legislation at once impartial intelligible and enn eff effective active securing to the individual the largest largest liberty while deman demanding aing ding his respect and obedience arbitrary power in whatever disguise must be overthrown and reason must do it the twin relic of barbarism I 1 aniro to be the connection between church and state and the absolute control which cona cong congress ross noss ress assumes over the great west under that archaic clause in the constitution which says congress shall make all needful rules and regulations for the territories and other property of the united states which places human beings in the category of land and the following then are the principles rles ries which you may justly demand shall be e made a apart part of the fundamental law of the land through amendments to the |