Show IS MORMONISM A RELIGION of the favorite arguments of the enemies of the th latter day saints put pat forward as an excuse for spec special liLl legislation and the employment of force against them is that mormonism 11 as their faith is nicknamed is noi not a religion congress is forbidden by the constitution of the united states to 10 enact laws against ilan an establishment of religion or to prohibit the free exercise thereof and there is a strong public sentiment among the better part fart of the american people against any interference with religious sentiment and worship therefore the excuse of those who are filled with bate and want to see Is a deadly thrust aimed at the heart of the system and a blow direct upon the head of mormonism so that it may at once be crushed out of existence is that it is not a religion and therefore against it ills is justifiable J us pud and praiseworthy in this connection we bubli publish sh below a portion of a paper read react at the eighth annual meeting of the new west commission held in chicago by the general secretary mr bliss it was on oa what he considered the chief evil of mormonism and curious carious to state that is that mormonism is a religion the new west commission is a society of top te congregational church the education of youth in etab eff and new mexico under auspices of that sect ita it claims to have 2725 pupils of mormon parentage and property in schools worth 75 GOO one of them is at ogden that cost and another at provo the the sum of is to be e expended expended for a school at heber city wasatch county mr bliss who claims to have an intimate acquaintance with mormonism after de scanting upon what he considers evils in the system says they are not the chief evil what that is he be as follows which we commend to the notice of those who claim that mormonism to is not a religion we wish to rescue an honorable and aad valuable word from a use and a contact that seems a profanation yet the word religion Js s one ene of great breadth and covers tire tae vilest systems even wor ship islamism is not less a religion because violence and fraud and lying visions attended its introduction action the implicit laith faith of millions of mankind who have for a thousand years accepted it as a religion make it such buca however false and designing its founders may have been it is therefore not a conclusive answer to the question whether a religion or not to say that joseph smith was a corrupt false and wicked impostor that brigham young was wan an unscrupulous remorseless worldly and self seeking ruler and tyrant and that the early leaders who managed unworthy cause were in not a cases brutal and lust lustful Lul and in nearly all visionary and fanatical fand or designing and cunning men all this may be true and the fact remain that mormonism as it exists today is in its main elements in its vital and central forces a religion the question at issue is whether there is in anat is if called a mormon churek a faith that deserves to be ranked as religious whether their most thoughtful and serious preachers ana leaders do hold and set forth dogmas and tenets which relate to unseen things and the future world whether in their assemblies on sanday and at their homes they do present to themselves themes of meditation which reach into their souls touch their conscience and effect for good or evil their moral feelings boether their sunday school children numbered by tons tens of thousands are carefully taught points of doctrine and made to believe as asserted miraculous events which affect their religious sensibilities awaken their ima imaginations inactions and in them in ways right or wrong devout exercises whether or not there brein are in mormon beliefs large numbers of accredited miracles aud and supernatural occurrences and large numbers of ideas to be inspired by god which have been so adjusted to tile the intellectual conceptions and moral feelings of the deop people le as to have I 1 laben aken captive their faith and brought them into the glad enthusiastic and determined sup M port A of a system believed by them to have e been given by god to them as to a peculiar and chosen choson people this question cin can in our opinion loii have tut but one answer it is utterly impossible to explain the facts which meet one everywhere in utah without granting not only that mormonism is a religion but also that the chief sources of its present vitality and power lie in the religious ideas hopes and fears of its adherents the tenor of their discourses in the tabernacle the forms of devotion which they observe the enthusiasm thusia sm which attends their frequent conferences the steadfastness of their devotion to their church maintained by the great majority of them the constant departure of the arles narles in the face of continual contina discourage discouragements ments the uninterrupted building of temples the constant and universal recurrence to td the supposed miraculous origin and the well known rapid early pro progress gregs of the churchard Chur chand the unabated confidence of the early coming of a deliverer wh woo i 0 will wili smite their enemies and carry forward their church to ta a position of df great glory and universal influence all thebe things are unaccountable save upon thae tali ground that mormonism Mpr monism whatever it was at first has grown to be a religion in trenched in convictions and anck powerful as a source of moti motives ves hopes and courage I 1 |