Show CHURCH AND STATE IN the city of pittsburg Pitta burg pa an agitation of a rather unique character is in active progress it means nothing less than the suppression of the sunday newspaper it appears that there Js is in existence a statute law providing for such a case it is true the law was enacted as far back as an 1794 but it in ia law all the same while it remains on the statute book of tin the state lq it must be admitted that in all the larm large cities and tow towns ns of this thia country the desecration of ef sunday la is largely on athe the increase speaking from a secular or civil standpoint it would seem that the genia of american law and the spirit of american institutions prohibit reformers from taking cognizance of sunday in a spiritual sense the cry of the average political campaign orator to in that in the united states civil enactments of any kind can not be based on any spiritual supernatural or religious groundwork however there to Is 4 scarcely a city or state in the union that has not enactments of some kind relating to sunday it is admitted on all stales sides that one day in seven to Is needed for physical rest and if this day can be utilized for spiritual and mental improvement pro so much the better unfortunately the reformer turns the matter into a direct religious issue instead of dwelling on the enormity of open saloons on sunday by the fact that thag disorder vice and crime are fostered and the peace quiet and harmony of the community disturbed he exhorts the religious organizations to band together to enforce sunday laws so that the tb e mosses masses will be more easily turned ed t V the house of god one of the organs of the american sabbath union the michigan maugan sabbath Watch manin a recent issue calls on the churches of its state to contribute each a year to help enforce sunday laws this call it heads aca A good investment for the churches anil and says money so invested would soon return to them with one fine rates of A interest the money now spent in sunday pleasures would under the on en it of sabbath laws be turned into the church treasury this is in tak ing toa much of a commercial view of the sunday question and in place of helping the be mc matter iatter actually hurts it the national reform association is working for the adoption of an amendment to the national constitution declaring deel ariDa this to be a christian nation 02 and placing christian laws jaws institutions and usages on an undeniable legal basis il in its convention at pittsburg in 1887 it declared tt that socialism anarchism and romanism were trying to catch the work ingmen pa and that the workingmen should not be left to either that they must be secured by the national reform and the best way to do it was by agitating the sabbath issue for working men do not want to work on sunday this declaration had the efrece of driving large numbers of workingmen out of the american sabbath union and the sunday day rest beet leagues one of the labor leaders said a short abort time after we have discovered the hypocrisy in the claim that sunday laws are OD only ly designed to enforce the he civil sabbath 32 y the efforts of these organizations to settle the sunday question gives the idea that they are working ultimately for a state religion or a system of state embracing the constituencies of which the orders are composed and the agitation now in progress in pennsylvania may bring the issue to a crisis A close study of the constitutions of the various states would reveal some strange anomalies in the way of civil and religious freedom for instance in the declaration of rights bights of the constitution of tennessee framed in 1870 1970 the almost usual natural and indefeasible right to worship god according to conscience ll is provided for ministers and priests are prohibited from fam holding seats in the legislature but section 2 of article 9 saye no person reon who denies the fiebing feeing of god or a future state of rewards and punishments shall hold any ADY office in the civil department of this state this is virtually a union of church and state with the state dominating this section if incorporated within the Mat national ional constitution would include perhaps wasp of people in the united states stated who are not directly or indirectly connected with any form of religion from holding office it would exclude from political privileges many organized sects note ethical societies and other very excellent and commendable organizations atwould it would be a bad thing for the country religious Belig ious tenets and tests have no proper place in the civil law |