Show THE CHURCH AND THE STATE the distinction defined A PRESS FALLACY EXPOSED IGNORANCE OF MORMON principles A POWERFUL LETTER FROM GEORGE TICKNOR CURTIS the following able presentation of the argument in favor of admission into the union as a state and vigorous reply to the chief objections raised by leading journals against it appears io in the ne new w york evening post of july from the pen of ef the celebrated constitutional lawyer advocate and author george ticknor curtis to the editor of the evening post sir permit me to say that the idea of requiring the mormon church in utah fo formally really to renounce its religious ligi ous tenet on the subject of plural marriage before an application of the people of the territory to be admitted into the union as a state can be considered si is one that the people of the united states ought not to adopt such a requirement would convert a political question a merely civil question into nto a religious one it would make a precedent I 1 for or inquiring into the religious beliefs of a majority of the people le of the territory before their claim to 0 become a state should be allowed a hearing the abstract religious faith of the mormon church on the subject of marriage will je e of no practical consequence whatever provided the mormon citizens of utah as citizens shall give to the country satisfactory assurances that under a state constitution constitute on properly framed they can and will put an ait end to the practice of polygamy one of your city contemporaries a leading morning journal la is laboring hard to convince the public that the mormons cormons are aiming to trick the people and government of the united sta states t es I 1 know of no more Int intelligent elligen and well informed men than several 0 of the leading persons who have bave initiated the t present pr besent movement and whom I 1 know quite intimately th that at such men should suppose that they can play a trick on efi the people of this country and derade delude congress Con grebs into allowing a condition of affairs in which there will be no honest effort to what they profess a desire to do is ridiculous these men have become convinced that 1 their heir and happiness and the we cifare and happiness of all the inhabitants of the territory mormons cormons and gentiles alike require them tomaas and offer AS citizens to support and abide by a state constitution prohibiting polygamy gamy it i 1 neither fair nor sensible to charge them with a dishonest purpose your contemporary insists that they are not to be trusted and so on that distrust dist rusti utah is to be kept and governed as a territory and congress which in some respects is a body not well fitting to legis legislate lateon on the social conditions of aej any community is to keep on legislating on a subject that had bad far better be remitted to tae people of the territory iu in a legislature of their own under proper guarantees compacts and mandates what good would it t do to require the mormon church to renounce the religious doctrine of plural marriage in sone some so ne me formal and authoritative corporal act and then to admit utah as a state if these people are not sincere what would there be beto to prevent the church from restoring the dec dorrine do crine trine and writing it into the creed after the full panoply of state hood and self government had been put on by the body politic in this watter matter ot making makin 9 states and state conati constitutions latious tat ious we had bad better leave the r religious elig lous beliefs of people alone there are very few persons in th who are qualified to j judge fairly what the mormon church teaches or ever has taught on the marriage relation because there is and has been so much misrepresentation and such gross ignorance respecting p c n g the mormon religion and the t teachings a i of the mormon church A Y year cagg r and d a talf ago I 1 bad to argue a case e in th the supreme court of the united states which required me to show from authentic sources what the mormon relief elief about marriage is I 1 found that the congressional library iry did not cobain coain until I 1 placed PI aced it there a single copy of chebook the book of doctrine and covenants which is the authorized embodiment of the text of the mormon creeds or any other ether book which would afford proper information on the subject although there are a great many such books and they can easily be procured I 1 found too on looking into the en adias a great deal of historical inaccuracy and doctrinal misrepresentation inspecting respecting the mormons cormons and their beliet beliefs I 1 do not believe that there have been live five men in either house hoise of congress tor lor the past t ten a n years who could state truly and accurately r what the mormon church holds and teaches in regard to marriage and if any one member in an honest desire to inform himself had bad inquired klu ired that he be could not have found in ia the whole capital a single book that would have enlightened him yet our wo u y senators and representatives have been for years legislating on a a subject which is closely interwoven wita a religion that is the most remarkable phenomenon of its kind iv iu the modern history of the human mind it Is very easy to deride a belief ju in this yr or any ady other reli religion glou as a but the statesman states the legislator or the publicist who pronounces any belief a fanaticism and on that assumption undertakes to shape legislation or dete determine questions of civil polity affecting the supposed fanatics does what he babaa had better refrain from there are some doctrines and some practices in the roman catholic church belief in which a rood good many protestants consider fanatical auricular confession tor for example is regarded bregarde d by most P protestants rat as a dangerous pernicious and immoral immor lal practice if a majo majority it of f the people of the territory were roman maa catholics catho les and were to ask admission into the union as a state and were to be tol told d that their application could not be bonsi considered dered unless their church should first condemn auricular confession by some formal act I 1 rather think there would be biome thunder beard in the political sky certain leading and important mor mons have come forward and framed a state constitution prohibiting polygamy and with this it is ir supposed to ask for the admission of utah as a state some ot these men I 1 know to be sons of polygamous parents whose marriages were contracted jone ion before there w was a law of the united united states which prohibited plural mar biages and when the people of the states with the full knowledge of the practice existing in utah gave polygamy at least a tacit toleration what would be the sense in requiring these men to dishonor their dead parents or to censure ther their living relatives by making it ned necessary essary for them as members of the mormon church to join in some formal renunciation of their religious belief that plural marriage is permitted by a divine law revealed through their prophet when as citizens they are willing to establish a civil power that will be authorized and obliged to make the marriage relation in utah what it ic is throughout the united states conduct that is injurious to society the civil power may rightfully prohibit and punish belief that the conduct is innocent in the sight of god the civil power cannot tight rightfully fully touch whether that power Is wielded by a congress or a state legislature I 1 am mr editor respectfully yours GEORGE ticknor CURTIS july alth |