The Church and the Government

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 17, 1912

The Church and the Government

THE Northwestern Christian Advocate of Oct. 2, 1912, quotes the following editorial utterance from the Western Watchman (Catholic) of St. Louis, Mo.:—

If the government of the United States were at war with the church, we would say to-morrow, To hell with the government of the United States; and if the church and all the governments of the world were at war, we would say, To hell with all the governments of the world. They say we are Catholics first, and Americans decidedly afterward. There is no doubt about it. We are Catholics first, and we love the church more than we love any and all the governments of the world. Let the governments of the world steer clear of the Catholic Church.

Concerning this remarkable utterance, the Northwestern Christian Advocate says:—

Here is a man of power who has been placed in a position of authority and leadership who consigns the United States to hell if that government stands in the way of the Roman Catholic Church; and we strongly suspect Archbishop Phelan [the editor] is sponsor for a large portion of his church. Can one wonder why it would be the last thought of our American citizenship to exalt to the presidency a member of a church holding such a view?—Never!

But there is no more danger in electing a Roman Catholic to the presidency of the United States than in electing to that high office a professed Protestant who will yield to the pressure of any church element to favor that element at the expense of the general government. It is not surprising to find a religious element that places its religion above its political affiliation. It has been so through many centuries. The martyrs of old suffered because they placed their religion first. But in this ebullition of the Catholic editor there is more than this involved. That religious organization’s purpose is to put all governments under its feet, and it is ready to overthrow any government on earth that it may attain its end; and it expects ultimately to overturn them all, and to establish its throne upon their ruins. This Catholic archbishop and editor has spoken frankly the purpose of his church. Will Protestantism believe what he says, and act as if it did?