A Suggestive Article by K. C. R.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jun 11, 1908

A Suggestive Article

By K. C. R.

THE Catholic Tribune (Dubuque, Iowa) of April 23, 1908, contains an article entitled, “Deficiencies of Our Constitution.” The article deals with the First Amendment to the Constitution, which says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” and comments upon it, in part as follows:—

“If all religions, present and future, Asiatic and African, Mormons and free-lovers, anarchists and atheists, are to be understood thereby, then this amendment is not only very unwise, but unjust, and never can be carried out. No government allows immoral religions or religions dangerous to the state. Every government is obliged to protect the religious interest of its people; and, if feasible, even to foster them. And, consequently, it can not tolerate any intolerant or immoral religions. Have not the European constitutions been framed more wisely by granting an equality to two or three or four religions, reserving the right to merely tolerate other religions according to their best knowledge?”

The writer of the foregoing paragraph utterly fails to comprehend that the state can grant perfect freedom to any and all religious sects, to practise any religion whatsoever, and at the same time prohibit any uncivil acts which might be committed by “free-lovers,” “anarchists,” etc., under the garb of religion. The provision of the First Amendment to the Constitution, which says that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,” demonstrates the great wisdom that was exercised by the founders of this country in the framing of the Constitution. The words plainly teach a total separation between church and the state. This question would never have been raised by the writer of the foregoing, had he discriminated between the spheres which the church and the state properly occupy.

Note the significant question that this critic of this amendment to the Constitution of the United States asks: “Have not the European constitutions been framed more wisely by granting an equality to two or three or four religions,” and reserving the right to merely tolerate other religions according to their best knowledge? This question reveals the same antichristian idea that has characterized the Roman Catholic Church throughout all her past history. Read the history of the fourth century, when the emperor Constantine was required to decide which of the various sects of religion existing at that time was the Christian religion, and you will find that it was the Catholic religion which was approved by the emperor. The method outlined in this editorial would necessitate that the government should decide which religion is the right, or Christian, religion as it did in the days of Constantine. It would not be difficult to forecast what denomination it would be that would reserve “the right to merely tolerate other denominations according to their best knowledge.” That this is precisely what the Roman Catholic Church has done in the past, and what she aims to do in the future, is evident to the students of past and present history.

The whole question is so transparent that even the superficial reader can discern the real meaning of this writer. Again, it should be noted that Rome’s boasted love for the United States’ Constitution is but an empty profession, as is indicated when she asks the question: “Have not the European constitutions been framed more wisely?” It might be added in this connection that the Roman Catholic denomination could be as clearly justified in her efforts to have the First Amendment to the Constitution revised so that it could establish some national religion, as the National Reform Association in seeking for an amendment in order that their cherished ideas of religion may be established by the state.

Never was a time in the history of this country when the principles that underlie this government were more in jeopardy from the hands of those who are seeking to bring about their so-called reforms.

K. C. R.