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Pacific Press Publishing Company · New York · October 23, 1890

FromThe American Sentinel, Vol. 5, No. 42

Commenting upon Mr. Crafts’s proposed Sunday legislation, the Denver News says:—

Religious freedom to the churches and church people consists in the right to be protected from annoyance, and to others in the right to enjoy Sunday rest according to their own judgment. . . . But according to the best estimate less than half the population of the United States have any kind of association with the churches. Would it not be just to consider the rights of the other half in formulating laws for Sunday observance? Is not this especially true if Mr. Crafts is correct in basing his proposed legislation wholly on civil authority?

This is a pertinent question, but as usual Mr. Crafts ignores it. He wants only a civil Sunday law—but he wants it so framed and so enforced that it will incidentally contribute to the religious observance of the day. He says: “Take the religion out and you take the rest out.” And so he proposes that his “civil” law shall “incidentally” guard religion. A fine scheme truly!