The Rise and Fall of Religious Liberty in America
By C. M. S.
A Masterful Ally in the Campaign Against the Government
We remember the bid for Catholic support made by those forces which are seeking to unite religion and the state in this country, as pointed out in these articles; and we remember also the encouragement in that direction given them by Catholics. We have seen that in every instance where religion and the state have been united, persecution and the utter disregard of human rights have immediately followed, whether that union consisted of the Catholic religion and the state or of a professed Protestant religion and the state. We have seen that in this country, where church and state are said to be disjoined, men have suffered for conscience’ sake because a single ordinance of the church—the Sunday sabbath—has been put upon the statute-books of the States. Since such a condition of things has invariably produced such results, and since the National Reform Association and all its allies hitherto named are earnestly seeking to bring about such a condition, it is worth while to inquire into the purpose and plans of its new ally, the Roman Catholic hierarchy. We find, first, that the aims of the two great combinations are similar in one respect. Both5have declared war upon the Constitution of the United States, as it stands to-day. The National Reformers and their allies would so alter it as to make it a declaration of the nation’s religious belief, thus making it a basis for the government’s interference in the religion of the individual. They propose also, by means of this reconstruction of the Constitution, and other resultant changes, to bring into being the veritable kingdom of righteousness in this world—in short, to usher in the coming of Christ himself; and as whatever opposes righteousness must be iniquity, and whoever opposes the coming of Christ must be an antichrist, they must brand as sinners and antichrists whoever shall dare to oppose their plans of bringing about such a consummation. When the one religious practise now upon the State statute-books has been so rigorously enforced by pains and penalties, and when those pains and penalties have been inflicted chiefly upon persons who were opposed to the institution upon religious grounds, we are not left to conjecture what the result would be if that organization, by its own power and influence, should succeed in accomplishing the result aimed at. But when we come to consider the power and influence of its new ally, the history of that ally in all parts of the world where its purpose has been dominant,—the pains that have been suffered, the imprisonments that have been endured, the blood that has been shed,—we may know of a surety that when these two great organizations, through their united influence and power, have brought about their mutually desired change in this country’s Constitution and in its attitude toward the individual conscience, the rights of the individual will be ignored, freedom of conscience will no longer exist, religious practises will be enforced by law, church attendance will be compulsory, and finally there will occur what even National Reformers are not ready for now, and will not be anxious for then—the greater organization will absorb the lesser, and the will of the pope will be the supreme law of the land. All this is as sure to follow the reconstruction of the Constitution upon a religious basis, and the amalgamation of the two great organizations for a union of religion and the state, as night is sure to follow day. The preservation of the Constitution as it is, the preservation of the American principles of government as they are, are all that stand between the country as it was founded and the country as Rome would have it to be. That the purpose of the Roman hierarchy has not been misinterpreted in this, will appear as we proceed. The government of the United States is republican in form,—a government “of the people, by the people, and for the people,” deriving its just powers from the consent of the governed. Rome is at enmity with this principle. The people’s right to rule themselves she never will concede. Says Dr. O. A. Brownson, a recognized Catholic authority:— The people need governing, and must be governed. . . . They must have a master. . . . The first lesson to the child is, obey; the first and last lesson to the people, individually and collectively, is, obey; and there is no obedience where there is no authority to enjoin it. The Roman Catholic religion, then, is necessary to sustain popular liberty, because popular liberty can be sustained only by a religion free from popular control, above the people, speaking from above, and able to command them; and such a religion is the Roman Catholic. . . . In this sense we wish this country to come under the pope of Rome. As the visible head of the church, the spiritual authority which Almighty God has instituted to teach and govern the nations, we assert his supremacy, and tell our countrymen that we would have them submit to him. They may flare up at this as much as they please. . . . They will not move us, or relieve themselves from the obligation Almighty God has placed them under of obeying the authority of the Catholic Church, pope, and all.—“Brownson’s Essays,” pages 380-383.
The people of the United States have considered themselves their own masters, able to govern themselves, and having a right to govern themselves; but the papacy would put over them “a master,” and take from them all right to any part in their own government. In this attitude it is diametrically opposed to the fundamental principles of the nation. Its demand that this country “come under the pope of Rome” is a demand for the complete undoing of all that has made this nation, for the complete revocation of the nation’s most vital principles. The purpose of the papacy to be the “master” which the people of this country need is further set forth by the same writer in these words:— She [the Catholic Church] is, under God, the supreme judge of both laws [civil and religious], which for her are but one law; and hence she takes cognizance, in her tribunals, of the breaches of the natural law as well as of the revealed, and has the right to take cognizance by nations as well as of its breaches by individuals, by the prince as well as the subject; for it is the supreme law for both. The state is therefore only an inferior court, bound to receive the law from the supreme court [the church], and liable to have its decrees reversed on appeal.—Ibid., pages 283-284.
The bold effrontery of such declarations is almost astounding; but it is in perfect accord with the principles of self-exaltation so peculiarly characteristic of the papacy. It is her purpose to be king of all kings on earth, lord over all lords, sitting in judgment on kings and princes, and calling nations to account, even as nations call their individual subjects to account. It even purposes to release the subjects of these individual nations from allegiance to their rightful rulers when those rulers are not sufficiently submissive to the Holy See. This is plainly indicated in a work entitled “His Holiness Pope Pius IX,” pages 47, 48, in the statement that it is “the general duty of all Catholics, whatever their country may be,” and “of all men, if they did but know it, to protect the rights of the Holy See.” What are these rights for which “the faithful” are to contend in every country, which they are to “protect” even against the laws of their own land?—The right of the pope to make every nation subservient to his will, to override the laws of every country on earth, to alter every national and State constitution that is not in harmony with his will, to make the financial support of Catholic worship and Catholic institutions a part of every national budget, to eradicate freedom of thought, of speech, of the press, and of worship, and to make himself—the pope—the ruler of all rulers, the king of the world. All this is involved in the following declaration of Pope Pius IX:— Thinking and meditating on all these matters, we are bound anew to enforce and to profess, what we have oftentimes declared, with your unanimous consent, that the civil sovereignty of the Holy See has been given to the Roman pontiff by a singular counsel of divine providence; and that it is of necessity, in order that the Roman pontiff may exercise the supreme power and authority, divinely given to him by the Lord Christ himself, of feeding and ruling the entire flock of the Lord with fullest liberty, and may consult for the greater good of the church and its interests and needs, that he shall never be subject to any prince or civil power.—“Appleton’s Annual Cyclopedia,” 1871, pages 689, 690.
This is further shown in the following words:— Suppose it be said, “I acknowledge the spiritual authority of the holy father; but why am I, an Englishman [or an American], to come forward in a political way, and use all my exertions to protect the temporal rights of a foreign prince?” My answer at once is plain. The pope is not a foreign prince to any Christian, to any human being.—“His Holiness, Pope Pius IX,” p. 48.
The pope considers himself a domestic prince in every nation, in every state; and Catholics claim for him first duty from every subject of every nation on earth. In the light of this fact, it can readily be seen that no constitution out of harmony with the papal purpose can stand in any country, once the Catholics of that country become powerful enough to change or abolish it. This country’s Constitution is out of harmony with those purposes. How it is viewed by a prominent Catholic journal, the Catholic World, will be seen by the following:— As it [the United States Constitution] is interpreted by the liberal and sectarian journals, . . . or is interpreted by the Protestant principle, so widely diffused among us, . . . we do not accept it, or hold it to be any government at all, or as capable of performing any of the proper functions of government; and if it continues to be interpreted by the revolutionary principles of Protestantism, it is sure to fail—to lose itself either in the supremacy of the mob or in military despotism. . . . Protestantism, like the heathen barbarisms which Catholicity subdued, lacks the element of order, because it rejects authority [the pope’s authority], and is necessarily incompetent to maintain real liberty or civilized society. Hence it is we so often say that if the American republic is to be sustained and preserved at all, it must be by the rejection of the principle of the Reformation and the acceptance of the Catholic principle by the American people.—The Catholic World, Vol. XIII, page 736.
Plain words are these, and they set forth boldly the unchanging purpose of the papacy toward this country. It is a favorite aphorism of the adherents of Romanism that “when Rome speaks, that ends the matter.” She has spoken concerning this country, its Constitution, and its liberal institutions, and declared herself at enmity with them all as they exist to-day. She has declared that governments, to be legitimate, must be based upon the law of God. The American government is not so based, therefore is not legitimate. She has declared that nations born of revolution are not legitimate. This nation was so born, therefore illegitimate. She has declared that governments ruled by the people instead of by kings, or by kings not submissive to her, are merely governments de facto, and have no legitimate claim upon the allegiance of their people. In her summary of the nations, the United States is a government de facto; and by that definition are her spiritual subjects in this country released from their duty to support the Constitution as it reads. Says Balmes in his work, “Protestantism and Catholicity Compared,” chap. 56, page 336:— It is allowable to resist illegitimate power by force. The Catholic religion does not enjoin obedience to governments existing merely de facto.
This opens the way for any kind of resistance to the government and institutions of the United States which the Vatican may choose to instigate. It invites, on the part of American Catholics, attacks upon the fundamental laws of this government. It releases American Catholics from moral responsibility for any attitude of opposition they may assume toward the United States government, in short, absolution in advance for any act committed against the nation in its present form. Such is the ally which the Sunday-law advocates have taken into their camp to assist in the overthrow of the Constitution of the United States, and to march with our liberties back into the darkness of the Dark Ages. The next article will show how the Roman Church relates herself to the movement she has been invited to join, and what part she proposes to play in advancing it. C. M. S.