Religious Liberty Notes
By W. A. COLCORD
THE movement for Sunday enforcement is making great headway all over the country. “About nine times out of ten when a person is arrested for working on Sunday, the act is more the result of spleen on the part of the one complaining, than a desire to have a quiet day,” says the Muncie (Ind.) Press. One subject discussed at the recent international Christian Endeavor convention held at Baltimore, was, “Shall the Sabbath Be Sacred or Secular?” If it is sought to be upheld and enforced by secular law, it will pretty surely become secular. During the recent agitation over Sunday legislation in Honolulu, H. I., the Federation of Catholic Societies at that place, adopted a resolution stating that they were in favor of “allowing all recreations and amusements on Sunday consistent with the due observance of the day.” A crusade against “all classes of stores that keep open on Sunday” was recently inaugurated at McKeesport, Pa. The first prosecution under the crusade was that of John Smith, who was sued for violating the Sunday laws, by Philip Zenn, “a wealthy and prominent member of the Coursin Street Methodist Episcopal Church.” Imagine Christ prosecuting a man for failing to comply with his religious views! Imagine him, moreover, suing a man for failing to keep a day he had never commanded him to keep! “What would Jesus do?” would be a good motto for the Sunday crusaders to consider and adopt. A writer in the Union Republican, of Winston, N. C., says: “To undertake to interfere with Mr. Hege, with all the seven-day workers and traders in full blast, looks like persecution, and the straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel. Let Tom alone. He is hurting no one, and not doing enough business to make any one notice him. Cast out the beams, and then go hunt for the motes.” A brother writes: “You will be interested to learn that Congressman ——, of ——, sent letters to five hundred of his constituents who signed the petition against the District of Columbia Sunday bill, announcing that the bill did not pass.” After reading this, who will say that the petition work made no impression upon Congress, or that God has not his agents in legislative assemblies as well as outside of them? This congressman, we are informed, moreover, is very friendly to Seventh-day Adventists. Because “the city authorities had had trouble with Tom Hege for Sunday selling,” the Winston, N. C., board of aldermen, on July 6, repealed the ordinance permitting the sale of any goods whatsoever on Sunday, which means that all cigar stores, news stands, soda fountains, and the like, in Winston, must cease doing business on that day. The Board saw the inconsistency of permitting some to sell, and fining and imprisoning others for doing the same thing. The vote of the eight aldermen, however, was a tie, the mayor casting the deciding vote. As announced in last week’s REVIEW, our brethren who have been imprisoned in Turkey for nearly a year have been released. Under date of June 18, Elder L. R. Conradi writes: “Just before I left Hamburg, I received a letter from Dr. George, in which he states that he had a telegram from Brother Baharian, announcing that they all had been freed.” There were five in all imprisoned. No details of the case have yet been received, but it is possible that our recent overtures to the Turkish minister in Washington in their behalf had something to do with their release. While admitting that for the officers of the law at Winston, N. C., to fine and imprison Tom C. Hege, a Sabbathkeeper, for selling goods on Sunday, and at the same time pass by hundreds of other violators of the Sunday law, is “nothing short of officious persecution,” still the editor of Everything, a journal published at Greensboro, N. C., says: “It becomes a matter of the majority of the citizens to agree upon a day and observe it. If Tom wants to close up on Saturday, generally the best day for tradespeople, he shows his absolute sincerity in his religious belief; but being in the minority, he should not attempt to engender strife and bitterness by opposing the majority of the people among whom he lives; . . . he must not aid in breeding strife; he must not engender bitter feelings. He must remember that he is in Rome, and do as the Romans do.” Like all other arguments upholding the Sunday and enforced Sunday observance, this sounds very much like “Rome.” W. A. COLCORD.