Religious Liberty Notes
By W. A. COLCORD
It is not the every-day violations of the law, but the Sunday violations which seem most to concern some of the ministers of to-day who have much to say about “law enforcement.” Advocates of Sunday laws are making a great plea now for the necessity of such laws in the interests of the laboring men. But the Sunday laws which they desire enacted for the laboring man are compulsory rest laws. It is not intended that individual liberty to work or not to work shall be respected. They will be destructive of liberty, and bring about enforced idleness. “To crown Christ king is our purpose,” says Mr. W. F. Crafts, “and the way to do it is to make the law of God the law of the land.” The same gentleman further says: “It has been a long fight to get a Sunday law for the capital of our country.” When a national Sunday law has been secured we presume the National Reformers will then declare that Christ has been crowned king. The eighth annual convention of the Federation of Churches and Christian Workers of Wisconsin, is to be held at Sparta, October 16 and 17, and is to be followed by a two-days’ session of the Wisconsin Sunday Rest Day Association. The Federation embraces ten state denominational bodies and six “moral reform” associations, among which is the Sunday Rest Day Association. “It is a matter of dispute among theologians whether there is any such thing as a Christian sabbath, and whether, if there is one, it falls on Saturday or Sunday,” says the Chicago Chronicle. This fact ought to cause those zealous religionists to pause who are constantly demanding laws to enforce the observance of Sunday as the “Christian sabbath.” Gov. Joseph W. Folk, of Missouri, has entered upon quite an aggressive Sunday closing campaign throughout his State, especially in St. Louis, on the ground that every law on the statute-books should be enforced. “No official,” he declares, “has a right to ignore any law. It is not for him to say whether the law is good or bad, but it is for him to enforce it as he finds it on the books.” Mr. W. T. Jerome, prosecuting attorney of New York City, opposes Mr. Folk’s position, and declares that “Sunday closing laws are sediments of Puritanism.” A brother writing from Nebraska says: “This Sunday question is coming to the front faster than our people imagine, and the storm will soon break with fury upon an unprepared people. Little do we realize the spirit that is pent up in the movement. It will require every effort at our command to beat back the waves of falsehood and anger that are gathering in the sea of discord and discontent. The very atmosphere of the popular churches is tainted with the breath of unholy zeal, and animated with a blind fury of determination that is painful to experience. I detect it almost everywhere.” An organization known as the Madison County Law Enforcement Alliance was recently formed at Alton, Ill., for the purpose of demanding the enforcement, by the proper officers, of the Sunday law against saloons. The organization is composed of representatives of the English Protestant churches of the country, three representatives from each church. Several ministers of these churches have refused to enter the league, however, on the ground that the best results can not be obtained by such methods. In response to “complaints of ministers” the police authorities of Lincoln, Neb., began a strict enforcement of the Sunday closing ordinances of that city on July 30. Under the heading, “Lincoln Stores Must Be Closed on Sunday,” the Lincoln Star of July 29 says: “Merchants who keep their stores open tomorrow may be arrested. So declare the police. The complaints of ministers have caused the officers to watch for offenders.” On July 25 the city marshal of McPherson, Kan., served notice on merchants who were found selling goods on the preceding Sunday, that Sunday sales must cease, and that if their stores were found open for business on the following Sunday, arrests would be made. He stated that he had been instructed to put a stop to all illegal selling on Sunday, and would carry his order out to the letter. A local newspaper says that “other towns in the State, and especially large towns, observe the Sunday closing laws very closely, and the day is soon coming when they will be enforced in every town in the State.” This is only a sample of the general crusade which is being carried on all over the country. Twenty-four religious denominations, representing eighteen million communicants, have each appointed from five to fifty delegates to meet in New York City November 15, to take part in an interchurch conference on federation. The conference is to be held in Carnegie Hall for a week, the object being the federation of the Protestant forces in America for work largely along National Reform lines. Among the sixty speakers on the program are two justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, two judges of State courts, a United States Senator, a congressman, a governor, a mayor, and a number of college presidents, professors, and editors, besides many church bishops and ministers.