Religious Liberty Notes
By K. C. RUSSELL
W. F. CRAFTS spoke in Rochester, N. Y., recently, opposing Sunday concerts because they were a competitor to church attendance. Nearly a quarter of a million of the four new religious liberty leaflets have been published during the last year, or a total of 2,100,000 pages. The Norwich Bulletin, of Norwich, Conn., relates some unpleasant experiences of innocent citizens as the result of the enforcement of the Sunday-closing order. Sunday observance occupied general attention at the recent annual session of the Presbyterian Synod of Minnesota at Fergus Falls, Minn., and a number of resolutions were adopted on this subject. Brother C. P. Whitford has recently been chosen religious liberty secretary of the Florida Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. Our prayer is that the Lord may greatly bless Brother Whitford with strength and health as he takes up this important work. Word has just been received from Australia that Elder W. A. Hennig has recently been placed in charge of the religious liberty work in the Australasian Union Conference. Let other union and local conferences do likewise in appointing a religious liberty secretary. October 20 the police court of Rochester, N. Y., dropped the cases of nine grocerymen who were accused of violating the Sunday law, because of the non-appearance of the prosecutor. The chief of police, however, has issued an order directing the police captains in every precinct to see that all grocery stores are closed on Sundays hereafter. It is reported that the Masonic lodges of Illinois have decided “to honor the Sabbath day” by having “no more public rites on the Lord’s day.” Action to this effect was taken at a convention of the grand lodge of Medina Temple in Chicago on October 11, and was pursuant21to a recommendation in the report of retiring Grand Master William B. Wright, who said with reference to “Masonic assistance in the laying of corner-stones of churches and other buildings on Sunday,” that “he had come to consider even these ceremonies work, and for that reason they should be held on week-days.” The following protest against “Sunday desecration” and in behalf of the enforcement of “Sabbath laws” was recently published in Lisbon, S. D., newspapers, over the signatures of five local clergymen: “We, the undersigned pastors of our respective churches in Lisbon, do most strenuously protest against the wilful and flagrant violations of the sanctity of the Christian sabbath. We deplore the demoralizing tendency to trample under foot the Christian and civic institution as seen in stores being open, men working on the streets and in the public highways and in the fields, hunting, fishing, baseball games, and such like Sunday desecration. Moreover, we urge all citizens not only to respect the observance of sabbath laws but also to use their influence to have these laws enforced.” A religious liberty secretary writes in one of the conference papers as follows concerning the local Religious Liberty Department of his conference: “We are aiming to rapidly perfect the organization of this department. We need a corresponding secretary in every church and separate Sabbath-school. Will not the churches and elders kindly see to it that a suitable person is selected for secretary to co-operate with us, and forward name and address to the undersigned, that the complete list may be made up for publication?” Why should we not have this department as thoroughly organized as any other, so that a quick and effective work can be done when some issue is sprung upon us that demands decisive action on the part of God’s people? K. C. RUSSELL.