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A Striking Letter From a Prominent Labor Unionist

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 17, 1910

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 87, No. 11.

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A Striking Letter From a Prominent Labor Unionist

By K. C. R.

“Your favor of the 20th inst. to hand. There is nothing that I have received in a long while that has given me so much pleasure as the knowledge of the fact that there is a society combatting the revival of the puritanical method of two hundred years ago.
“It is surprising that the upas tree of intolerance ever gained footing on American soil. But I am sorry to say that it is more wide-spread in this country than in any other part of the known globe.
“I have always contended that under the Constitution of the United States of America neither municipal, State, nor national legislative bodies had any right to decide an act legal on one day of the week and illegal on another. The Constitution is absolutely silent on the question of God, Sunday or religion, and the only time the question is touched is when it guarantees absolute religious freedom to every person sheltered under the folds of the stars and stripes.
“If there is anything that I possibly can do to combat this rising tide of trying to be thy neighbor's keeper, you can count on me. . . . If these ignorant bigots ever succeed, our liberties are gone, and we shall return to the age of the Spanish Inquisition, when men were tortured in every conceivable way if they happened to differ in any way with ‘the powers that be,’ as to what angle a candle should be burned.
“And all this persecution through the centuries has been carried on in the name of Christ, whose character was of that kind that he was incapable of any evil thought or deed, or a cruel or unkind act.
“The men of the United States of America who believe in liberty should not hesitate to inform all interested parties that we are ready to defend that liberty by every force at our command.”
We are pleased with the clear understanding of correct religious liberty principles the foregoing letter voices, but the Holy Spirit is the only effective remedy for these evils.
K. C. R.