Petition Against Religious Legislation
By W. A. Colcord
THE following petition has been prepared, and is being sent out for circulation throughout the different States embraced in the Central Union Conference, protesting against the passage by the Senate of the United States of any bill for the enforcement of Sunday observance in the District of Columbia:— Petition Against Religious Legislation To the Honorable the Senate of the United States: We the undersigned adult residents of —— respectfully but earnestly protest against the passage by your Honorable Body of any bill looking toward the enforcement of the observance of the first day of the week by law, in the District of Columbia, believing that such legislation is not only subversive of one of the fundamental principles of our government,—that of religious freedom,—but that it would be taken as a precedent for further legislation of the same character, and, in the end, lead to religious intolerance and persecution. We hope that all our people who have an opportunity to do so will not only sign this petition, but help to circulate it as well, and this without delay, as we have no time to lose. The present session of Congress will soon close, and the bill is liable to come up any day and be passed. Get everybody to sign who will.