Religious Liberty Notes

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 30, 1909

Religious Liberty Notes

OUR religious liberty secretary in the Wyoming Conference, Roscoe T. Baer, writes that there has arisen some agitation in Cheyenne, Wyo., on the question of Sunday closing, and he intends to keep the public press supplied with religious liberty matter. Let others arouse themselves on this subject.

Some time ago we noted that in the Pacific Union Conference they had planned eight religious liberty institutes, five of which had then been located in time and place. We now notice in a later number of the Pacific Union Recorder that they have definitely arranged time and place for two more of the remaining three.

Monday, November 15, a Sunday-closing ordinance was tabled at Leavenworth, Kan., by a vote of four to one, in spite of the fact that the ministers and church representatives were on hand to drive the thing through. The fight, however, is still on, and Elder J. S. Wightman is planning to hold a mass-meeting there in the interests of religious liberty.

The following is a program sent our department concerning one of the field secretaries of the International Reform Bureau (of which Mr. Wilbur F. Crafts is superintendent), Rev. Olan R. Miller, who is to locate in Albany, N. Y., Jan. 1, 1910: “The Rev. Mr. Miller will keep clergymen informed so they may have time to appear at any hearing. He will edit a weekly paper, to appear each Friday. This will be a four-page bulletin, and it will come out immediately after the adjournment of the legislature for the week. It will be called the Reform Bulletin, and it will give the essence of every new bill that is of interest to churches, stating its committee reference, with the name and home address of each member of the committee.”

Elder A. J. Clark, religious liberty secretary of the Eastern New York Conference, writes from his home in Albany, N. Y., as follows: “Already we can see that the enemies of the truth are beginning to prepare for the fight at the legislature this winter. To prepare for the work and stir the people up to Sunday legislation, the officials of the city have been pressed to put the lid on a little, and about three weeks ago they arrested a man for working in his skating rink cleaning and having a friend there skating while he was at work. The case was brought to trial, and the defendants appealed for a jury, which was granted. The jury was out only twenty minutes, and returned a verdict of ‘not guilty.’ Some of the people were quite provoked about it, and the lawyer who tried the case for the defendant told me that he was afraid the district attorney of the county court would take the thing in hand. It really looks as if the enemies of the truth were going to put forth quite an effort this winter in Albany.”