A Battle for Religious Freedom
By L. A. S.
A BATTLE for religious freedom is being fought by Protestants in Peru, where the law forbids all public religious gatherings not conducted by Catholic priests. Under the leadership of a Methodist clergyman, Rev. John Lee, the Protestants have succeeded in bringing diplomatic pressure to bear on the Peruvian government, through the representatives at Lima of the United States, British, and German governments. This fact having been noted and approved by several prominent Protestant journals in the United States, the New World (Catholic, Chicago), reminds Protestants in this country that a law debarring Catholics from public office exists in New Hampshire, and inquires why American Protestants have not petitioned to have this law repealed. It might truthfully have added that laws compelling the observance of Sunday exist on the statute books of nearly all the States, and in many places these laws are by no means a dead letter. In Peru Protestants are in the minority, and freedom is restricted by the Catholic majority. In the United States laws restricting religious freedom are enforced by the Protestant majority. The character of an unjust law is much more readily discerned by the minority who suffer from it than by the majority who enforce it. Protestants would greatly strengthen their position against the attacks of Rome if they would not themselves make and enforce laws which are papal in character.
L. A. S.