Religious Liberty Notes
By K. C. Russell
The North Michigan Conference News Sheet, under date of January 15, contains reports of two interesting religious liberty conventions, held in that conference at Menominee and at Petoskey. This is a good beginning. Brother and Sister Wightman are holding a series of meetings at Bath, N. Y., and in one of her reports in a recent issue of the New York Indicator Sister Wightman said: “As we have reached the religious liberty subject, the interest is increasing.” Our churches in the District of Columbia will each conduct a religious liberty convention Sabbath, February 3. The same program will be followed which has been sent out and recommended to be used by all our conferences in their churches. The Colorado Conference paper, Echoes from the Field, bearing date of January 10, is a religious liberty edition. The following is a list of interesting articles and the names of the writers: “Christian Citizenship,” by Dr. Willard W. Hills, Religious Liberty Secretary of the Colorado Conference; “Sunday Laws Are Not Civil, but Religious,” by H. M. J. Richards; “The Lord’s Powers That Be,” by G. W. Angle barger; “Work of the Federation,” by Willard W. Hills; “Church Federation,” by L. A. Smith; “An Appeal for Justice,” by Francis M. Wilcox; “A Striking Contrast;” “National Reform Campaign,” by K. C. Russell; besides a page of interesting notes and items on the subject of Religious Liberty. This paper is certainly a right move in the direction of educating our people on the principles of religious liberty. The Petoskey Evening News of Jan. 9, 1906, gives a report of a meeting of the Preachers’ Union held in that city the 8th inst., consisting of twenty-five preachers and their wives, representing eight different denominations. The report says, in part: “Rev. R. H. Turner, pastor of the Fulton Street United Brethren church, presented to the union a carefully prepared paper on the topic, ‘What can we do as a ministerial union for the moral uplift of the community?’ He said, among other things, that we might organize ourselves into a law and order league to bring about civic reforms. We might demand of those in authority the enforcement of law. We might unite our efforts to secure the election of such men as will pledge themselves to be true to the interests of reform. The paper proved a most earnest discussion upon practical methods of making the united power of the preachers felt in the matter of civic righteousness.” This conference forecasts what the practical results of the Inter-Church Federation Movement means. An Inter-Church Federation Conference has been announced to be held in Baltimore, Md., January 30, under the auspices of the Ministers’ Union in the Eutaw Place Baptist church. First session 2-5 P. M., and the second 8-9:3521P. M. The following is a list of some of the topics to be discussed: “History of Federation Movement,” “The Essential Unity of the Churches,” “Marriage and Divorce,” “Co-operation for Religious Instruction of the Young,” and “Christian Citizenship.” The following was written by the Florida Religious Liberty secretary, C. P. Whitford: “I appointed twenty-five local secretaries, and wrote them a two-page circular letter, laying out some work for them to do. I also wrote a letter for the Jacksonville (Fla.) Times, and another for a Starke paper.” The Religious Liberty Bureau has had printed a supply of petition blanks to be circulated by our people against H. R. Bill 10510, entitled “A Bill to Further Protect the First Day of the Week as a Day of Rest in the District of Columbia.” It is also getting out a leaflet which will give quite a complete explanation of the bill, to be distributed by those who circulate the petitions. A supply of these petition blanks and leaflets will be furnished to our conferences as soon as possible. “An Appeal for Justice, or in Jail for Conscience in the Twentieth Century,” by Elder H. M. J. Richards, is a tract of twenty-two pages which has just been received by the Religious Liberty Department. It contains an interesting and graphic account of the imprisonment of Brother E. K. Cassell, in Raton, N. M., last March, who was convicted for laboring on Sunday. The tract is printed on good paper and is illustrated. It can be obtained by addressing the Colorado Tract Society, 1112 South Eleventh St., Denver, Colo. Price, post-paid, 2 cents each, $1.50 a hundred. It would be excellent to use where our people may be arrested for violation of the Sunday law.