Note and Comment

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 9, 1903

One of the greatest matters of state, if not the greatest, now pending in the republic of France, is that of the projected separation of church and state. A bill providing for the separation is now before the French Chamber. The author of the bill is M. de Pressense, the Protestant son of a distinguished Protestant father. It is believed the bill is regarded with favor by a majority of the Chamber, among whom is the premier, M. Combes. The measure has the support of the anti-clerical press.

The bill as published in the Paris Temps begins with a religious bill of rights, next nullifies the Concordat, or century-old compact between the state and the Catholic Church, pensions some of the clergy, makes the police responsible for the orderly character of public worship, declares most of the cathedrals, churches, and pastoral residences state property, and suppresses the stipends of the clergy. In refutation of the idea which clerical papers advance that church and state can not be separated without great disaster, the author of the bill points to the United States as an example of a country where the full separation of church and state has proved to be to the advantage of each. And this affords an illustration of the truth that the United States is a world power by virtue of the influence of its principles and institutions upon other nations, which, if maintained, would accomplish far greater results in the world than could be effected by the nation's military prowess.

If Protestant and republican government fails in the United States, the death knell of free government will be sounded, not merely here, but throughout the world.