Religious Liberty at Home and Abroad.
The Philippine Christian Advocate stands for religious liberty in the Philippines. It tells us that in what is called the Navotas case, “Fifty men, women, and children, including an American missionary and his wife, were thrust into jail because they held street meetings; and this not once, but twice. In the first place they were arrested under a defunct Spanish law, and in the second instance, under an unapproved town ordinance which was illegal. The Advocate says: “It was clearly proved that this persecution was directed by the town officials, headed by the municipal president, and they were sustained by unjust decisions of the justice of the peace. Altho these matters with the accompanying proofs were laid before the Governor General, no action was taken in removing these officials. “It is, to say the least, difficult for the disinterested observer to understand the prompt action in settling difficulties for the Roman Catholic Church, and the tardy action, or no action at all, in regard to the complaints of the Protestant Church. “La Asamblea Filipina, a daily organ, under the heading, ‘There Is No Equality,’ well points out that it is almost impossible for any one not a Romanist to secure justice in the Philippine Islands.” Yet at the same time that the Philippine Christian Advocate is pleading for religious liberty in the Philippines, its sisters in America, as for instance the California Christian Advocate and The Christian Advocate of New York, are pleading for Sunday laws out of which will grow as there has grown just as much injustice and inequality as exists in the Philippines. The true Christian demands religious liberty for those whom he is opposing.