Religious Laws Make Hypocrites.
—The following is from the New York Christian Advocate. It expresses an idea very common in these days. “The American Hebrew declares its sentiments as follows:— “No man has a right to use his religious faith as a cloak for violating the law of the land. If a Jew who is arrested for violation of the Sunday laws sets up his religion as a defense, when he has not lived up to it, and has failed to observe Saturday as his day of rest, then his violation of the law becomes an aggravated offense, and should meet with the fullest penalty. “All good laws give hypocrites their chance, but the police authorities should fearlessly pull off the mask.” All religious laws give hypocrites their chance, and except in open cases, which are so manifest as to be devoid of hypocrisy or pretension, the police authorities have no power to pull off the mask. If civil government confined itself to its own sphere, there would be no development of hypocrisy of which it could act as judge. It would protect all in their inalienable rights, and restrain or punish incivility, the overt act. Religious laws will always develop hypocrites, and religious laws in a state are never “good.” The adjudging of hypocrites belongs only to God.