WHAT THEY ASK FOR by Alonzo Trévier Jones

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jun 17, 1889

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 15, No. 23.

WHAT THEY ASK FOR.

By Alonzo Trévier Jones

SOME time since the Christian Nation had an editorial article entitled, “Senator Blair’s Christian Amendment,” in which, after giving the proposed amendment entire, it said:—

“More than this we do not ask. We know that we be slanderously reported as advocating a union of Church and State, as desiring to compel people to be Christians by law (and possibly torture), to be seeking to destroy the liberty of unbelievers, and so on, ad infinitum; but we have never asked anything more of the State than is indicated in this resolution of Senator Blair’s.”

The gist of the proposed amendment is that “no State shall ever make or maintain any law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;” but that each State “shall establish and maintain a system of free public schools adequate for the education of all the children living therein, between the ages of six and sixteen years, inclusive, in the common branches of knowledge, and in virtue, morality, and the principles of the Christian religion.” It is further provided that “the United States shall guarantee to every State, and to the people of every State and of the United States, the support and maintenance of such a system of free public schools.”

All this if not scanned too closely seems very innocent; and the Christian Nation evidently so regards it, for it says with quite a flourish that it has “never asked anything more of the State than is indicated in this resolution of Senator Blair’s.” And why should they ask anything more? This proposed amendment certainly gives all that they could ask, for, should it ever be adopted, it will virtually establish the Christian religion, so called, as the religion of the United States. It requires that the principles of the Christian religion shall be taught in the public schools, and that the United States shall guarantee to every State, and to the people of every State and of the United States, the support of such a system of public schools. And as has been shown repeatedly in the American Sentinel, this will necessitate the decision as to what the principles of the Christian religion are. And this decision will have to be arrived at in one of two ways, either it must be defined by an act of Congress, and afterward, if disputed, passed upon by the courts, or it must be decided at once by the court; that is, by the Supreme Court.

But as both Congress and the Supreme Court are made up of men professing no religion, or of men who belong to various churches, it would, of course, be impossible for either Congress or the Supreme Court to agree upon the principles of the Christian religion. It is evident, therefore, that a decision on this point would first have to be arrived at by calling a convention of representative men from the various religious denominations, they to determine, not from the Scriptures but from the standards of the various churches, and by vote, what are the principles of the Christian religion. These articles of faith could then be sanctioned by the Government, and of course would be the established religion.

But even then the matter would not be finally settled. Several of the States of this nation are strongly Catholic, and these would certainly claim the right to teach in their schools the principles which a majority of their citizens understand to be the principles of the Christian religion. Take, for instance, the State of California. In this State the Catholics outnumber all Protestants put together. At present the schools are entirely secular, and in some parts of the State are not patronized by the Catholics to any considerable extent; but let the law be so changed as to require the principles of the Christian religion to be taught in the public schools, and the Catholics would certainly insist that, being in the majority, they should have the right to say what should be taught for these principles. This would certainly bring about a dispute between Protestants and Catholics, and most likely, too, between the various sects of Protestants. And then again the courts would be called upon to decide what should be regarded as the principles of the Christian religion.

A great deal of stress is laid upon the fact that this proposed amendment provides that no State shall ever make or maintain any law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. But as we have shown, the adoption of this amendment would make it necessary that the United States, at least, should both make and maintain laws respecting the establishment of religion, and requiring that instruction in that religion be given to all public schools. Or, if it should be left for each State to decide what it would teach as the principles of the Christian religion, it would require that each State do the very thing that the proposed amendment professedly forbids. We do not well see how the most ardent National Reformer could ask more than this, unless, indeed, it would be the right of banishing or putting to death heretics. C. P. B.