Religious Exemption in Sunday Law
By Editor
Among the twenty-two different exemptions granted by Mr. Tufts's proposed Sunday law, using up nearly all the letters of the alphabet in numbering them, there is one which exempts for religious reasons a class, as follows: "(m) To any person who is a member of a religious society which observes some other day than Sunday as its day of worship, and who actually keeps his place of business, or of his ordinary calling, closed, and does not work for gain at his ordinary calling, or at common labor, on said day of worship." That is not a very clear sentence. It simply means this, we gather: that the common, ordinary man exempted by this law must be a member of a religious society which observes some other day than Sunday, and the members of which society must actually keep their place of business closed, and who do not work for gain at their ordinary calling, or at common labor, on the day which they observe. But unless a man does belong to such a society, he is not exempt. He may observe the Sabbath as a conscientious Christian, but he may not belong to any Sabbath-keeping society. He therefore will be subject to the fine of $200, or thirty days in jail. See a discussion of these principles in Mr. Tufts's article in another column, and replies to that article by Mr. Corliss and the editors. Such an exemption would compel a seventh-day person to join a church, and this he may not believe in at all. It is therefore coercion in religious matters.