THE PRESIDENT'S "TOLERATION" IDEA.
PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT is sanguine regarding the religious harmony of the people of this country, and regarding the permanence of that supposed harmony. But it is often true that optimism is based upon an ardent desire to see certain conditions rather than upon a reasonable assurance that they are permanently fixed. That the President desires mutual good-will among all classes, and will endeavor to the best of his judgment to have it so, we do not question; but when he is content to see mere "toleration" where there should be liberty, he displays a lack of appreciation of the true basis of religious harmony. In a speech at Salem, Oregon, during his recent tour, the President is reported to have said:— Fundamentally, in this country, we are free from the dreadful curse of religious hatred and persecution, which has worked so much evil in the world at large. We realize that a cornerstone in the building of this government must be not merely religious toleration before the law, but a genuine religious toleration among ourselves. Unfortunately, instead of being "fundamentally" free from religious hatred, we are only theoretically free from it because of our profession of fundamental freedom. Toleration implies obligation, on the part of those who are tolerated, to those who are gracious enough to do the tolerating. In this republic, because of the profession of religious liberty, the government of the nation and the governments of the States are obligated to the protection of every individual in his religious belief. Therefore the right to the exercise of religious belief (that does not contravene the rights of others) is more than a matter of toleration; it is a matter of protection of vested right. And the right of one is as sacred as the right of the mass. Toleration is not a question of law at all, "merely" or otherwise; for, properly, law either prohibits or protects. In a republic, law is supposed to be regulated by a recognition of the principle of equal rights. But toleration is a question of grace on the part of a superior toward an otherwise helpless inferior. Therefore when the individual assumes an air of mere toleration toward his neighbor's religion, he assumes an air of superiority. And the assumption, on the part of the law or of the individual, of the position of a tolerator, implies the right not to tolerate when such a course seems expedient. Moreover the power to enforce intolerance will surely inspire action in that direction. Again, the President is reported to have said:— We in America are to be held thrice blessed that the chance for animosity between Jew and Gentile, or between Christian sects, has become infinitesimal to the vanishing point. But when the highest ideal of our very optimistic President, in his desire for religious harmony, is reached by the low idea of "toleration" surely "the chance for animosity," instead of being at "the vanishing point" is really at the danger point. Immediately following the foregoing quoted remarks the President added:— Once more, not only must there be no line of demarcation among our people on the grounds of creed or on grounds of sect, but there must be no line of demarcation down among them on grounds of class or occupation. But there are lines of demarcation among our people on these grounds, and the presence of laws on our national and State statute books prescribing the observance of Sunday are indubitable evidence of the enforced observance of a religious tenet, and the official denial of the right not to observe it. And these constitute the ever-ready weapon of a large class of intolerant individuals. The labor unions, the non-union unions, the leagues of employers, the contests of labor and capital, the race and color lines, all testify to the existence of those lines of demarcation. They are here, and they will not vanish because our well-meaning President shakes his fist at them. And if he would prevent in this country "the dreadful curse of religious hatred and persecution, which has worked so much evil in the world at large," he must needs raise his standard from the illiberal plane of "toleration" to the high eminence, the true republican goal, of absolute religious liberty and equality before the law. Yet with all that the best President can do to ameliorate conditions, these lines of demarcation are here to stay. "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come, for men shall be lovers of their own selves," etc. See 2 Tim. 3:1-7. As prophetic proof that bitter contests will continue to the very end, and that this country is not immune, read James 5:1-8 and Revelation 13. "The sure word of prophecy" always portrays conditions in their true light. G.