A FORCED RELIGION by Eli O. Carlsen

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Mar 30, 1904

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 30, No. 13.

A FORCED RELIGION.

By Eli O. Carlsen

BY ELI O. CARLSEN.

To FORCE any religion upon any one is an impossibility, because a person that believes a certain thing is right can not believe it is wrong, even if he wanted to. He may act as if he believed it was wrong, but in the "clearness" of his mind it has not changed. Force can not change opinion.

Not only is a forced religion an impossibility, but it is just the opposite of Christianity. A forced religion was started, and is kept in motion, by the love of power. This sin caused the fall of Christianity, and made the Dark Ages; by this sin fell the angels; and as principles never change, it would do the same to-day or any other time.

Christianity was started, and still progresses, by the power of love. When it ceases to flow from this fountain, it ceases to be Christianity. This principle (power of love) flows through the universe, and holds it together. The spirit of the "love of power" disintegrates and brings in confusion.

As a leading educator of the world said, "It is the duty of every person to become acquainted, and get in harmony, with the current of the universe;" but it is not the duty of any man to force another man into it. Even if, by so doing, he could force him into eternal life in heaven, it would be sin, for force is the opposite of love and righteousness. Nevertheless, persistent efforts are being put forth to bring in compulsion in religious practise, and that, too, by influential men and organizations. It is an unreligious principle, wholly unworthy the enlightenment of an age in which the Gospel work is culminating.