CENSORING OUR FREE PRESS
By L. E. F.
A Deeply Significant Undercurrent of Feeling Coming to the Surface
DURING the present session of Congress, there have been three bills introduced that, should they become law, would place in the hands of the postmaster-general alone the power to censor the American press. One of these bills was introduced by Mr. Isaac Siegel, of New York, and is known as House Bill No. 491. It reads as follows: "Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That whenever a complaint in writing shall be filed with the postmaster-general that any publication making use of or being sent through the mails contains any article therein which tends to expose any race, creed, or religion to either hatred, contempt, ridicule, or obloquy, he shall forthwith cause an investigation to be made under his direction, and shall within twenty days after receipt of such complaint, if the facts contained therein are true, make an order forbidding the further use of the mails to any such publication; but nothing herein contained shall be deemed to prevent the postmaster-general from restoring such use of the mails to any such publication whenever it shall be established to his satisfaction that the publication has ceased to print or publish such prohibited matter, and given him satisfactory assurances in writing that there will be no further repetition of the same." Another of the bills, introduced by Mr. John J. Fitzgerald, also of New York, reads as follows: "Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That whenever it shall be established to the satisfaction of the postmaster-general that any person is engaged, or represents himself as engaged, in the business of publishing any obscene or immoral books, pamphlets, pictures, prints, engravings, lithographs, photographs, or other publications, matter, or thing of an indecent, immoral, scurrilous character, and if such person shall, in the opinion of the postmaster-general, endeavor to use the post office for the promotion of such business, it is hereby declared that no letter, packet, parcel, newspaper, book, or other thing sent or sought to be sent through the post office by or on behalf of or to or on behalf of such person shall be deemed mailable matter, and the postmaster-general shall make the necessary rules and regulations to exclude such nonmailable matter from the mails." On March 27, the latest of these bills was introduced by the Hon. James A. Gallivan, of Massachusetts, and is entitled "A Bill (H. R. 13,778) Authorizing the Postmaster-General to Exclude from the Mails Certain Publications," and reads as follows: "Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the postmaster-general shall make the necessary rules and regulations to exclude from the mails those publications the avowed and deliberate purpose of which is to attack a recognized religion held by the citizens of the United States or any religious order to which citizens of the United States belong." The first one of these bills gives the postmaster-general the power, "whenever a complaint in writing shall be filed," to exclude from the mails any publication with "any article therein which tends to expose any race, creed, or religion to either hatred, contempt, ridicule, or obloquy." It should be borne in mind, in considering measures of this kind, that false religions are the only ones that ever seek to enforce their doctrines and notions by civil law. There is only one apparent exception to this rule, and that is that perversions of the true religion of Jesus Christ have also sought for the same thing. But these perversions of the true religion of Christ would also come under the name of false religions; so, in reality, there is no exception to the rule. It should also be remembered that not only Catholics, but Protestants as well, have secured the control of the civil power in many instances, and have persecuted, even to the death. Because a man is a Catholic, it does not necessarily follow that he will persecute; and because a man is a Protestant, neither does it follow that he will refrain from persecuting. But the false conception of the religion of Jesus Christ, in either a Protestant or a Catholic, will lead him to violate the great teaching of the Master, and turn persecutor. The Master said, when He was here: "Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for My name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another." Matt. 24: 9, 10. TRUE CHRISTIANS WILL BE PERSECUTED
On another occasion, we find the Master saying: "Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues; and ye shall be brought before governors and kings for My sake, for a testimony against them and the gentiles. But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you. And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for My name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved." Matt. 10: 16-22. The Bible is full of assertions that the follower of Christ will have persecution, that he will come under the oppression of men who would misuse the civil power; but nowhere do we find the follower of Christ authorized to join in forming combinations or federations that would enable him to control the civil power and seek to suppress those who might differ from him. Christ says to His followers: "They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service." John 16: 2. The religion of the individual should be more highly cherished than any other treasure on earth; but to have some one merely speak against that religion does not hurt it in the least. To place in the hands of one man, the postmaster-general, a power that would permit him to say what men should publish, is a thing that is attended by so many dangers that whether we be Jew or gentile, Catholic or Protestant, we ought to rise up against it.298 The measure introduced by Mr. Fitzgerald, allowing the postmaster-general to exclude from the mails "obscene or immoral books, pamphlets, pictures, prints, engravings, lithographs, photographs, or other publications, matter, or thing of an indecent, immoral, scurrilous character," is dangerous not because it would exclude indecent and immoral publications from the mails, but because it places so much power in the hands of one man. The United States is already abundantly provided with laws against the circulation, through the mails, of indecent and obscene publications. A measure of the character of this Fitzgerald bill has something back of it that is more far-reaching than the mere closing of the United States mails against what everybody would recognize as immoral literature. What is really designed is to get a central power in Washington that can be persuaded that publications are both "immoral" and "scurrilous" if they undertake to show that certain religions are out of harmony with the Bible. TOO PROFOUND FOR HUMAN LAWS
Mr. Gallivan’s bill would exclude from the mails all publications that "attack a recognized religion held by the citizens of the United States or any religious order to which citizens of the United States belong." Why ask for such a law? Christ, as abundantly shown in the scriptures already quoted herein — and many like texts could be added — forewarned His followers that they would meet persecution, that they would be spoken against; but nowhere does He instruct them that they are to seek to get laws that would compel others to yield to their views. The religion of Jesus Christ is too deep and profound ever to be touched by human law. The word of God is living, active, and "sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do." Heb. 4: 12, 13. It is the living word of the living God which can discern "the thoughts and intents of the heart." It alone is able to come into the life of the individual, and give him a religion and a Christian experience that will pass the test at the bar of God. No forbiddings of the state, in the way of prohibitive laws, can keep this religion from him; but such laws may be the means of persecuting and afflicting him. The true followers of Christ, in whatever ranks they are found, whether they may be marching under the banners of nominal Protestantism, or whether they may be looking to the triple crown in the city of Rome, must recognize these living principles of the living God. We must recognize the great fact that there is no "creature that is not manifest in His sight, but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do," and our consciences must be made conformable to His will, and we must recognize Him as our leader, and trust in His power and guidance, and not depend upon the broken reeds of the laws that men may make. The people of this nation have been educated to believe that freedom to speak and to publish our views through the press constitutes one of the chief foundation stones of liberty. Whenever or wherever people have been deprived of these God-given rights and privileges, despotism and tyranny have invariably been manifested. The only way that the liberty and freedom of acting and doing can be preserved is by allowing freedom of thought and of expression on the platform and through the press. It would seem that these fundamental principles of liberty had been so well established in our nation that it ought never to be necessary to consider them as debatable questions; but, as one of our greatest American statesmen one time said, "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." If we would maintain our liberties, we must be on the alert to protect and to defend them. We must ever be awake to the fact that the liberty we possess to-day may not be ours to-morrow, unless we keep the great altar fires of freedom continually alive. It is a well-known and recognized fact that history is ever seeking to repeat itself. The conditions of to-day, the sentiments and the feelings of the people, are very much as they have always been throughout the history of the world; and when the feelings and sentiments of humanity get into wrong channels, we have always had tyrannies, oppressions, debaucheries, and everything that goes along with degradation. Then strong men have had to arise and sacrifice themselves to turn the course of history into the channels of freedom and liberty again. Is the pendulum swinging backward? Is the race seeking to make again some of the experiments of the Middle Ages that gave us despotisms in both church and state which every enlightened person recognizes as intolerable? WORLD-EMBRACING RELIGIOUS DESPOTISM
Such bills as are quoted in the foregoing paragraphs would not be introduced in the United States Congress unless there was a sufficient sentiment back of them to warrant men in introducing them. It is scarcely ever the case that such measures come to the surface unless there is a deep undercurrent of feeling to push them out and to the front. And well may we raise the question, Are we to have another religious despotism in this twentieth century that will be world-embracing? Those who are carefully following their Bibles, and believe the divine truth of that sacred Word, will readily call to mind that the great "beast" persecuting power of the Apocalypse is represented as having received a deadly wound; but "his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshiped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshiped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?" Rev. 13: 3, 4. The latter part of this thirteenth chapter of Revelation represents a great power coming into action right at the close of time, that gives this "beast" with the "deadly wound" its support, and the whole world is drawn under the delusions of its miracle-working despotism. These prophecies should be studied as never before in the world’s history; for not only in the book of Revelation, but elsewhere in the prophecies of the Bible, do we find the facts brought out that the history of the Middle Ages and of all former persecuting times will be repeated, and that, too, in the face of the great enlightenment that men have thought would be a protection against it. These same men thought that our enlightenment and civilization would protect us against war; but how the bloody scenes of Europe and of Asia ought to dispel that delusion! And how such things ought also to dispel this other delusion,—that our civilization cannot be drawn into the place where it will persecute and seek to tyrannize over men’s consciences! The unregenerate humanity of to-day is just like the unregenerate humanity of the Middle Ages, and we need to be on our guard. Liberty-loving people, regardless of creed, in every part of this nation, ought to feel it incumbent upon them to write earnest letters of protest to the congressmen from their respective districts, against the passage of any such measures as the three bills quoted herein. And not only should these letters be written, but petitions should be circulated and sent to Congress, uttering our protests, so that we may prolong our tranquillities of religious freedom as long as possible. The magazine Liberty, Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C., has prepared a special number devoted to the first two of these bills, and giving a form of petition that should be circulated against them. Get some of the petitions, and circulate them vigorously and earnestly throughout your neighborhood. The social and the political unrest of this time, perplexities into which men are plunged because of these things, are favorable to the introduction of a religious despotism as the only thing humanity can see that will be able to cope with the situation. But the infinite God of heaven is the One alone who is equal to the great tasks of to-day. We should be careful to know that we are standing under His banner, and not trusting in the crumbling strength of human weakness.11 AN editorial in the San Jose Mercury says: "A few years ago, New York undertook to drive the multitude of clairvoyants out of the city, by passing severe restrictions and imposing high license fees; but it resulted only in the few remaining, greatly increasing their business and amassing tremendous fortunes. Later the lid was lifted, and the city was soon again swarming with these parasites. It is so everywhere — clairvoyancy is more difficult to stamp out than gambling. If they cannot run their places openly, they do so secretly; and whether or no, they have no difficulty in finding an endless stream of men and women patrons. It is a singular commentary on human nature that it seeks the mystic." There seems to be a spirit of inquiry everywhere. These troublous, perplexing times demand an explanation. How sad to see humanity seeking help from the broken cisterns of earth! To all such, Jehovah issues His challenge: "Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee." Isa. 47: 13. Again: "Let them bring them forth, and show us what shall happen: let them show the former things, what they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come. Show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together. Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of naught." Isa. 41: 22-24. But the impenetrable curtain of the future has been closely drawn by the hand of the Almighty. His unfailing word and His alone can unlatch the events of future days. "Remember the former days of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure." Isa. 46: 9, 10.
L. E. F.