PROPOSED SUNDAY LAW

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Jan 30, 1907

PROPOSED SUNDAY LAW.

(From the Woodland Democrat, city official paper, of January 15, Mr. Ed. E. Leake, editor.)

WE understand that a constitutional amendment has been prepared and will be submitted to the Legislature, the purpose of which is to reenact the old Sunday law which was in force many years ago, but which was repealed by the Legislature of 1883. The state has got along very well since that time without any Sabbatarian law, and we have heard of no good reason for any change at this time.

There are certain religious denominations who are opposed to a Sunday law, and ours is a government in which every man should be permitted to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience, so long as he leaves others to enjoy the same rights unmolested.

The Sunday law was a dead letter when it was on the statute books. The law was evidently intended to restrain citizens from a direct, free and full exercise of their religious opinions, and was therefore hostile to the principles and traditions of our form of government. It was for these reasons that but feeble efforts were ever made to enforce it.

A similar law has been on the statute books of Massachusetts for many years, but until recently nobody paid any attention to it. A defeated gubernatorial candidate attempted to enforce its observance with the result that some of the very best citizens of the Bay State have been put under arrest for the most trivial things.

It resulted in putting a stop to all Sunday recreations, and outdoor amusements, closed up livery stables, news stands, and all places of business, and the spirit of it is to prevent travel by rail or otherwise, and encourage a spirit of intolerance and the enactment of blue laws.

One of the most pious ministers we ever knew appealed to the young people of his congregation to attend church every Sunday morning, after which there was no objection to decent and orderly outdoor amusements and recreations. And that is the prevailing sentiment among a very large majority of the people of California.

There is no question but that the practise of observing one day in seven is of divine origin, but the attempt to enforce Sunday observance by civil decree is unauthorized by any civil law now in existence, and any attempt to enact such a law is a violation of the inherent rights of every citizen to act conscientiously in such matters so long as he does not interfere with the right of others to do likewise. The Legislature should not attempt to interfere with religious matters.