p. 20 | A Roman Catholic View of the Separation of Church and State

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park, Washington, D. C. · May 23, 1912

A Roman Catholic View of the Separation of Church and State

In a sermon preceding the convention of the Louisiana State Federation of Catholic Societies, Rt. Rev. John E. Gunn, S. M., D. D., bishop of Natchez, declared, as reported by the Morning Star (Roman Catholic) of New Orleans, that there is arrayed against the church, and consequently against society, a strong federated irreligion, whose platform is to banish God from every department of social, educational, and national life. The speaker gave the platform of this irreligious crusade, the second plank of which he said was:—

"Separation of state and church; that the latter may be first impoverished and then paralyzed in its Christian mission. The separation of state from church, to impoverish, paralyze, and spoliate the church."

It thus appears that according to the Roman Catholic view the separation of the state from the church is one feature of an irreligious crusade.