Image provided by: Silverton Country Historical Society; Silverton, OR
About Torch of reason. (Silverton, Oregon) 1896-1903 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 20, 1900)
___________________ T H E T 0K C H OP REA SO N , S IL V E R T O X . OREGON, D E C E M B E R 20, E. M. 300 (1900.) Will the reader please re- spectral lines. Light and heat do • ” contend for , be ,,f „ „ 8„ g i v e '□ a 'i t e '.r o e read th a t q uotation carefully. Is not proceed from d ista n t bodies, Bible in our “ free” schools so- r', 8 there any evidence in it of the tru th through absolute cold and darkness called, now th a t their m inisters e x o la in ^ th e r " " Ce88arJ' . *° or falsity of the n ebular hypothesis? for m ilions of miles, and reappear generally are disputing so m uch this dogm a is g r o u n d ^ Tbe’ jew s ‘ t’ tk - M i l W '""d h h e r e ®’ h™‘ “ nd hKh t a s a in > nor “ boul >»» a u th o rity and value as do not accept the N .w T e e ta m e n t a tu e Llky ay, and thought are the electric cu rren ts proceeding an inspired or revealed ru le of Hence the argum ent of B lackburn hat it consisted n a lot of nebu- from those bodies to us, laden with faith. How shall they explain to is not adm issible The Bible m o r e “.n. ' 0r" „ ? .0_r do ,L PrOJCe8’ - ° f “ ,om ,cd.U 8 to r“ ny th in g else. They poung m inds all the hum an e n o rs, over, is the product of the C hurch. gestation. L ater, it was demon- are not freight cariers. perversions, a n d contradictions It was w ritten by different raen a t «trated to be composed of m yriads The electric theory of heat and which the critics,-—aud what prot- different periods of time and in dif of d istan t stars. T h at pictures light is now pretty well established > s ta n t, by rig h t ofprivate judgm ent .v*CUv m Uguages • and as hist ferent lan g u ag e s; aud as history have now been made of “ wonderful » « th e m inds of m any m odern sci- is not a critic,—choose to find in it? shows was not compiled u f l T clouds of fain tly glowing gasses, ©ntists and the theory of L aplace Nor have they any su b stitu te on Church had been in existei ” V ” vast spirals, immense g u lfso f black- necessarily overthrow n. But it dies which they can agree among them- three hundred years In the earl ’ ness surrounded by / lum inous walls hard Scientists have their creeds selves, even th e civic, unsectarian ages of the C hurch, C hristians got and th e like, indicates th a t the and dogmas, as well as the church- c>r undogm atic lesson in m orality. faith I o . , 1 “ . their m en m m i precisely as we get it to- to new telescope has got into another es. borne of them are very reluct- j It is conceded by Free Religion-1 day, from the au th o ritativ e teach “ Milky W hen more found effect M!I,” W VV“ ay.” ” ” vv..„-------- in igt e, by the ablest of the secular iug of the Bisbops aud priests of I hough science is in- press, by m any representative min- the C hurch. ive in stru m en ts have been devised, the books. this “ Milky W ay ” will doubtless be fallible, the scientists are not. isters of the E vangelical churches, The real reason for the exclusion 1 have w ritten this brief article and by large num bers of the people, converted into Edam Cheeses, or, rath er into a m u ltitu d eo f spherical because B rother W akem an, of the th at, to tax Catholics, Jews and of Biblical selections from the cur- riculum of the public schools is bodies, ro tating in space, ju st like Torch of Reason, has been w restling Infidels, for schools in which the th a t in a school system which is the rest of them . This universe is with the subject, and though a p p a r Bible is read and religious exercises pretty old. T here is no m aterial en tly concurring with my conclu are held, is a wrong, an act of supposed to be divorced from relig for enlarging it. Even the repairs sions, w ants to hear from me con injustice, a form of ty ran n y . So u n ion of all kinds, no collection even con tin u aily going on, have to be cerning the recent cloud pictures of derstanding the case, the cities of of literary gems from the Bible can marie by a réad ap tatio n of the old the Lick reflecting telescope. So I Troy, Rochester, C incinnati, New be used from which the personal elem ent of the teacher can he elim stuff. There is no planet building have th u s briefly spoken. Y ork, and Chicago, have forbidden going on, th a t we know of. There [From “ The E arth not Born .of religious exercises of any descrip inated. I h at personal elem ent m ust never was. the S u n ,” Nov. Free T hought Mag. tion in their common schools. Mr. necessarily be influenced by his own religious train in g , and conse It is a good deal easier to get up Beecher declared years ago: “ It is a hypothesis than it is to prove its I T he B ible in th e P ublic Schools, not right or fair to tax Catholics or quently there is sure to be sectarian teaching in spite of one’s self. »It is tru th . W hen it was found th a t the ______ Jews for the support of schools in tru e th a t th is gives us a system of hypothesis of Moses, th a t divine ri3, . . [From the C atholic Sentinel, of which the Bible is read.” His con Godless schools, hut this is the scientist, concerning the creation D ~ gregation applauded the saying. t. , , * , ,, P ortland, of Dec. 6.1 delect of the public school sys of the earth and “ the stars also,” J If it is not right, it is wrong, and could not he confirmed by the afli-J ^he unjust and illogical decision Catholics who are thus taxed are, tem anyw ay. So long as it lasts davits of eye witnesses, it was j A ttorney G eneral B lackburn, in to the ex ten t of the taxes they pay, it will have th at defect. B ut so long as it lasts it should not be a l thought desirable to account for the which he upholds the reading of punished— persecuted for religion’s lowed to become sectarian accord creation in some other way. This ph© Bibl in the public schools, is sake. ing to anyone’s idea. was very n atu ral. A hundred years mosI severely condem ned, An edi- P arental rights precede S late I he result of such unjust action ago Laplace, a great French astron- to r*a l on this subject from the Ore- rights. The child belongs to its pa by bigoted S tate officials should om er of th a t tim e, projected the g ° n ian of last week will repay care- rents and not to th e State. The cosmic scheme known as the nebu P 11^ rea(hng, aH it covers th e ground aroi.se Catholics to a sense of their doctrine coming into vogue, th a t duty to support their own schools, • lar hypothesis. He beat Moses P rom a non-C atholic standpoint, the child belongs to the State, is academ ic, collegiate and university’ most decidedly, for there are m any Several m onths ago some Catho- the dressing up of an old skeleton so as to enable them to give th eir things in n ature which seem to He children refused to be present of sp artan paganism , with its hide conform to its tru th . It should he when the Bible was read during oiisness disguised by a thin cloaking pupils a com plete and thorough education. It is time th at the true rem em bered, however, that jus« one claes hours a, a public school in of C hristian m orality. The rights dem onstration directly antagoniz- P ierm ont, N. Y ., whereupon they of parents are strongly and clearly C atholic sp irit should be m anifest ing a hypothesis, com pletely upsets were expelled, until State Superin- defined by Judge E llis Lewis, in ed, and the C atholic voice heard and destroys it. A considerable I tendent of E ducation S kinner de- Com m onw ealth V. A rm strong, L y from our pulpits and lecture p la t r.utnber of such have already been cided th at such reading was a relig- com ing County, Pa., August ses forms, from our m agazines aud produced, as is com pletely shown tous exercise and therefore not per- sion, 1842. In this opinion Judge newspapers, and, in due tim e, in our ballot-boxes. We need to cu l in my pam phlet, “ The E a rth not ! mis3ible in the public schools. Lewis says: “ It is the undoubted tivate a thorough Catholic sen ti Created. I Almost at the sam e tim e the right of the father to designate such It is known to scholars th a t the State S uperintendent of Education m ent on subjects which concern our ’eachers either in m orals, religion, atm osphere of the earth, for m any for Ohio was m aking a sim ilar de- religous interests and the tru e free or literatu re, as he shall deem best miles in altitu d e, is filled with at- cision to meet the case of the pub dom of all our fellow citizens as calculated to give correct in stru c omic and chemical representatives lie school at F u ld a, whose parents well; and when necessary, we need tion to his child. He is, by the law of every elem ent of which the earth I are all Rom an Catholics. By the to give the so-called statesm en, who of God, exem pt from interference is composed. No doubt the atm os- advice of the A ttorney General of are forever attem p tin g to lim it our both from individuals and from so phere of the sun and other celestial | Ohio, to read the Bible in the pub- religious rights and political liber ciety.” bodies is in like m anner laden, i lie schools is an unlaw ful diversion ies, the only expression of our sen- We do not insist enough on the W hen the solar spectroscope io of the public school funds of the im ents which they deem u n a n rights of parents to control the ed brought forth, to determ ine the e l-¡S ta te and should be prohibited! swerable ; w hether as a Cacholic ucation of th eir children and to em ents of these d istan t bodies, the I How can B lackburn reconcile his p a rty or not, we do sadly need to resist the efforts o f the S tate, or lines produced are simply indica- i puerile attem pt at argum ent with cast in m atters th a t affect us as ra th e r of politicians like B lackburn tive of the atom s floating in the at- this em inent ju ris t of Ohio? C atholics, a united C atholic vote. who m anipulate the resources of mosphere of the earth . No two A like decision was given in H ar- W e therefore ag ain st th e products are just alike, but there rishurg, Pa., and excepting in the the S tate to wrest from them this “decision” of G eneral is a general resem blance lietween preacher-ridden schools of Oregon, control. B lackburn as unj . nd in opposi We are amazed by the ignorance them all. It is just possible that we have the universal admission tion to the C onsthution of the the atom ic ingredients of the d ist of our S tate au th o rities th at Bible of the A ttorney G eneral of the State U nited States. a n t atm ospheres m ay produce the reading or any religious exercise of Oregon when he states th at all same effect also. But as the whole can have no place in the education religions accept th eB ih le as the sole has to pass through our atm osphere given in the public or common rule of faith. The C atholic Church . ----------------- - S tate en- So — long as the Secular th is m ust necessarily be the con- schools. It seems very inconsietent HayH th a t the Bible is the word off (hires, so long the public school troling elem ent, influencing the on the p art of bigots like B lackburn I God, but th at God has appointed j will stand intact. yu a -» - *