T H E TO RCH OF REASON, SILV ER TO N , OREGON, JANUARY 10, E. M. 301 (1901.)
5
great bulk of hum an affairs and decision of the Supreme Court of the im m ortal souls in O lym pus are
hum an interests, lying outside the Wisconsin that the Bible had no to live in a condition of rejuven-
7^' .
o
i „ true and legitim ate province of g o v -, place in our common schools, escence and perfectness, and then
H ead q u arters A m erican
c
e m in e n t.M
said:
both the stim ulus to the form ation
Union and Freethought
e era-
Another juJicia] opinion; Ju8tict. »How any other conclusion of, and the interest in, personality
tion.
2
H. S. Orton, concurring in the opin- C"«ld have been drawn from the ¡disappear for them .
Chicago, December 1900.
ions of Justices Lyon and Cassady, premises, we are not able to
see.
Not less impossible, in the light
Mr. J. H. A ckerm an,’
~
all of the Suprem e Court
of \\ is- We see no escape from the con- of pure reason, do we find the an-
State Supt. Public In stru ctio n ,
elusion reached, and have no de- thropistic m yth of the “ last judg-
consin (1890), said :
Salem , Or.
sire to escape it, since we thorough- merit,” and the separation of the
I he common schools, like
iiKe all
a n the
me
.
i
,
.
1
“ The
Dear Sir :
, ,i
aidors-*dy-beheve in its correctness every- souls of men into two great groups,
.
,
. , .
b
This society is inform ed th a t the other institutions of the state, are where. It remits
the question o f 1 of which one is destined for the
A ttorney G eneral of vour state has protected by the Constitution from
re lig io u s in s tr u c tio n , a s to w h a t it eternal joys of Paradise and the
given an opinion au th b rizin g the from all “ control or interference
sita
be, j a s to th e a g c e n c y „ g iv in g — it, other
torm ents of
----- li —
----- - for - the eterpal
- » — •
use of prayers in the public schools with the rights of conscience,’ and
and as to the cost thereof, to vol- taell— and th at from a personal God
of the state of Oregon. We ear- from all preferm ents given by law
• J"
_I -f ef­ ,
.
....
.
__
untary private and l individual
who is entitled the “ F ath er of
nestly protest against th is action to any religious establishm ents or fort, and devotes the public school,
Love’’! And it is this “ U niversal
and give a few of our reasons why modes of worship. As the state
created and regulated by law, and F ath er” who has him self created
the people of your sta te should re- can have nothing to do with relig­
supported by a general taxation o f the conditions of heredity and a d a p ­
fuse to act upon this opinion fu rth ­ ion, except to protect every one in the people, exclusively to Secular tation, in virtue of which the elect,
er th an to obtain its reversal before the enjoym ent of his own, so the education.
This principle is in on the one side, were bound to p u r­
common
schools
can
have
nothing
your legislature or courts.
harm ony with the nature and sue the path towards eternal bliss,
S ecular governm ent says: “ Afford to do with religion in any respect structure of our political in stitu ­
and the luckless poor and m iserable
to every child growing up in the w hatever. They are as completely tions and is moreover just and eq­ on the other hand, were driven into
land o pportunity of a good common SEC U LA R as any other institution uitable as between religious sects. the p ath s of the dam ned ?
school education, unm ixed with of the state, in which all the people,
There is no other basis on which
2V critical com parison of the
sectarian, pagan, or atheistical alike, have equal rights and privi­ the school question can be justly
countless and m anifold fantasies
tenets. Leave the m atter of relig­ leges. The people cannot be taxed settled as between different religi­
which belief in im m o rtality has
ion to the fam ily a lta r, the church for religion in schools, more than ous sects.
produced during the last few thous­
or the private school, supported en­ anyw here else. Religious instruc­
F irst Amendment to the Consti­ and years in the different races and
tirely by private contribution. Keep tion in the common schools is clear­
tution of the United States.
religions yields a most rem arkable
the church and state forever separ­ ly prohibited by these general
“ Congress shall make no law res­ picture. An intensely interesting
ated.”— President U. S. G ran t, Re­ clauses of the C onstitution, as re­
pecting the establishm ent of relig­ presentation of it, based on most
union of the Arm y of the Tennessee, ligious instruction or worship in
prohibiting
the free extensive original research, may be
any departm ent of the state, sup­ ion, or
I)es Moines, Iowa, 1875.
exercise
thereof; or abridging found in A dalbert Svoboda’s dis-
*
Said the Suprem e C ourt of Ohio ported by revenue derived from
tinguished
works,
“
The
Illusion
of
the
freedom
of
the
press;
<
»r
the
taxation. The clause th at “ no sec­
through Mr. Justice W elch:
tarian instruction shall be allowed right of the people to assemble, and tne Soul” and “ Form s of F a ith .”
“ If it be true th a t our law enjoins
th ere in ” was inserted “ex in d u stria” to petition the government for re­ However absurd and inconsistent
the teaching of the C hristian relig­
with m odern knowledge most of
to exclude everything pertaining to dress of grievances.
ion in the schools, surely, then, p.11
This gives the citizens of the these m yths seem to be, they still
religion They are called by those
its teachers should he C hristians.
who wish to have not only religion United States complété religious play an im portant part, and, as
W ere I such a teacher, while 1
hut their own religion, taught there liberty. It is claimed that the “ postulates of practical re a so n ,”
should in stru ct the pupils th a t the
in “ godless schools.” They are states are NOT hound by this in h i­ they exercise a powerful influence
C h ristian religion was tru e and all
godless, in the same sense th at the bition th at T H E Y CAN legally de­ on ttie opinions of individuals and
other religions false, I should tell
executive, legislative, and adminis- ny equal rights to the citizens. But on the destiny of races.
them th a t the law itself was an un ­
The idealist and sp iritu alist p h il­
istrative departm ents are godless. read this:
christian law. One of my first les­
P art of the Fourteenth Amend­ osophy of the day will freely grant
So long as our C onstitution r e m a in s
sons to the pupils would show it to
as it is, no one’s religion can he ment to the Constution pf the U n i­ that these prevalent m aterialistic
be Christian. T h a t lessons would
forms of belief in im m ortality are
ted States.
taught in our common schools.”
be: “ W hatsoever ye would th at
All persons born or naturalized untenable ; it will say th a t the re­
“ It is said: If reading the Protes­
meu should do to you, do ye even
in the United States, subject to the fined idea of an im m aterial soul, a
so to them : for this is the law and tan t version of the Bible in schools jurisdiction thereof, are citizens
Platonic “ idea” or a transcendental
the prophets.” I could not look the
offensive to the parents of some
of the United States, and of the psychic substance, m ust be su b sti­
veriest infidel or heathen in the <>f th e scholais, and antagonistic to
state in which they reside. No tuted for them . But m odern real­
face, an d say th a t such a law was their own religious views, their
STATE SHALL MAKE OR ENFORCE ANY ism can have nothing w hatever to
just, or th a t it was a fair specimen children can retire. I hey ought
law which shall abridge the do with these incom prehensible
of C hristian republicanism . I should not to be compelled to go out o f
privileges or immunities of citi ­ n o tio n s; they satisfy neither the
have to tell him th a t it w a s an out- the school for s u c h a reason, for one
rnind’s feeling of casuality nor the
zens of the united states .
growth of false C h ristian ity and not m om ent. I he suggestion itself con-
That settles the question of state yearning of our emotions. If we
one of the “ lights” which C hristians cedes the whole argum ent. J hat
take a com prehensive glance at all
are com m anded to shed upon an version of the Bible is hostile to sectarian legislation.
W e trust our protest will receive th a t m odern anthropology, psycho!«
should
feel the
of m
any
are taxed to
u unbelieving
n o e iie v in g world.
w orld. 1 I sn
o u io teei
v c w belief
h c i w
u ia
u j who
«
«
,
...
bound to acknowledge to him , more- support the common schools, and due consideration b y y o u , and be o g y , and cosmology teach w, I, re-
- - have equal . . rights
. .
- • ful]y subm itted to the people of gard to ath an atism , we are forced
over, th a t it violates the sp irit of who
and , privi
to this definate conclusion: “ The
our constitutional guarantees, and leges in them . It is a source of re- your state before action is taken.
belief in the im m ortality of the h u ­
Yours very truly,
is a state religion in em bryo; th a t ligions and sectarian strife. rI hat
man soul is a dogm a which is in
J . B. W ilson , M. I)., Pres.
if we have no rig h t to tax him to is enough. It violates the letter
hopeless contradiction with the
E. C. R eichwald , Sec.
support religious instructions, th a t and spirit of the Constition. It re-
most «olid em pirical tru th s of mod-
to tax him to p u t down his own re- quires hut little argum ent to prove!
ern science. »,
ligion is of the very essence of tyr- th a t the P rotestant version of the The Im m o rta lity of th e Soul,
anny ; th a t however sm all the tax, Bible, or any other version of the
C o n clu d ed from I'age 3.
—
Among the people with Home-
it is the
first
step
in
th
e
direction
Bible,
is
a
source
of
religious
strife
th e h rs t ste p
d ire c tio n o iu ic , m rv u iv c v.
--------- -- --------------------------------- —----
of an “ establism ent of religion;” and opposition and opposed to the m urder of war unfold his rich, un- what peculiar ideas of m orality
and I should add th a t the first step religious belief of m any of our used mental powers in W a lh a lla ? m ust be included th a t W est V irgin-
in th a t direction is a fatal step, be- people. It is a SIX I ARIAN book. W ill the feeble, childish old m an, an m inister who thought it sham e-
cause it logicallv involves
the last I he connection of church and state who has filled the world with the ful sin to dance, and yet did not
step. * * G overnm ent is an or- corrupts religion and makes the fame of his deeds in the ripeness of hesitate to carry a pistol and shoot
ganization for p a rtic u la r purposes, state despotic.”
< his age, live forever in mental de- down a man who protested against
It is not alm ighty, and we are not
The New York “ Independent” cay?
Or will he return to an th a t view of the question. Louis-
to look to it for everything. The (C h ristia n ), com m enting on the earlier stage of developm ent? If ville Cou: ier-Journal.
B ibles in P ublic S chools.