Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1873-02-20
National Reform Association.

cooper Union I1Atl, ". L =, on tne -otil
inst?
1t may be information to some read.
ers TO state that a systematic effort is
being made so TO unite the Infdel SEN
timent of the country that it may pre-
sent 4 compact front to the friends oi
. Christianity. y joint stock company
with 4 capital OF 100000, has been
( formed il Toledo, Ohio, for the pur-
pose OF publishing weekly newspa-
PEI, called The Lider, in furthcrance OF
! the cause Of THE NATICNAL ORGANI-
lZATION or fNFIDEIaTY. The princi-
pal editor is Frances Z Abbot, who has
associated with him o. B. Frothing-
ham, 7. ". Higginson, Rev. C. Way
isoy, England and Rev. VI. D. Con-
way, (England,) and others of less
mote. We learn from the number OF
The Lide.C OF Jan. 4tii, 1873, the sener-
II character OF the publication; IS also
its special design, more clearly en in
the following anuou Gcement 81. ling
at the head ofits columns:
"gHc L.aec accepts every re. lit OF
science and souAl learning, without
seeking to harmonic it with .he Bible.
1t recognizes no authority bat that of
reason and right. 1t believes in truth,
Freedom, Progress, Equal Right, and
Brotherly love.
"The transition from Christianity TO
Free Religion, through which the civ
ilized world is now passing, but which
it very little understands, is even more
momentous in itself and in its co Sc
quence5 than the great transition OF
the Roman Empire from Paganism to
Christianity. The L1der aims to make
the character of this vast change intel
ligible, in, at least, its leading features,
Iand offers an opportunity for discussion
on this subject which finds no fitting
place in other papers,"
The more specific purpose of The
Uadcc is set forth in the following
DEMANDS OF LIBERALISM.
81. We demand that churches and
other ecclesiastical property shall no
longer be exempted from just taxation.
"2. We demand that the employ
ment of Chaplains in Congress, in State
Legislatures, in the Navy and Militia,
and in prisons, asyluIns, and all other
institutions supported by public mon
ey shall be discontinued.
'3. We demand that all public ap-
preparations for sectarian educational
and charitable Institutions shall cease.
81. We demand that all religious
services now sustained by government
shall be abolished; ahd especially that
the use of the Bible in public schools,
whether ostensibly as a textbook OF
Iavowedly as book of religious wor-
ship, shall be prohibited.
"5. We demand that the appoint
ment by the President of the United
States, or by the Governors of the vari-
GUS States, Of all religious festivals and
feasts shall wholly cease.
s.a"6. We demand that the judicial
cath in the courts and in all other de-
partments of the government shall be
abolished, and that simple affirmation
under the pains and penalties of PERU
ry shall be established in its stead.
ST We demand that all laws direct
ly Or indirectly enforcing the observ-
ance Of Sunday as the Sabbath shall be
repealed.
$50. We demand that all laws look
ing to the enforcement of "Christian" "
morality shall be abrogated, and that
all laws shall be conformed to the re-
quirements of natural morality, equal
rights and impartial liberty.
"9. We demand that not Gnly in
the Constitutions of the Unite states
and Of the several states, but also in
the practical administration II the
same, no privilege Or advantage shall
be conceded to Christianity or any 9th
erspecial religion. that an entire polit-
ical system shall be founded AID ad-
rninistered on purely secular basis;
and that whatever changes shall prove
necessary to this end shall be consist
emily, unfinchingly, and promptly
made"
Protestants, would generally agree
with these liberal gentlemen, as stated
il their third "demand," that appro-
priations by government for sectarian
purposes should cease.
A form of organization Of local
Liberal Leagues" is submitted, and
it is proposed, when five hundred of
these have been formed, to meet in
National Convention. The antagon-
ism of these organization to the pro-
posed amendment of the National
Constitution, is farther stated by The
p0er itself:
"You cannot organize too soon or too
effectively. Next February the "Na-
tional Association to secure religious
amendment to the United States Con-
stitution" will hold its annual conven-
ton in the city of New York. That
movement is Il vital one, because it
grows out Of the logical and practical
necessities of the Christian Church.
Feeble as it seems to-day, it is strong
with all the strength of ideas showed
in common by all sects and denomina-
tions. Under the stress of events
those ideas must spread, till in some
shape or other they are adopted by 8
great party. How shall we meet them:
Simply by opposing the mischievous
change contemplated? No! Let uf
fha,,, hu a hold apd ro-oIr,fa 1a.