, 1879-08-10

had any bearing upon sublunaty afFAirs, tn
'paucity- of membership would defeat
aspiration for influence. II the new pnrt
were to be confined to those who. do not bt
iere in the: existence of q Supreme Being
the membership could probably he counte
On the fingers of one hnnd, aud, VIC are in
cl,aed to think that even lSGEnsoLL an
PARTON would be excluded Oh account O
faith. If the circ1s is to be enlarged so as t
take in an the psople who rofuse to subscrib
! to the dogmas Of some orthodox Church, the,
! the difficulty will be in securing anything lik
ia: oa7 IL tha ssooiation, for no people ar
widerapark Or more intolernnt of the convlc
tlons OF others than are vigorous dlssenters. I
is easy to imagine two such men as IsaEnso11
aud the evangelist MooDx working side b,
side against tho political heresy of State
Sovereignty, for instance, but we venture thu
assertion not dozen among oil the non
believers in the country could agree upon {
creed Of non-bellef. And if the so-called
Liberals could agree upon the extent and
character Of their dissent, what would this
union upon matters Of faith have to do with
the temporal affairs of the Nation? How
can the Mistakes OF Moses possibly affect
the events Of the present time? What bond
of harmony is there between controversy
over Blhlical topics aud the live political
issues Of the day?
If the members Of the Methodist, Or Pres
byterian. or BRptist, or Roman Catholic
Churches should resolve to oct together as q
political party, or combine to impress their
influence as body upon some one Of the
existing political parties, such men as 1EGER-
SOIL ard PATTON would be the first to de-
nounce the proceeding as new and out
rageous' manifestation Of bigotry. Yet this
is precisely the course credited to the non
religionists; they propose to make their dis
sent basis for political organization or in
aucnce, just as in the other case the religion
isis would found their movement upon their
faith. Indeed, the political organization Of
the Infdels as class would be much more
offensive than similar organization among
any set of believers; for Reason, which is
the cornerstone of their dissent, implies
freedom of action that should extend to believ-
ers the same license and toleration which the
InidelB claim for themselves. The indict-
ment which the followers of "Popo BOB"
make against the Chu urch was largely upon
the alleged dogmatism and intolerance Of tho
various sects; yet this sect Of non-believers
are becoming more dogmatic and intolerant
on their side than any one Of the religious
sects, for they propose to make non-belief
test for political association. This is 80
glaring q contradiction that Reason will lose
its force as an argument against Faith, If
the advocates Of the former insist upon the
non-roligio-political movement that has been
outlined.
Il there we're any identity between Church
md State in this country, there would be
some excuse for the inhdels to combine for
political purposes; but there is no such
IDENTITY. The Constitution expressly pro-
rides that Congress shall pass no laws
any religion or prohibiting !
he free exercise thereof. The Atheist has
he same rights Of citizenship as the Jew or
and men may proclaim their inf
1el1ty from the house-tops as freely as their
aith. The most pronounced free-thinker
an scarcely object to "the laws of Nature
nd Of Natures Cop" upon which the Decla-
nhon of Independence based the theory Of
separate and equal station" and GoD in
he Constitution is limited to the date-iine,
7hich adopted the common form of s'the
ear of our Lord" ANY further effort to
isassociate State and Church in our Govern
lent might lead to the persecution of the
aithful, which would certainly be as objec-
onable as the persecution Of the unfaithful.
o deny GoD is more offensive than to
elievs in COP; for belief in q Supreme
eing shocks no one, while the denial OF
upreme Being hes always been frightful
,rt of thing to the multitude. The Inter-
y Crusaders against the Church should
sep their specially out of politics; if they
ont, they will become very offensive;
orse than that, they will make themselves
liculpus.