Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-01-25
A NATIONAL RELIGION.
Some Indications Which Seem to Point That
Way-PrOpOsed Constitutional Amendment
ArsTrN Tx Ian o. 1889

Some Indications Which Seem to Point That
Way-PrOpOsed Constitutional Amendment.
AUSTIN, TEX, Jan. %, 1889.
! To the Gazette.
| As a constant reader of your valuable
paper I was much pleased with an edito-
rial in THE GAZETTE of few weeks ago,
touching the Blair Sunday bill and con-
stitutional amendment, and beg leave to
submit few lines concerning the mat
| ter.
| No doubt the great majority of the peO-
| pie of this part of the country would be
| utterly opposed to anything like n union
of church and state, or the establishment
of national religion; yet some may
never have duly considered the fact that
these measures now pending in congress
have, according to the opinion of many
a direct tendency in that way which it
appears to me is evident upon little re-
! Election and investigation.
| l. Mr.. Blair s Sunday bill is religious
| legislation which in itself is dangerous
! step It's object is to establish a univer-
sal national Sunday law, to compel
everybody over whom it would have jur-
! isdiction to absolutely refrain from any
business or labor whatsoever on the first
day of the week (works of necessity and
mercy eXcepted) regardless Of religious
! conviction or commercial convenience,
and makes the viOlatOr subject to q fine
of from SO to $1,000, and provides that it
"may be recovered by whoever shall first
sue for the same.
Whoever is a universal term, and
leaves the man who is supposed to have
violated the law at the mercy of any and
to enter suit against him, although the
work performed may have been of a ma
ture to disturb no one. Yet he must
suffer if the accuser insists that it was.
This is one of the injustices of the
law, i. e., it leaves il with the accuser
to say whether he was disturbed or
not, and opens up the way for an en-
envy or any other man who desires to
take advantage of the law to cause a
great deal of suffering to an innocent
victim by charging that he was "dis-
turbed - And it doesn It take much to
disturb man if he happens to dislike
you anyway And in addition to the
opportunity afforded of gratifying his
feelings of luminosity and revenge, there
is the additional incentive of the pros
pect of recovering the amount of fine to
be imposed. The whole thing is unjust,
and makes the liability to punishment
many times rest upon d very slender
thTead-the within, caprice or prejudice
of fellow man.
1t also gives room for that worst of
all forms of oppression and despot-
ism, namely religious persecution.
In addition to the Hebrews there are the
Seventh Day Adventists and Seventh Day
Baptists, two Christian denominations
numbering several thousand in the ag-
gregate, who conscientiously observe the
seventh day of the week, or Saturday,
as the Sabbath, and believe that it is
their God given right to go quietly about
their work on the first. Now, if the first
day man desires to use the power placed
in his hands (and the history of humanity
in the past shows that it is difficult for
some men to resist the temptation to use
it, even though the cause be none other
than prejudice or religious intolerance,
what a splendid opportunity is afforded
him of prosecuting his neighbour? And
the writer is acquainted with n case in
the state of Arkansas where, under the
operations of similar state law (but
which is now repealed because of its I'M
business be it said to the states
honor a good, quiet citizen was
imprisoned and fined for getting q mess
morning for his dinner table, and many
others suffered similarly all on account
of religious prejudice and unjust laws.
1t is religious legislation, and nothing
else can be made of it.
And the proposed amendment to the
national constitution is in perfect keeping
with the Sunday bill In fact it was
necessitated by the introduction of the
bill as the constitution now stands re-
ligious legislation is prohibited. econ
gress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or prohibiting
the free exercise thereof - But as this
is religious bill, in order for it to be
constitutional, that document must be
amended. Hence five days after Mr..
Blair introduces his Sunday bill MAY p
LAST he introduces a joint resolution pro-
posing an amendment to the constitution
One of the provisions of the amendment
is that teach state in the Union shall es-
tablish and maintain q system of free
public schools in which the tea ching of
the principles of the Christian religion
shall be made compulsory. 1t is easy TO
see the difficulty that would arise just
here. One teacher would call one thing
60 the principles of the Christian relig-
ion'' and another another thing. But if
the government were to pledge its self to
enforce this teaching in the public schools
and that is the provision of section f.
it would require something definite It
would require therefore council or con-
gress of the churches to decide on the
question, so as TO have uni
formity every where. And when
that decision is rendered, and the
government pledges that it shall be en-
forced through the public schools upon
''all the children therein between the
ages of six and sixteen years. that is,
the government virtually establishing
national religion. A state religion is a
religion that has the financial support of
the state for its maintenance and propa-
cation, whether that be done through
church or schools And such is the legit-
II -