Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1894-11-09
THE PEOPLES RELIGION.

through the strike, becauge through such aSlta-
ton "the people" have come to the surface and
are beginning to inquire if they haven't rights
that laborers and Plutocrats are both bound to
respect Now, when we get to the bottom
of this inquiry, does it not mean this: What
has become of the American idea if ga govern
ment of the people, by the people and
for the people,? If the answer should be
that it is buried under the rubbish OF
Plutocratic government, then is it not time
the people bestirred themselves and resurrected
the idea of peoples government, no matter
what becomes of the Plutocratic government
If it is well for the people to come to the sur-
face in the sphere of politics and inquire what
has become of the idea of peoples govern
lnent would it not be equally we'll for the peo-
pie to come to the surface i'll the sphere of re-
ligon and inquire, What has become OF the
Protestant idea Of a peoples rel1gion' say,
of peoples religion, for, if we go back to
the time of the Reformation, we find that the
basic principle of Professionalism was the recog-
milton of the right of private opinion in
matters pertaining to religion. Now, what
does this mean, if it was interpreted i'll the lam
guage of the present time, but religion OF the
people, by the people and for the people, instead
of religion of priests, by priests and for priests
What has become of the idea Of peoples re-
ligion? Is it buried out of the worlds sight,
under the rubbish of creeds that call themselves
Protestant creeds?-just as if Professionalism,
which means the right of private opinion could
have any creed
Custodian is defined as Zone who has the care
of public building" Using this term i'll
metaphorical sense, might we not define the
custodian of all idea as the organization that has
that idea in its keeping? Has not the Protest
ant church always professed to have i'll its keep
ing the idea of the right of private interpret
alton of the scriptures? Was not the assertion
of this right the only excuse that the Protestant
church has ever had for its being? Speaking
of the church, we need to keep i'll mind very
clear distinction between lay members and the
clergy who hold the official positions i'll the
church. Considering the persecution for opin-
ions sake which seems to be the order of the
day among the Protestant clergy, it becomes
very pertinent question whether, in the sphere
of religion, they are any more worthy to be the
custodians of the idea Of peoples religion
than in the sphere of politics, Cleveland & Co.
are fit to be the custodans of the idea of a peo-
pies government.
s'Bv their fruits We shall know them On
this principle, is it not true that the Protestant
clergy of to-day who are dragging heretics
over the Goals of church trials are just as much
prosecutors in spirit as those who, i'll past
time, literally roasted hereties?
',The soul Of things-corpsc- dead body.'
An idea is the soul of an organization, and
when the idea has left the organization, what is
it but dead body-a corpse? The organization
may hold together for time, just as the human
body maintains its form for time after the soul
has departed, but we know that decay COM
inenced in that body when the soul left it.
When the Protestant clergy ceased to be the
custodians of the idea of the Fright of private
Interpretation of the scriptures and thereby
practically denied the right of the people to
think for themselves, and develop a religion
that should be of the people, by the people and
for the people, then and there the Protestant
church died Through their zeal for their
creeds. and their persecution of heretics, the
Protestant clergy are trying to preserve the
"form' of the church, but what is a persecut-
ing church to-day but a moral stencil i'll the
nostrils of the people? When shall it be buried
out of the worlds sight?
The idea of the fright of private interpret
alton of the scriptures" and, consequently, of
a peoples religion, never having had home i'll
the Catholic church, and driven by the Protest