Arizona weekly citizen., 1894-11-10
THE A. P. A.

The democratic kangaroo politicians are mskiUe much of the A. P. A. buga
 boo. Now, whatever this institution is ol
 may be, certainly the democrats are ss
 deep in the mud as republicans are ID
 the mire. This important fact they dis
 crsetly cover up by bowling loud about
 their repu blican fellow sinners. Now
 we know nothing of this organization, nd but for the figure it threatens to
 cut politically, would refrain from any l discusson of it. We are not making
 religion for other people nor are we try
 ing to thrust creeds already made down
 unwilling throats, for religion we hold
 to be matter that lies wholly between he individual and his creator. To do | so would not only be un-American but
 un-christian, and any attempt in that
 direction must in the end prove abortive and retroactive.
 The influence of the A. P. A., we are
 told, is directed wholly against the Cath
 olic church and its followers, whose re-
 gious ideas they, the A. P. A., consider
 inimical to the state, and with mouths
 full of precedents they attempt to forti- fy the position taken. That wrongs have
 been done by the church and under
 cover of the church no sane mar will
 or can deny, but have these wrongs been
 confined to one religious body, or rather have they not thriven in spirit of ln-
 tolerance in all lands, among all peoples
 and in all ages?
 If an individual makes himself or his
 religion obnoxious to the community, be should be suppressed, and as the church regardless of denomination-is the
 individual personi6cation of it's follow ere, it must be subjected to the same | conditions and treated in like manner, l but without such element any disturb ing influence is to be sincerely deplored That the A. P. F., while protesting to
 follow in the footsteps of the Man of Galilee - who bade his disciples be charitable to human weakuesses-they
 diverge from the broad road trodden by
 the great master to follow 8 zig gag trail l Of their own creation.
 It is un-American to demand tolera
 tion for themselves and deny it 10 oth- ITS; it is un-christian to demand that
 God be worshipped as per their owu be gotten formula, for it figures little
 whether God be worshipped in satin or
 in rags; whether it be the cultured au
 tocrst or the unread beggar who stands
 before the throne of grace and pleads forgiveness of bis trangressions. The | difference cannot be divided by hair between the man who worshIps God with his hat on or lies uncovered in the | Just. It is all the same. The finite | ( aches after the infinite and God will judge of the heart and not of the social | standing of the man, of his particular style Of in tercesson or fashion of prayer. H gh church or low church or DO | church at all the end is not different,
 out the journey is pretty much after
 the manner of our own making. There fore let us be tolerant of one another | char table ID our opinions aLd respect ful of religious differences.
 But 1t may be said, aud not without reasoning, that as we know nothing | If the secret issues of the A. F. A., that we should be slow 10 discuss them. | Largely this IS true, but We are dealing with reiigious-p political issue ground ed on common report. This common
 r. port is that the members of the A. r. A. in this city intend to vote agaInst K. H. Paul, the republican nominee for sheriff, for the sole and only reason that his family attend the Roman Catholic | church. We have heard this not once, | but many times, and waile at first we
 were constrained to treat it lightly, we
 are now slmost forced to believe 1t. They have DO fault to tild with MT. Paul as citizen and man. They e. cgnize that he is everything in that res
 pect they could dssire; they know that he hes made superior officer, that he
 is bold courageous and upright. but here in thls enlightened and liberal nineteenth century they don't like hls religion. This must be dribbled through the same small quill from which their own is drawn or they will vote against him at the polls.
 Is it possible that Paul is to be beaten because, foresooth, his family kneel at a different altar from the one those who sit in judgment on them have put in place? Let us hope not.
 Our faith ID the American people is grest-by American people we mean every man who wears the belt and badge of American citizenship. Their ideae of America with it's liberty-breathing institutions are immesurably too great to permit the perpetuation of such an in uituous outrage against good citi- zen. We trust tbs issue with them.