West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1896-03-19
COMPULSORY RELIGION.
An Able Objection TO tile Arbitrary
Farce at the State University.

10 the Editor OF The Anous.
see by dispatch from Mor0antowu
TO Baltimore newspaper, that the fac
ulty at the West Virginia University
nave passed an order compelling ali
students TO attend the morning chanel
exercises under penalty of expulsion
from the college According 20 the
Dispatch the faculty are supported in
this action by the regents.
III this report be true. we are com
fronted with very serious situation.
and the faculty aud regents have taken
stand from which they must rece ie
Inc chapel exercises are solely of a
religious character, consisting OF read
Jugs from the Bible. or prayers to the
Supreme Being, or both.
Suppose i prefer for conscientious or
other reasons, not TO listen: to absent
myself Who shall dictate TO me i'm the
matter?
Under what law, human or divine
am to be driven TO PRAYERS" under
penalty of being deprived of an .duc,.
tion at the school of my choice in nv
native State and when school is sun
ported by the taxation of my propertv :?
No wonder the students would rebel
against such an order, and denounce
it as an outrage.
To seek to enforce such an order Is
In bold violation of the spirit and the
letter OF our institutions and our laws.
Neither the faculty nor the regents,
have the legal authority or the moral
right to enforce such an order. The
tact that such an order has been pre-
mulgated. IL it has been, but shows
the fanatical tendency OF certain
classes of our people in this country.
with the A. =. AS. on one side.
declaring that no man who adheres to
certain religious convictions. shall
hold Office, and the faculty and gov.
ernors of the West Virginia University.
on the other, announcing that no man
can get an education in West Virginia,
unless he first bow his head IN PRAYER.
or at least listen while some one else
does so, well may we enquire, "whither
are we drifting ?"
Who dare say, that when I send my
boy to school, before he shall be heard
IN his language, his mathematics. his
history and his geology he must first
go to chapel and listen with uncovered
head to a prayer? Who saws this i'm
suits the freedom of conscience Amer.
lean citizenship. and violates the spirit
OF the fundamental law of the State
and of the Nation.
Let religion and the Bible to taught
at the hreside, in the Sunday School
and in the church.. Let participation
In religious exercises depend upon the
dictates of conscience, and upon the
persuasion of those interested. not upon
coercion.
Let no man or boy be compelled to
frequent or support any religious wor-
ship or place.
Let no man or boy be enforced, re-
strained, mo!ested or burthened in his
body or goods, or otherwise suffer on
account of his religious opinions or
beliefs.
Let no mans or boys religious opin-
ions or bsliefs affect. diminish or en-.
large his civil capacities.
Let every man and boy be left free to
select ms own religious instructor.
This is the constitution, and the peo-
pie must and will see TO its enforce ment
The students are right. The faculty
and regents are monstrously wrong.
1t does not matter as to the extent. or
length, or breadth of the RELIGIONS ex-
ercise, or that it is not a teaching. or
That 1T Is something that all can ac-
quiesce in without violencs to con-
science. 1t is the coercion, the penalty,
the threatened expulsion, that makes
the order pernicious and destructive of
our right and liberties.
am Jew, or an Agnostic, or an In
hdel, disbeliever, but am an Amer
lean citizen, citizen Of the United
States and of West Virginia. What a
farce and an abomination TO compel
me to go each day and listen to PRAYERS
and readings OF the Son of God. 1t is
destructive of my freedom OF conscience
to infict penalty, to ostracize me. if
refuse And it is tyranny no matter
what my religious belief may be, TO
seek to compel me by threats and pen
alties, to frequent such place against
my will.
Better let the chaplain read and pray
TO empty benches; better let him stop
praying and reading the Bible in the
school than TO stife and smother the
conscience Of single free-thinking
American citizen.
Total severance of religion from the
State-of Church and State lis in the
interest of true religion as we'll as in
the interest Of a free government like
ours This separation OF Church and
state IS one OF the very Foundation
stone OF our govern ment laid by it's
founders, over one hundred years aQo
Perish the hand that seeks to remove
&C.. ~
Kingwood, w. Va. March II. isgs
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