The Louisiana populist., 1896-11-27

From The Coming Nation: War is
generally carried on in the name of
God and liberty. Christian people have
taught themselves that they have a
God-given right to kill and plunder all
the little nations of helpless heather,
in order to convert them-into slaves.
They call 1t fighting the devil. They
call themselves Christian warriors, just
as though a man could be a Christian
and a legal murderer.
Imagine Christ and his disciples
standing ready to cut each others
throat, and you have fair picture Of
the Christian nations of today prepar-
ing to blow each other into eternity.
The man who discovers or invents
some great life destroyer is considered
a benefactor to his country, and the
churches are the loudest in their ap-
plause. Can we hope for anything
good to come out of such Christian
spirit of plunder and conquest?
The churches of Christ! Great God,
what misnomers! Accepting peace Of
feringe from the greedy and heartless
rich, peace-offerings in the shape Of
money squeezed from the toiling poor.
How they mislead and corrupt the
minds Of the young, making them be-
lieve that the modern church is doing
the work of Christ
A wealthy Chicago woman lately do
mated $4,000 to Prof. Swings church,
and the committee has decided to in
vest the cash in mortgages, the income
TO be used in broadening the work of
the church." to use the language of the
committee.
Think Of il! A church that pretends
to do the work Of Christ, and living on
the money squeezed from the mort
gagged slave! Did Christ teach usury?
Christians get around this point by
contending that any legal amount Of
interest" is not usury.
In Colorado there Is no legal rate of
interest. The law allows you to de-
mand whatever rate you can get, and to
collect II, even II the poor mortgaged
slave is turned out to staYve in mid
winter.
Why, brother toilers, there is not a
single law that we have today In this
greed-cursed country that conforms to
the teachings of Christ. Sell that
thou hast and give to the poor" if
carried out to the letter, and in the
spirit Of true Christianity, would wipe
out every single law that protects
property and makes debt crime.
And yet the modern church con-
forms only to our man-made laws, con-
STRUNG Christ's law to suit the occa-
sion.
Can we hope for any assistance from
these corrupted people, while even the
cause of Christ % is, bolstered up by
the accursed mortgage?
These are the Christian warriors who
are fighting the devil-for revenue only;
that 60 out to conquer heather ma
tions in the name of God-for plunder;
who sing liberty songs, while they live
on the usury squeezed from the poor
mortgaged slaves, and offer the work.
ingman miserable charity, instead OF
Justice.
The average Christian Of today is as
much afraid of justice as the devil is
supposed to be afraid Of holy water"
and never grants 1t to anybody willing
l.. He seems to think it a dangerous
habit to establish.
lie is like the Irishman who was ar
rested for wife murder, and who was
promised justice by his attorney.
'Justice!' he exclaimed, "bedad Dim
In a position to make use of amy
other branch ov the legal profession,
but justice is the wan thing / want
10 escape, begorrah"
have always been In favor of
woman suffrage, and am yet, provid-
ing women are educated in something
higher than modern churchism. But
I used to think that women, being the
chief support of the churches, would
purify politics.
Alas. how sadly l have been mis-
taken. In Colorado the women have
been voting for two years, and the
state is more corrupt than ever. The
saloon still flourishes and is legalized
by high license; gambling goes on as
usual. Only a few months ago in my
own town a man who was openly ac-
cused of running a gambling hell was
elected by a large majority to fill an
important Office.
The church people have been running
little gambling schemes so long for the
glory Of God that they have grown to
like it, and the professional gambler
simply makes background to their
own picture of Christianity.
When the women of Colorado helped
to redeem the state" as the hypocriti-
cal politicians taught the Christians to
yawp, expected to see reform on every
hand. Rev. Myron Reed and F. F.
Passmore we're called all sorts of vile
names because they did not join the
'redeemers;" but, just as these two