The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1902-06-07
The Congress Bible.

THE action of the committee on
printing of the house of repre-
sentatives in ordering the printing
of the extracts compiled from the four
gospels by Thomas jefferson (''Iorals
of Jesus Of Nazareth'D is eliciting
widespread comment and criticism
from the press, both secular and re-
ligious, of the country Such action, if
| it should ultimately receive the sane
ton of congress, would be not only es-
tablishing a precedent, but would be a
direct violation of the constitution of
the United States. which purports to
safeguard the rights of every citizen
and to equally recognize the religious
convictions of every man, providing the
same be not in contradiction to, or, at
least, in conflict with, directly or in
directly, the provisions of the constitu-
ton, or in opposition to the common
good of the commonwealth
The United States government is re-
public; it is government of the peo-
pie, by the people. for the people" 1t
is government of the whole people by
the whole people for the whole people:
or, in palmer words. it prohibits any
legislation for the government of the
people, which is, expressly or by impli-
cation. "class legislation Now it may
fairly be asked whether the publication
of Jefferson's Morals of Jesus of Ma
zareth" by congress would be by i'm
plication "class legislation? This
question may be answered by another:
Suppose congress were to recognize
the 'Douay Version of the Catholic
Bible in the same manner as it is asked
to recognize the Jefferson Bible"
would not the Christian sects, infideIs
and agnostics at home and abroad, cry
out in protest, and brand such a pro-
cedure as class legislation pa depar-
ture from our ret dictum equal rights
for all?" But let us sift the thing a
little further
Mr.. Heatwole. chairman of the house
committee on printing, gives the fol-
lowing reasons for the action of the
committee: Representative Lacey of
Iowa, about year ago. found this
book under lock and key in the, ma
tional museum. and wrote a short arti-
Gle describing It, which was printed in
many papers of the country, and the
result is that frequent requests have
been made for the publication of the
book, these requests coming largely
from ministers of the gospel on the one
hand and people interested in the mem
DRY of Thomas jefferson on the other
hand. Accordingly, Mr.. Lacey intro
duced a resolution in the house provid-
ing for the publication of the work. 1t
was carefully considered by the house
committee on printing and favorably
reported
Thomas Jefferson, from a religious
standpoint, was an infidel. or. rather,
perhaps, an agnostic, and his religious
tenets and convictions are Of vital inn
portance to the disciples of Tom Paine
and Bob Ingersoll From these, we
have no doubt. large number of the
frequent requests have come. The
official recognition of the Jefferson
Bible would be. no doubt. placeat
for them. Much significance is evil
IDENTIFY given to the phrase; These re-
quests coming largely from ministers
of the gospel" but would not Mr.. Heat
wole and his colleagues do well to con-
slider the more frequent" protests
which have and viii come from other,