Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1904-12-15
The Observer.

bearing in relation to the church as
well as to the state.
The Observer is taking it for granted
that none of the readers of the PRESS
question the Importance of all that the
church stands for in the life of the
community. 1t is not probable that
there is single person in Emporium,
for instance, who would be willing to
live for any length of time in region
where religion and it's benefcent in
fiuences are unknown. Much less
would any man in Emporium care to
have his wife and children live in such
locality. Of all civilizing and moral
izing agencies, religion is the first.
Apart from the church, which in it's
ideal is humanity organized for relig
ious purposes, there can be no effec-
tive religious life or influence in a COM
munity. From a practical point of
view, a churchless community is a
community without religion.
Last week the Observer tried to
hammer in the thought that we are all
the beneticiaries of the state, and that
we all, therefore, in return owe duty
to the state in the way of material sup.
port and also in the way of contribut-
ing our share of personal thought and
interest and effort to keep up the gen.
eral public life and atmosphere which
10 iol 70 l.
of social order. The man who
ignores his responsibility to the state,
who is willing to live off the priceless
benefits which the state vouchsafes to
him, while doing nothing to build up
the life of the state, is deadbeat and
parasite.
The church is just as important to
the life of humanity as is the state; it
confers benefits just as real, just as
great, just as tangible. These benefits,
many of them, at least, extend to
community; every one is beneficiary
of the church, and consequently every
one owes a duty to the church in re-
turn for these benefits.
The material support of the state is
provided for by means of taxation.
The state has the legal power to en-
force the payment of taxes. The
church has no such power, nor does
she desire to have it. But the moral
obligation to support the chuch is just
as real and just as great as is the moral
obligation toward support the state, and
this moral obligation rests upon just as
many persons in the one case as in the
other. What we give to the support
of churches should not be looked upon
in the light of mere freewill offer
ing, much less in the light ofa charity,
but it should be viewed in its true light
as the payment of just obligation.
One may pay taxes to the state and
yet be an alien, and one may contri
butte money for the support of church
without being a member of the church.
To the non-church member the Oh
server would like to address a
kindly word. You acknowledge that
the community is vastly the better for
the influence of the church, and that
you yourself in many ways are the
beneficiary of this good influence
You know, too, that the church cannot
exist without members. If every one
were to follow your example, where
would our churches be with all their
helpful and uplifting influence? You
are in precisely the same position as
is the man who declines to assume his
duty as a citizen of the country. An
alien living in our midst owes it
to the country whose protection and
advantages he enjoys, to take his place
as full-fledged citizen. He may be
industrious and law-abiding, and he
may be very prompt and honest in
paying his taxes, but so long as he is
willing to remain an alien, he is show
ing spirit which, if initiated by all,
would mean the disorganization of tho
civil community and government. Yet
many of those who would be the most
ready to censure the alien for declin-
ing to become citizen, are themselves
willing to remain mere aliens, when it
comes to their relation to the church.
Is not the man who is an alien in re-
lation to the church just as much of
shirker as is the alien in the state?
Citizenship in the state means iden-
tifying one's self in heart and thought
and effort with the best spirit and life
of the state. Membership in the
church means identifying ones self in
heart and thought and life with the
best and purest life of the church.
The man who holds himself aloof from
the currents of civic life and interest is
doing himself a great injury; he is
throwing away his mans duty and his
mans opportunity. The state also
suffers injury through his neglect of
duty. So, too, the man who holds