Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1905-10-28
CHURCH AND POLITICS.

church federation have been severely
criticised for refusing TO fmteml2o
with Dr. Edward Everett Hale, DR..
Samuel A. Eliot and former Governor
Long OF Massachusetts,, because they
are unltarians. They now explain
that the adverse criticism Is due TO
misunderstanding Of the move
ment Tho whole matter. they say, IL
one to be considered from practical
rather than sentimental viewpoints.
over % score Of religious bodies, with
1So0oooo communicates, have named
delegates to the conference. II Is the
general opinion Of religious leaders that
100 such rullylng Of Christian hosts
would have been possible had other
than conservative methods prevailed
in the inception Of the movement
We think there is less msunder
standing about the matter than the
eNoluyIonIsts may suppose The action
~ excluding these mSn ON account Of
their religious views is equivalent to
branding them as "heretics." IT Is to
tel. them that they are "nou-eyangel-
i,al" outside the uale Of Protestant
ISM one pastor explains that the OBJ
jeyt OF the Evangelical faith is to
spread the belief in and acceptance Of
Jesus the CHRIST as the savior Of the
world Therefore he argues, It can
readily be- seen that any system deny
lng the divinity of the Christ would be
totally mcomu1tble and a subyersion
of tho object OF this federation. He
classics the uniarans among those
who deny the divinity OF Jesus There
is no room tor misunderstanding the
significance of the exclusion. 1t means
chat bigoty again inspires its vic
Tins 20 stand aloof and thank God for
not being as other men,
As we have pointed out before, the
movement IS one Of political signih-
canoe rather than religious. Or. r,
Thomas =, by The Providence Journal
quoted as having expressed the opin-
ion Chat il the churches Of this coun-
try We're organized politically they
could break states and dominate par
tes' This IS just the experiment that
is about to be made, And, as It was
thought desirable to form as powerful a
combination as possible, It was deemed
necessary to exclude Untarans. Catho-
Hes, and others against which there Is
strong popular prejudice.
H Ts4aRIraH Ina
tons need friends and defenders today,
ir ever All around are hostile forces
which are but waiting for opportunities
to asyail them. A combination Of In
tolerant church-people for the purpose
of breaking slates' ana dominating
parties certainly Is such a force The
tirotry that excludes, In the beginning,
an unpopular sect, shows how it will
work out IT'S future plans The
hypocrtes who for so long a
time have falsely accused the Lat
ter-day Saints Of bringing Church in
nuencc to bear upon politics, may yet
have to learn by experience what such
mixture Of interests is But, when
that time comes, the Saints will be
found. where they always have been, on
the side OF the Constitution and the
laws Of the land.
only short time ago, at the Rock
River conference Of the Methodist Epis-
copal church, resolutions were adopt
ed which referred 90 the granting Of
religious liberty IN South American
countries and urged that the President
exercise his good offices to secure the
cooperation OF Germany and England
with the United states I'm the interest
Of religious liberty I'm every land. It
seems to MS that the most immediate
need SIS some influence among the
church members IN this country, In the
Interest OF perfect liberation, and that
religious freedom which IS, by the law,
recognized as one Of the inolienable
rights Of man. We need champions Of
liberty who are as jealous Of the rights
and privileges OF others as Of their
own Let no one, who demands liber-
ty only for himself, while he Is lndlfrer-
emit 90 the rights Of his fellow beings,
aeludc himself by the notion that he is
q follower of the great Nazarene.