Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1905-12-11
EVIL OF RELIGIOus BIGoTRY
Rev. A. $. 9. Clarke speaks Against
Intolerance.

Rev. A. 8. 9. Clarke speaks Against
Intolerance.
Rev. A. S. e. Clarke of the Lowe Avenue
Presbyterian church Sunday morning
preached on the subject of Religious In
tolerance" taking as his text Luke ix:ia,
And John answered and said. Master We
saw one casting out devils in Thy name;
and we forbid him, because he followeth
not with US"
In part Mr.. Clarke said;
quite a little furore has been started in
our city and throughout the country by the
action OF Bishop Scaunell in excommunica-
ting all members of that communion who
attended the marriage OF one of our prom
inent citizens recently. In this action the
bishop has been upheld by his superior.
Archbishop Messmer of Milwaukee, who in
letter in the public press says, among
other things, 1t is about time 70 call halt
regarding the indiscTminate attendance of
Roman Catholics at Protestant religious
services Again he says, I am of the opln-
ion that intolerance, essentially inherent in
religious truth and divine law, natural or
revealed, is fully compatible with the widest
and most cordial tolerance in social inter-
course He also speaks of the moral
sense of Catholic. teaching him the in
congruity and improperly, or even, as the
case may be, sinfulness of attending GER
tain sectarian services
True, the good archbishop disclaims any
intention of inaugurating an era Of in
tolerance. But what is religious intoler-
ance if not this very eXclusiveness among
men who profess one faith common in its
great fundamentals?
Nothing has wrought more havoc in the
world than this very thing of religious in
tolerance. No blacker pages are found in
history than those that record the turning
loose of this spirit with its consequences. 1t
has deluged Europe with blood. II pro.
duced Torquemada and the Inqulsition, a
Laud. starchamber and Claverhouse. 1t in
spired both Calvin and Cotton Mather 1t is
that spirit that says, We are the people and
wisdom will perish with U.S.. 1t is the same
spirit of eXclusiveness and pride that leads
the Mohammedan to call the Christian a
dog and the Chinese to call the foreigner a
devil. 1t is confined to no race. cline. nor
type of thought. Protestant has been as
guilty of it as Catholic. 1t is justified on
the ground of devotion to principle. but its
heart is supreme egotism. 1t appears time
and again in the Bible record. The Jews
have no dealings with the Samaritans'
shrned It lay in the heart of John. Peters
vision and visit to Cornelius shows how
hard il is to eradicate. Thank God the day
of compulsion by physical methods has
passed. With a great treasure of blood our
fathers purchased for us the blessing of re-
ligious freedom. But the same spirit that
once showed itself in persecution still mani
tests itself in exclusiveness or intolerance.
1t seeks to build its ecclesiastical fences so
high that there may be no looking over
them. Ii arrogates to itself special func-
tions and privileges. 1t elevates these
things into the sine qua non of correct
| Christianity. 1t confuses the ideas of re-
| ligion and religiosity 1t gives ecclesiastic-
| ism the pre-eminence over piety. Christ
! rang the death knell of exclusivism and
correct form when He told the Samaritan
| woman that 1t was immaterial where oil
| how any one worshiped provided 1t was IN
| spirit and in truth Surely we ought al
| this late day of the world to have reached
| a broad basis of liberation that would allow
| Christians of all names to fraternize and
| commingle both In social and religious life
| One of the early Fathers laid down the
correct principle OF comfy in the phrase
In essentials unity; in non-essentials lib.
| erty: in all things charity
1T is only in these ways that the middle
wall of partition can be broken down and
the day FASTENED when they all may bt
| one"