Los Angeles herald., 1906-10-29
MIX RELIGION
AND POLITICS
PASTOR URGES CONGREGATION
TO VOTE
Says Apathy Of Good People Is Re-
sponsibe for the Fact That
Bad People Are In
Power

| Politics" was the subject taken yes
terday morning by Rev. c. C. Pierce,
pastor of the Memorial Baptist church,
on the relation of the church and
Christianity to good government, taxi
ing for his text, Phil, iii:20, "our citi-
zenship is in heaven" He said in
| part:
"The old saying SO often repeated,
that we should never mingle religion
and politics, is urged by those who
either have a religion which is of very
little value. or by those who fear to
have their politics measured by the
standards of Christ. SO far as we
have been able to observe, the most
of the politics Of the present day
would be greatly improved by the in
PRODUCTION of little genuine Chris
| tianity. and asgood deal of the re-
ligon of the times would lose nothing,
were 1t to cease from it's psalm singing
long enough to apply some of its fun
damental principles to the important
concerns of government. II 1t is not
worth while for a true follower OF
Christ to interest himself in that which
so intimately concerns the well-pelng
Of all the people, then what Is worth
while? And II Christianity cannot be
applied to the serious problems Of civic
| life then may we not question whether
It can .Je applied successfully to. any
thing?
The government is for the con-
ducting. of the public affairs of the
city and the nation. To its weighty
tasks the wisest, the noblest and the
brainiest men should be called. The
government Is not q scheme OF the
rich and the strong, and the unscrupu-
lous to oyerreach and defraud the
weak, the poor and the trustful. Its
one great task always is and should
be to provide the greatest good FOR
the greatest number, and to so admin
lister the great business Of all the peo-
Pile that the highest results in the
general advancement of the nation
should be made possible.
How very often do we find differ
ent ideas prevailing. craftsmanship
minded political jobbery and disgrace
full wire pulling. Machine politics
have overridden the will of the peo-
rle and robbed us of the prerog gdtives
of citizenship,the most cherished boon
received from those of the past.
The trouble Is that In a vast ma
jority of cases the bad people run the
government instead of the good peo-
pie. 1t is fact that no one can dis
pute, that the saloon in politics is a
great deal more potent factor to
reckon with than the churches. I'M
scrupulous men, whose sole aim Is
private revenue are thus too often IN
NtSLGo Will tlS VI PuuAiS VI
! fee. The bad men, the unscrupulous
men. the members of the gang are on
hand and do the work which ought
to be done for the people by the better
element.
Then, too, the lack of interest on
the part of the better proportion of the
people has all too often resulted in
placing in office men wholly untitled
for the duties which they have as
| sumed. The one word which more than
all others, far too frequently describes
the holder Of public Office, is incom-
petency.' There are noble and notable
exceptions to this, but in far too many
cases the men who hold office are too
small for their job. We think that the
doctor who mixes our pills and pow
ders, the lawyers who write our wills
and the ministers who pray for us
must have special training, but when
we want man for the great and inn
-ortant duties of conducting the
serious and intricate problems of our
municipality we allow the machine to
select some irresponsible and unknown
windjammer, or some cheap tools OF
the barrooms or corporations.
| TT is sad thing that the working
powers OF the great political parties
have prostituted themselves to the de-
mands of various interests which seek
anything but the welfare of the pub
lie. Through unscrupulous machine
methods tie people have been well
nigh robbed of the power of the bal
lot and all too often the public has
been compelled to look helplessly on
while unworthy demogogues whom
good men supported under the mistaken
notion of party loyalty, have shame
lessIy disregarded the public welfare,
ravished the public treasury and i'm
pudently asked, what are you going
to about it?'
"The cause os all this Is the indif-
ference and the apathy Of the good
men, and here is an instance where
passive virtues Is as detrimental to the
~-Iblic walfare as positive vice. The
good people In this city outnumber the
bad two to one, but at the primaries,
where the officers of our city govern
ment are actually chosen, the bad men
outnumber the good three to one. The
history of the recent primary election
held in this city. with Its bare faced,
unscrupulous machine methods, was as
much discredit to the good men who
permitted such methods as to the po-
litical corruptioniStS who used them.
The respectable element neglect their
opportunity at the primaries and then
come to the regular election, compelled
to vote If at all for the man chosen by
some political boss.
THE encouraging thing is that the
better and more intelligent people all
over the land are getting their eyes
open. Disreputable manipulators Of
politic.l machinery are coming more
and more to learn that they are not
always to defraud the people by way
ing violently the partisan banner. A
growing number of intelligent, patri-
otic and clear sighted people are
throwing off the chains OF political
tricksters and corruptionists and the
day of the Independent voter is being
ushered in.
''If you ask me what this has to do
with religion and the things for which
the church stands l reply It has all TO
do with them. If the religion Of
Christ cannot help us to be better eiti-
2ens and to exercise the solemn duties
OF citizenship more conscientiously
then there Is a serious defect in II. II
this country is to be saved from q
repetition of the deplorable experiences
OF the past i'm municipal politics es-
pecially 1t must be because the Chris
tian men everywhere come to the
front and cast their votes as though
IL We're q serious and sacred Chris