The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-12-06
BOHEMIAN FREE THINKERS.
Explanation OF the Troubles Between the
Church and Ifa Racial EnemIks.

appeared in The Sun Of December 4 to the
effect that children in the Bohemian free
school are taught atheism, that they are in
structed to believe that there is no God. and
that the text books provided for the little
ones are filled with that idea and other
infdelit les. Your readers may want to know
something more about this matter which Is
causing such an uproar in the Bohemian
colony. and may want to learn the whole
story as 1t appears to an impartial and dis
passionate observer.
According to the latest statistics at hand.
every 900 persons out OF 1000 In Bohemia
are nomInally Catholics. Slngularly enough.
more than SO per cent. OF the Bohemians who
emigrate to the United States secede sooner
or later from that Church. Some of the
secessionists join Protestant sects, but the
majority of them join the ranks OF indifer-
entists and agnostics. Not a few avow
atheism openly. So widespread has the
movement become since lStS, when tmmi-
grants OF this nationality first began to come
here. that out OF ifty-two newspapers which
the Bohemians maintain In the United States
all but seven have Joined in the opposition to
their former Church. In New York city we
have two daily newspapers, both Of which
are non-sectarian, and one weekly. which 10
published by the Presbyterians
The Rev. DR.. Vincent Pisek has built up
quite a powerful Presbyterian church on
East Seventy-fourth street. mainly from the
ranks Of the secessionists. and his Sunday
school Is one OF the largest uptown. Al
though DR.. Pisek's school Is a neighbor to the
Bohemian free school on East Seventy-third
street maintained by the free thinkers. there
never was any friction bet these two
institutions, because DR.. Pisek 10 a broad
minded gentleman who is cont emf to take
matters as he finds them. The Redemptor-
lists support a paroohial school on East Sixty
second street. and they too are unmolested
by the opposition. and Father Mateju Of this
third Bohemian school and church has many
admirers even In the hostile camp.
DR.. Steiner in his latest book. ION the Trail
Of the Immigrant" says somewhat sarcas-
tically that the Bohemians In the United
States are not as good as they think them
selves to be, but on the other side they are
not half as bad as others think they are" Ger
tainly one OF their finest traits is their LIBERAL
ism and tolerance OF belief. and you have not
read in the newspapers for the last twenty
years that they had a row anywhere with
anybody over the matter OF faith. They
believe more in evolution than In revolution
but IL fight they must. they appreciate that IL
should be done with new spcuers and books
and not with fists.
Right here ! may say that 1t is a mistake
to suppose that the BOhemians are backward
in education. Statistics gathered in our sea-
ROA VI INV " ~ w NA' buNNeN VI SSaA
merce and Labor will bear me out that but
? per cent. Of those who come here are an
alphabets. In this respect they are only
outclassed by the English and the Scandi-
navians. and they lead the German immi-
grants. who. according to the report for 1905,
show 4 per cent. Of iliterates.
To understand better the causes that lead
TO the secession Of which l speak above. 1t is
necessary to take a glance at the past Of our
people. Prior to 1920. when the disa strous
battle Of White Mountain. near Prague. took
place, Bohemia was nine-tenths Protestant.
Professor Gindely, the author Of the Thirty
Years War;" is the authority for this state
ment. This may seem. strange. but IL should
n6t be forg gotten that John Huss. the Bohemian.
anticipated Martin Luther by 100 years with
the reformatory movement. tn victorious
Hapsburg Emperor. after the battle men,
toned. took terrible revenge on the Bohem-
ians for rebelling against him, and with Are
and = " ord he aused anti-reformation to be
inau gurated in the conquered province.
Slavata, n Catholic nobleman. states that
3o, 1000 families. including practically every
statesman. artist and writer Of note. went
into exile. BY the time the Peace Of West
phalia was concluded Bohemia was no more.
Despoiled of her art treasures. her best sons
in exile. her libraries on the ash ~heap-one
zealot alone has boosted that he burned
5000 Bohemian "heretical" books-and the
remnant of the inha bitants farmed out to
heartless Adventures from Spain. France,
Germany and Italy. Bohemia resembled a
wasted land.
It was during these hostile times that the
first Bohemian immigrants, barred from
reentering their native country. came to
America. Such we're Augustin Herman, the
first founder Of Bohemia Manor in Cecil
county, Maryland. now partly the property
of the Bayard family; Frederick Phinlipse,
whose immortal hall is the present City Hall
of Yonkers: Albrecht Zabrowsnsky, the
ancestor of the Zabriskies in this country.
and many others.
From the punishment which Ferdinand
II. and his successors inflicted on Bohemis
that country suffered for 200 years. That
the language OF the "heretics" was not stamped
out altogether seems mira chi lous indeed.
Under Joseph H., at the end of the eighteenth
century, a revival Of Bohemian letters and
literature. then almost dead, was noticeable.
When the tocsin Of revolution sounded In
dt s.s T. already became apparent to all that hat
hernia was still Sla vic at the core. George
sand. in her book The Countess Of Rudolf
stadt, - tells OF the gloomy tragedy in the
birthland of HuEs and OF the awakening Of the
To a patriotic Bohemian. hemmed in as he
Ia almost on every side by the German peo-
Piles. the mother language appears the most
precious inheritance, his all, Try to deprive
him Of that and you are bound to arouse his
anger and resentment. II is for this reason
that Austria has heretofore made a poor
subject Of him.. And because in the domin-
ions of the Hapsburgs the Church is allied to
the State you can easily perceive how close
the connection Is, after all, between the affairs
in the old country and the Bohemian free
school in New York.
Already the few political refugees who
came here in ls4s we're imbued with a spirit
of liberalism. However. IL WAS not until the
'7Os that free tho ght came in vogue among
the Bohemian people In America, due prin-
cipally to the teaching OF an apostate priest,
Iadimir KlaCal who founded n npriodiCal
called the Voice Of the Union Of Free Thinkers.
Not long thereafter another apostate priest,
Frank Zdrubek. opened up a campaign in
Chicago In the same fashion as klaoel. Other
Journalists and other journals followed in
course OF time, until the rupture between the
churchgoers and those who did not go to
church became complete and the differences
became irreconcilable. To-day there In a
free thought union in almost every lar ger
colony in the United States. and Just now
Dr. Iska. also an -apostate priest. Is making an
itinerary Of he Western group of free think
ers. The views expressed In the newspapers
and on the platform would meet the approval
Of most Unitarians. though the ruth Is that
a strong faction Of rreconcllables will be
satisfied with nauRht else than Paine, Inger-
soil. Strauss, Renan, Buchner and other
writer's, all Of whose works have been trans
lated into Bohemian and circulated largely.
The Dsnnicc NoUopeku tChe Dawn, a SPLEEN
didly edited weekly Of Cleveland, Ohio, ia
looked up to as the Official organ OF all shades
Of free thinkers