The Irish standard., 1907-07-13
war AGAINST GOD
France is Looked Upon, and
~> with Reason, as

The Only Advantageous Nation
In the World.
In a recent number of Everybody
Magazine, Vance Thompson. Paris
correspondent, in an atlcle entltled
War Against Christ" says in part:
1t was a winter. afternoon in the
Chamber of Deputies, there by the
misty Seine in Paris. BY vote Of
nearly three to one the representa-
tives of the French nation turned out
the tight of heaven. That was pro-
digious event. Two thousand years
ago a star stood over Bethlehem. we
have put that star out forever" cried
the orator. He was Viviani, a desper-
ate lawyer. politician, journalist, So
cialist who had fought his way to
power with the ruthless courage of a
medieval bravo; having been person.
ally informed OF the nom existence OF
God, he announced. the fact simply and
frankly: AYE. there was deceptive
light in Heaven, but we have put it
out forever!"
BY 1--WE" he meant the brawling CO.
hort grouped at the left of the Cham
berthe cohort of socialistic greeds;
yontler fat and hairy man, with i'm
mense abdomen and the short gestic-
ulating fins "a porpoise of a MANI
may stand for the type and symbol OF
them all-Jaures. He is not a man;
he is a Voice and an Appetite; lungs
and Stomach: BY I'VE" Viviani meant
all the Voices and Appetites round the
swll trough of the State. And wild
cheers greeted him.
Clemenceau, little man. smart and
dirty. led the applause from his place
OF Prime Minister The melancholy
Brisson, who presided, looked almost
cheerful; he had never been personally
Informed of the non-existence Of God,
and his life had been a dismal fear
he showed immense relief: That bold
Viviani, with his rhetor's breadth. had
blown out the light of heaven. When
the French Chamber passes new law
il orders it printed on huge posters
and pasted UP all over France-at ev-
cry street corner, in every hamlet. on
wayside barns and fences. r have
forgotten why Jaures rose and de-
manded that Viviani's speech should
he thus placarded over France: but by
a vote of nearly three to one the order
was made. And for weeks after-even
to this day-the walls and boarding!
proclaimed the interesting fact that
the French Assembly had decreed the
non-existence of God and turned out
the lights that shone once upon time
overhead. ~: "- -.
Unless you know France. Well. you
cannot understand how the news was
received; the license GRANTED by the
State) to knock some one else about
the ears.
The government had been SO long
used to treating the clergy as func-
t.onaries that it could not bring itself
to let them go freely about their bust
ness What, these. poor. blackcoated
: imbeciles. who do not know that God
is; dead are to be permitted to preach
their absurd doctrines how and where
they please? The Voices and Appetites
could not consent to that for one mo-
ment. And besides, in spite Of thu
: fact that the property of all the relig-
ous congregations had been seized
quite recently the Trough was empty
So the BRAND law was passed. which
tied the unwilling Church once more
to the State-and put a gendarme al
the altar, side by side with the priest
1t should be borne in mind that
France is the only anti-religious ma
ton in the world. No other has SCI
itself the task Of blowing out the ligh'
III Heaven and getting rid Of Christ.
. ianity: and France is in her decadence
with a dwindling population, with
criminality averag ing more than twice
that Of italy or Germany. with nearl,
ten thousand suicides a year-the fig.
ures are 9.703-and with a literature ii
; which infancy squats by the side o.
blasphemy and human degradation
But even in the masculine and aiul
; nations humanity today is i'll at ease
In America in every degree of lati:
tude. scores Of. little religions are
!; springlng up and dying; ghostly visi
tants haunt the darkened rooms -wher,
tables rap and turn; one and all. these
are mere indications of the battle tina
must be .waged the world over-or
the one side the Voice and the Anne.