Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1908-11-20

as follows:
"'While it is claimed almost univers-
ally that religion should not enter into
politics, yet there is no denying that it
does, and the mass of the voters that are
not Catholics will not support man for
any office, especially for president of the
United States, who is a Roman Catholic.
Since Taft has been nominated for presi-
dent by the republican party, it is being
circulated and is constantly urged as
reason for not voting for Taft that he is
an infidel (Unitarian), and his wife and
brother Roman Catholics. If
his feelings are in sympathy with the Ro-
man Catholic church on account of his
wife and brother being Catholics, that
would be Objectionable to sufficient
number of voters to defeat him. On the
other hand if he is an infidel, that would
be sure to mean defeat. l am
writing this letter for the sole purpose of
giving Mr.. Taft an opportunity to let the
world know what his religious belief is
during the campaign, expressing dissatis
faction with Mr.. Taft on religious
grounds; and some of them on the
ground that he was a Unitarian, and 9TH
ers on the ground that he was suspected
to be in sympathy with Catholics. l did
not answer any of these letters during
the campaign because | regarded it as an
outrage even to agitate such question
as mans religious convictions, with the
purpose of influencing a political cleo
ton. But now that the campaign is
over, when there is an opportunity for
men calmly to-consider whittier such
propositions as those you make in Your
etter would lead, | wish to invite you to
consider them, and | have selected
your letter to answer because you ad-
vance both the objections commonly
urged against Mr.. Taft, namely, that he
is IA Unitarian and also that he is sus-
pected of sy mpathy with the Catholics.
you ask that Mr. Taft shall let the
world know what his religious belief is.
This is purely his own private concern,
and it is matter between himself and
his Maker, "a matter for his own consci-
ence and to require it to be made public
under penalty of political discrimination
is to negative the first principles of our
government which guarantee complete
religious liberty, and the right to each
man to act in religious affairs as his own
conscience dictates
MIR. Taft never asked my advice in
the matter, but if he had asked it,
should have emphatically advised him
against thus stating publicly his religious
belief. The demand for a statement of a
candidates religious belief can have no
meaning except that there may be dis
elimination for or against him because of
that belief. Discrimination a. ainst the
holder of one faith means retaiatory dis
elimination against men of other faiths.
The inevitable result of our real freedom
of conscience and a reversion to the
dreadful conditions of religious dissen-
sion which, in so many lands, have
proved fatal to true liberty. to true relig-
ion and to all advance in civilization.
TO discriminate against thoroughly
upright citizen because he belongs to
some particular church, or because, like
| Abraham Lincoln, he has not avowed
his allegiance to any church, is an out
rage against that liberty of conscience
| which is one of the foundations of Amer
lean life. You are entitled to know
whether man seeking your suffrages is a
man of clean and upright life, honorable
in all his dealings with his fellows, and
fit by qualification and purpose to dc
well in the great Office for which he is a
candidate, but you are not entitled to
know matters which lie purely between
himself and his Maker. If it is proper or
legitimate to oppose man for being a
Unitarian, as was John Quincy Adams,
for instance, as is the Rev. Edward Ev-
erett Hale the present moment chaplain
of the senate an American of whose life
all good Americans are proud, then it
would be equally proper to support or OPP
pose man because of his views on JUS
LITIGATION by faith. or the method of adj
ministering the sacrament, or the gospel
of salvation by works. If you once en-
ter on such career there is absolutely
no limit at which you legitimately stop.
$50 much for your objections to Mr..
Taft because he is Unitarian. Now,
for your objections to him because you
think his wife and brother to be Roman
Catholics. AS it happens, they are not,
but if they were, or if he were a Roman
Catholic himself, it ought not to affect
in the slightest degree any mans sup
porting him for the. position of president.
You say that the mass of the voters that
are not Catholics will not support man
for any office, especially for president of
/ IL mi Ia, 4, T.tl