The Jewish outlook., 1908-04-03
''The United States Christian Nation
TO JUSTICE BREWER s LECTURE BY ISAAC HAssLE

y
eating the Christian religion to such
people as yet live in darkness ant
miserable ignorance of the true knowl
edge and worship of God. -
The celebrated compact made b!
the Pilgrims on the Maytiower. in
1920. recites: Having undertaken
for the glory of God and advance
ment of the Christian faith and tn,
honor of our king and country IA voy
age to plant the first colony in the
northern parts of Virginia.
The charter of New England
granted by James l.. in 1920. after re
ferring to petition. declares: "We
according to our princely inclination
favoring much their disposition. in
hope thereby to advance the enlarge
mcnt of Christian religion. to the
glory of God Almighty
The charter granted to Rhod'
Island. i'm 1868. naming the petition
erS. speaks of them as pursuing. with
peaceablc and loyal minds. their So
ber. serious and religious intentions.
of godly edifying themselves and one
another in the holy Christian faith
and worship as they were persuaded d.;
together with the gaining over and
conversion of the poor. ignorant In
dian natives. in these parts of
America. to the sincere profession and
obedience of the same faith and wor-
ship"
The charter of Carolina. granted in
1868. by Charles H.. rccitcs that the
petitioners. being excited with II
laudablc and piouS zeal for the propa-
cation of the Christian faith.
In the constitution of South Caro-
lima. of ITS. it was declared that
the Christian Protestant religion
shall be deemed and is hereby con
Stituted and declared To he the cstab-
lishcd religion of this state" And
further. that no agreement or union
of men upon prctense of religion
should he entitled To become incorpo-
rated and regarded as Il church of the
established religion of the state. with
out agreeing and subscribing To II
look of five articles. the third and
fourth of which were that the Chris
tian religion is the true religion: that
the holy scriptures of the Old and
New Testament are of divine inspira
tion and are the rule of faith and
practice
How any valid argument can he de-
vcloped from such declarations as
these to prove that the United States
is Christian country is not easy to
see. For. of course. all these old pa
pers bristle with Christian references
il would be surprising if they did not
they are all the products of me-
diaeval conception of the necessity of
union of church and state. Ncces-
Sarlly. the patents and franchises
issued by the SOrereign of country
who was also the head of the church
established by law i'm that country
aimed at securing the double purpose
and cause which that sovereign repre-
scented. the states political advance
ment and the church s firm religious
establishment i'm the colonies, really
not two purposes. but one combined
purpose. since state and church were
one.
But shall we cite provincial narrow
ness as any argument for more en-
lightened day! If so let us rcmeml-
ber that there are other things of that
time and of those colonies not all
edifying and quite abhorrent to this
time and the thought of today. Here
sizes were punished in some colonies,
aS e. q in Massachusetts severely