The Falls City tribune., 1908-09-25

picture taken DtSlue the pope. mat
picture has been reprinted aud dis
tribnted throughout the country And
the letters we have received show
thai Ibis had some effect. even in a
supposedly sane and civilized ma,
ton.
Those two incidents constitute the
foundation for all the %eensorious
gossip that has been set going con.
corning Mr.. Tafts religion.
The first won for American states
! manship and American f%air-deaisng
the approval OF the world.
Nor can we see a semblanee of
excuse even for covert attacks by
INSCRIPTIONS enemies in the reeog-
milton of an American representative
by Rome or in dignihed Difference
shown by that representative To the
head of the oldest Christian church,
the reyered chief of 230,0 600 900 Chris
tians throughout the world, including
II. 000. 900 loyal Americans.
The attempt to hurt Taft by essay
ing TO identify him with the Roman
Catholic church we place on the same
plane as the attempt to censure hin
because he has refused to turn from
the church in which his mother
knelt. Both are kindred appeals to
the bigotry which we hold in utter
d%etestation.
We had thought, as we have hoped,
that the day Of religious prejudice
in national politics was done in this
country. What better proof could
We have asked of the disappearance
of that vicious error than the re-
ligious complexion of R~oosevelt's
cabinet?
No sane man believes that the
president chose any adviser save for
his ftness-certainly not because of
his religion. SO we have seen the
Dutch Reformed churchman surround
ing himself with Root the Presbyter-
ian, Taft the Unitarian, Straus
the Jew and Bonaparte the Roman
Catholic.
And not because of their varying
| faiths, but because not one word was
spoken of the religion of any as "a
qualification or a disqualification, we
thought we had reason to believe
mat the prejudices which
should have existed were dead at
last.
The North American yields to no
one in its Americanism. And in the
spirit of the normal, but intense,
American, we say that If Mr.. Taft
were a Roman Catholic or a Hebrew
or the adherent of any other faith,
our support of his candidacy would
be no less ardent because he chose
to worship God according to the die
tates of his conscience.
What the man murmurs with bowed
mead on Sunday matters much to
his soul. But what concerns us In
the filling of an Office with which re-
ligion has no affair is, that not on
one day, but every day, with his eyes
facing all men, the every act of this
man has proved him the G~od-fearing
patriot who has done Christ's own
work in earning the title of the
secretary Of peace"
That religious prejudice has sur
yiyed so long under this government,
whose basic principle is civil and re-
ligious liberty, has puzzled the deep
est students.
True, much of this is the Inherit
ance of the ages. In part, it all dates
back to the barbarous martyrdoms of
Catholics and protestants in turn. as
each in turn gained dominance. We
car trace 1t through the prompt
shifting of the Puritans from perse-
cuted TO prosecutors. knownothing-
Ism, the fruit of a long growth. left
a bad bitterness not yet wholly OBJ
liberated.
But while much of the prejudice may
thus be accounted for, in our juig.
ment the feeling is kept alive and
nurtured less by the prosecutors than
by the prosecuted themselves. There
is no ethical difference between sup.
porting a bad man for high civic
place because he processes a certain
religion and opposing him or any
other man because of his religious
faith.
Any a who is not a good and
upright citizen is not a good and up.
right follower Of any religion. What
ever altar the %betrayer OF public
trust kneels before he is a Judas.
And he is far less worthy the sup
- r ~ f.4a- - kit