Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1908-07-31
FIGHT ON THE
 UNITARIANS
Religion Being Made il Campaign I>- suc-Religion of Judge Taft Threatens to Become Matter Oi Considerable Concern in Coming Campaign.

NdSi'HSt Ou, July JU.=- | nltaflanS
 teach today what the deists. such as Tom Paine taught century ago. Onltaflans are no more Christians
 than are asnostcs. Thousands of people throughout the country un- derstand this and they will no more
 vote for Judge Taft. who is a Unitar- ian. than they would have voted for Colonel Ingersoll.'
 This statement, privately made by the rector of one of Washington s ! leading churches, reflects sentiments that are now being heard on every
 side. The religion uf Judge Taft promises to become a campaign is-
 sue of considerable magnitude. The Rev U. G. B Pierce. pastor of the
 Unitarian church, of which Judge Taft
 is member. has received hundreds of letters inqui. ing about the candidates views On spiritual matters. Judge
 Taft, too daily receives many com
 municatlons of this character, and
 some of them are of an abusive char acter
 Some of Mr. Taft's friends are in cllned to be alarmed by these attacks, which are constantly becoming more frequent. Reports have been received here that evangelists in various sec tlons of the country have denounced
 Taft for his religious views and urged
 their hearers not to vote for him. A
 majority of Washington politicians. however. refuse to consider these at tacks seriously. They point out that Jefferson. Adams, Lincoln and Grant
 were all unorthodox in their religious
 Views, but that attempts to defeat them on those grounds failed miser- ably
 All Souls Unitarian church. of which Mr Taft is member, is an at
 tractlve but not impressive looking structure, covered with ivy, and of pleasing architecture In it's steepla hangs historic bell This was cast
 by Paul Revere. the famous bell founder. whose midnight ride set all New England in a blaze against the British. It was hung in its belfry almost a century ago and for many years was the largest bell in the ciiv. aud the only bell of any size II was used not only by the Unitafians. tsllr by other denominations, and pealed | out equally to call the people to holy day celebrations or church festivals or to warn the city of fire.
 Men faWous in the history of the country have been members of this church and have attended divine ser- vices there. John C. Calhoun was a communicant also Daniel Webster, John Quincy Adams, Justice Morrill,, John D, Long and George Bancroft the historian. Rear Admiral Evans is a member, as is the Rev. Edward Ev- erett Hale, who frequently occupies the pulpit. Other remembers with AIr, Taft are Dr. Truman Abbe, Rep resentative Mann of Illinois, Aims worth R. Spofford, former librarian of and Representative John W. Weeks of Massachusetts
 djr Pierce, the pastor, is a4 young man. a native of Providence, who was raised a Baptist. He went to school as a boy in Boston and took post graduate course at Harvard. He was called to All Souls eight years ago. and in that time has become one of the foremost pastors of the city.
 About the time he first entered the pulpit as a Baptist preacher he began reading Darwin and Huxley and re- adjusted his religious views to con- form with the more advanced teach ings of science. Then lie tuyned to the Unitarian church.
 So far as All Souls is concerned, il is a practical church. Its members believe ia doing practical things lts charities are many. Ii maintains for one thing, annually, T visiting rurs2 paying all the expenses, and is the only church oc a1y daromiaacto1 in