Los Angeles herald., 1909-11-06
The Troubles of Spain
Bv Frederic j. Haskin

/ should reflect that faith. The latest
religious census showed only 6664 pro-
testants, 402 Jews, 9645 Rationalists.
$40 of all other religions, and 1915
whose religion was not stated. That
! Is, there were only about 10000 people
out of a population of nearly 20,000,0OO,
who were not professed Catholics. 1t
is evident therefore that the clerical
and anti-clerical controversy in poll
ties is not so much the result of
movement against the church as 1t is
an internal warfare within the church.
Professor Ferrer, as the champion of
the modern school, gained the friend
ship and sympathy of progressive
! thinkers in all parts of the world by
his able and untiring efforts to intro
duce the modern sciences into Spain.
! Spain is the only country In Christ
endom into which modern science has
been unable to penetrate. Professor
Ferrer's books were the means OF
starting an agitation in favor of mod
ern education. This was opposed by
the conservative portion of the popu-
| lation and by the extreme clerical
party. 1t was pointed out that in
those lands where modern science
| reigns, religion is on the wane. This
was sufficient, in itself, to invite the
opposition of the clergy.
|
Finding the church arrayed against
him, Professor Ferrer permitted his
| Spanish spirit of intolerance to get
the better of him. In one of his books
he declares that religious education in
culeates falsehood and teaches fool
ishness. He declared that the gospels
relate only tc the life of the so-callea
Jesus Christ and that 1t was truly
misfortune that such ideals should
exist for the purpose of deceiving the
people. He was perhaps the first critic
of Christianity to deny the quality OF
merit to the ethics Of the lowly Naz-
| arene.
Few of Ferrer's followers go so far
as he in the denunciation of religion
The vast majority of his sympathizers
and of the Liberal party, which Fer
rer's death brought to power In Spain,
are Catholic Christians, who are con-
vinced that the best interests OF both
church and state would be served by
complete separation and by the
elimination of the clerical influence in
politics,
1t is difficult for Americans to under-
stand the issues involved. Perhaps the
greatest governmental reform in the
| history os the world was instituted
when Thomas Jefferson persuaded the
! legislature of the colony of Virginia 60
adopt the statute for religious freedom.
1t was the first law guaranteeing to
every man the right to think for him.
! self, and it was a decree OF absolute
divorce of the church from the state.
When the United States came into
existence the Virginia notion prevailed
and this great republic is the only
nation In Christendom in which there
| is no religion whatever between church
| and state, and yet no nation is more
amenable to religious influence.
! II the present crisis in Spain shall
! end in the separation of church and
state and shall bring about the solu-
tion of the religious problem, Spain
will be free from religious controversy
for the first time in eighteen centuries.
The introduction of Christianity into
Spain lighted the fires of martyrdom
at the beginning of the second century
after Christ. Christians were burned
at the stake for refusing to worship
the Roman gods. Under Constantine.
Christianity became the state religion,
but 1t was not long until the great
conflict between the Trinitarians> and
the Arlans agitated all Christendom.
More blood was shed over the subtle
questions raised by hair-splltting
Christian theologlans than had been
spilled by the pagan prosecutors OF
the early Christians.
Then came the invasion Of the Mo-
hammedans and the struggle which
for seven centuries racked the Spanish
people. Finally the Christians tri-
umphed, the Moors were driven from
Spain and the crescent of Islam was
forever banished from western Europe.
The same religious zeal which de-
stroyed the power of the Moors also
drove the Jews from Spain lighted the
fires of the Spanish Inquisition, sent
Columbus on his voyage OF missionary
discovery and established negro slav-
cry in America.
The intolerance born OF religious
contentious Spain carried into its po-
litcal administration. The result Is
that it's once worldwide empire has
vanished and the mother country Itself
is in the throes of what seems hope
less struggle. Spain presents the spec
tacle OF a nation being strangled to
death.
Tomorrow--The Housing of Congress.