Los Angeles herald., 1909-08-15
VOICE is LIFTED IN BEHALF
OF sPIRITUALlSM BELIEVERS

LOS ANGELES, Aug. ID Editor
Herald: The following editorial para
graph appears in The Herald OF Au-
gust 10: ,,u
Six spook mediums will be tried IN
Los Angeles next month. AS this Is
the twentieth century proceedings
will be somewhat tame. We are
aware there are witch burners In
Los Angeles, but witch burning ID
out of date.
AS one of the numerous friends of
these prosecuted people, I desire TO
record a few remarks relating to spirit
ism in general and "spook" (?l medl-
ums in particular, / Will preface py
thanking The Herald for these few
impartial lines concerning much
maligned and prosecuted body of citl-
zens' But how pitifully meager and
how shamefully brief and pointless the
comment?
There is no religious cult more intel
ligent and so misunderstood as the
free thinking spiritualistic organiza-
ton, yet 1t is more Indignantly de-
nounced and prosecuted by priests and
preachers than is any other religious
bodv. 1t is antagonistic to no other
religion or church. The foundation
stone of our belief is belief in a lire
hereafter, and we have satisfied our
selves that we do live again after the
so-called death, and that our loved
ones. gone before, do Iinger here and
do mmunicate with us through mes
sage bearers" or mediums gifted for
that purpose This is the main tenet
Of our religious belief-the continuity
Of life.
We do not seek converts. We leave
that to the churches. We begin where
the parson and the priest leave off. OF
the church membership a large ma
iority thereof is spiritualistic, and
many secretly attend our circles and
meetings. In fact, were spiritualistic
manifestations eliminated from the
Bible the foundations of the Christian
churches would crumble away. AS l
said before. we Spirtualists are far
ahead of the teachers of dogma and
creed. The churches no longer inter
est us. They are far behind us. We
believe that the Biblical patriarchs
and prophets were gifted mediums and
were messengers from the great Spirit
or Creator.
We believe that Jesus Christ, Moses,
Solomon, John the Baptist and the
apostles were mediums. and that Christ
was the most perfect of men, murdered
by religious fanatics. We refuse to
accept the Bible as the WORD Of God"
and we reject the idea of the vicarious
atonement, the immaculate conception.
purgatory, q personal God and eternal
damnation. These we leave behind us
as the creations OF the monks and
priesthood Of the dark ages" when
the ia cot and the stake and the tor
ture were used to convert intelligent
free-thinkers to Christianity.
The Herald Is no doubt correct when
II ASSERTS There are witch burners in
Los Angeles" hut II is mistaken when
it says witch burning is out Of date"
The same orthodox fanatics who mur-
but gifted Maude Won Frietag to
premature grave here in Los Angeles
would ioyfullv burn as witches the six
spiritualist mediums who are to be
tried next month because they worship
the Spiritualists' God through spirit
manifestation and phenomena. I will
go further. and declare my opinion that
these witch burners" of Los Angeles
are of the same type of holy (?) men
who cast stones at the fallen Mary
Magdalene and who later cried out
"Give unto us Rarabbas,"
The Spiritualists Of California have
endured persecution until patience is
no longer n virtue. 1t is time that the
thousands Of open and secret adhererts
of the cause organize politically for
legislative and judicial self-defense
Not until our numerical political power
is felt at the polls will this intoler-
ant persecution and witch burning by
fanatical attorneys and their anti
fake" informers cease. The forthcom-
no doubt take militant action for the
protection Of our prosecuted ministers
and message bearers.
OH ,EC WIJJTFIJEA