Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1910-04-07
PEOPLES PULPIT
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A FAREWELL TO sENEx.

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A FAREWELL TO SENEx
Editor Courier:
Please allow me little space in your
columns to recapitulate the matter be-
tween Senex and myself and to clear
up some Of the debris that has been
lief. along the LAY.
In the first place advocated the
taxation Of church property equally
with other forms of property; that to
exempt church property from taxation
was a step toward state support of re-
ligion because it made the taxes high
err on other property. l have shown
that to compel one class of people to
support religion they don't believe,
is morally wrong and unjust; that u.
S. Grant when president advised equal
taxation. Garfield was of the same
opinion
This matter of one class forcing their
opinions on another class brought us
to discussion of the church persecu-
ton Of men who had made discoveries
in science because their discoveries
plainly conflicted with the texts in the
Bible. consequently the faith of the peo-
pie in their religion was destroyed.
The only other disagreement was the
antiquity of man on the earth, and that
was settled by my opponent admitting
that there appeared to be reasons for
thinking that man existed on this
globe $4,000 to 10000 years ago.
No person should be blamed for his
or her religion. 1t Is mainly a matter of
environment; child educated a
a Hebrew. will usually be man or
woman of that belief We have good
and bad people Of all religions or Of
no religion. The church people of to-
day should not be blamed for the tor
lures and burnings that We're inflicted
upon the heretics of the middle or dark
ages. But they should at least have
the decency to be ashamed of such
horrible work and not be found apol-
ogizing for or excusing such prac-
tices: but this is done even to the fall
styling of history.
Both Catholics and Protestants
equally fought the PRONUNCIATION of the
heliocentric theory of astronom LII
ther, Melanchthon. and other promin-
ent Protestants WED with the Cath
olcs in the use Of ridicule and invec-
tive and physical torture to put down
the new science. Calvin burned Serv-
etus at Geneva and Rome burned Bru-
no. Descartes was prosecuted by Prot
estants in Holland and G. thOlic the.
ologians of France thwarted him DUR
ing his life and prevented any honors
due him after his death.
Yes, De Cusa did write or speak Of
the new system before Copernicus. in
the same way that Coperincus did in
scientific curiosity or paradox, and
not as a dem, nstrated science. When
laugh by Copernicus in earnest as an
actual fact, a science, is when the
venomous persecution commenced.
Then it began to be feared it would
destroy the faith of the ignorant peo-
pie in the holy scriptures.
bounded till his death and denied de-
cent respect after his death on account
OF his discovery, falsifies history.
These men were not prosecuted on
account of their belief or non-belief
of the church tenets. They We're MEM
bers Of the church. But their offense
was in their advocacy of discoveries
which conficted with the plain words
of holy writ. For instance Roger Ba-
con thought out the true theory of the
rainbow-that there was a scientific
cause for s.: the rain and sunshine.
But the plain words of the Bible
taught that it was put in the heavens
as sign or covenant that the world
would not again be destroyed by wa
ter. and the universal belief was that
there was no rainbow before the flood.
men Of his time and the human FAM
lily has been deprived of much good he
would have done in science If theology
had not prevented his work. He was
confined for fourteen years at the last
end Of his life on the charge that he
was too dangerous to be at large. re
was too dangerous because he taught
sciences which contradicted the plain
teaching Of the Bible. At the end of
his life he pathetically exclaimed
would that I had not taken so much
trouble in the cause Of science Many
men who could not help seeing the
falsity Of the childish ideas Of geo.
graphy. astronomy, meteorology and
geology were pursued with imprison-
ment torture, and sometimes death.
But it is a good sign Of the progress
made in religious thought that the
church is becoming ashamed of the
work of the past centuries. Joan OF
Arc burned as witch few hundred
years ago is now made a saint, and
apologies are made for many wrongs
done to free thought. Cardinal Gibbons
has said he is sorry for the doings of
the past-yet the pope issues his man
dates against modernism, or the higher
criticism.