The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1917-02-28
Readers Column

that all men have to give up and sur
render some of their natural rights
when they enter the social compact.
No government has a right to ask any
man to surrender any rights which
are his own by nature, without his
consent or without offering an equiv
alent in compensation, excepting, of
course, penal punishments for con-
victions of criminal acts. An upright,
honest citizen should enjoy equal
rights with every other citizen, ire
spective of numbers, creed, or color,
before the law of the land. Equality
of rights is the first of rights, and in
the sight of the law there should be
no respect Of persons, whether they
be king or pope, nobleman or peasant,
rich or poor, Christian, Jew or infidel,
red, white or black.
The right Of choice is divine, and
every man should be protected in its
free exercise SO long as the exercise
of his choice does not interfere with
the equal rights of his neighbor. The
right to choose a religion and to
practice it's tenets and functions so
long as the equal rights Of others are
not invaded, is the most important or
all mans natural and divine rights,
and without this right all other rights
are insecure. ... -U.
Every attempt on the part Of reli-
gi0us organizations to secure to them
selves special favors from the govern
ment by combined influence and pres
sure, which could not be granted to
all alike, no matter how few in num-
ber should be instantly detected as
an unlawful encroachment upon the
most sacred rights of every citizen.
No citizens rights are secure SO long
as a government dares to trample I'M
derfoot single right Of any man.
The rights of all are secure only as
we make secure the rights of each.
In republic each and every citizen
is a sovereign. He rules his own spir-
it and shapes his own destiny. He is
the architect of his own fate or for
tune. His course through life is in
harmony with his own choosing. His
conscience is his monitor, and abso-
lutte in it's own sphere of operation.
It is the duty of the state to see that
he conducts himself as a good, virtu-
GUS citizen in civil matters, and that
he is protected in the unmolested en-
ioyment of all his constitutional i'm
munities and God-given privileges
whether he is religious or nonreligi-
Gus. Governments, as conceived in
harmony with the divine economy.
are not religious, but purely civil or
CARNATIONS, and should deal only
with mans relation to man. The CIV
il government has no scripturM or
civil right to compel any citizen to
worship the true God in harmony
with the first commandment; it has
no right to prohibit any man. from
making images and ,worshiping them
IN violation 81 the second command
ment; it has no right to legislate on
blasphemy against God and compel
men to observe the letter and spirit
of the third commandments; and it
has no right to compel people to OBJ
serve the Sabbath of the Lord. This
lis the Lord 3. day, and purely reli.
gious institution. It would be just as
proper to compel people to observe
the Lords Supper, the Lords baptism
and the Lords Prayer by civil statue
as the Lords day. All these are du-
ties Christians owe to God, but not to
Caesar, and should be found only in
the church ritual, not on the statue
books Of the state. Christ is the au-
thor of inalienable rights.
Very sincerely,
s. e. JACKSON.