The menace. [volume] (Aurora, Mo.) 1911-1920, 1918-07-27

community lCCOE,IllLcQt DuL W the VIZ
gin Mary, the debate in the senate
failed to disclose this fact. Indeed, so
far as the debate shows, the thought
Of senator's was that the proposed
noon-day prayer wasbto be a suppli-
cation to God, and also that each In
dividual was to offer his or her prayer
at noon in his or her own way, and
not to follow the form Of ceremony
Of the Angelus as prescribed by the
Roman Catholic church. Nothing In
the debate appeared that revealed
the Angelus as a purely sectarian
form and, 80 far as the record shows,
the Protestant members Of the Senate
innocently voted Roman Catholic
form into legislative enactment on
behalf Of sect that represents only
38 (?) per cent Of the population Of
country, but which they ask the re-
the country, but which they ask the
remaining 81 (?) per cent Of the
population to observe"
That the whole idea is q Ro-
manist trick is self-evident,
when we reflect that no legisla-
ton is needed to cause people
who believe in prayer to engage
in it.
And that a proposition to
pray merely Zone Minute" is
insulting to reverent minds and
a jest to the irreverant, that the
inclusion Of the "Angelus" term
is an insult to Protestants and
Jews to whom such forms are
meaningless, and worse still to
agnostics and free thinkers who
repudiate all forms of religion
and' who have equal rights to
their ideas of creeds and cere-
monies with members of the
Catholic church.
Coming under the guise of re-
ligion the affair is a we'll
planned effort for national rec
ognition of a Catholic ceremony
and an insult to every one out
side that church. We do not
say this irreverently, for we be-
lieve in the most perfect free
dom of religious work and ex-
preston, and are ready at all
times to defend anyone in the
reasonable exercise of such ex-
pressions, yet, we cannot refrain
from protesting against a Zone
Minute" Roman Catholic propo-
sition. TO call on the people of
the United States even by i'm
plication to go to counting their
beads and saying "Hail Marys"
comes within the realms of
freak legislation which it seems
incredible that sane men would
engage in.
While we do not know at the
time. of writing what the
outcome of this proposition will
be, we do know that Senators
Phelan, Myers ct. al. pitched a
bombshell into the religious
camps, and injected, or rather
stirred up, a sectarian question
which had better been left alone
at the present time, and one
which will recoil on the heads
of the projectors and the church
they represent, for, while the
people are saying but little
about these things during war
times, they are noting events,
are thinking deeply and serious
ly, and, having their votes yet
left them, they may use them to
good effect, at future times.
If we are going to elect Of
ficials to enact legislation
on prayer it is time we
began revising our methods of
voting for candidates. We like
other legislation in favor of the
majority and if it's going to come
to an issue of prayers when we
elect candidates we had just as
well take that into consideration
and let the majority get what it
wants. Getting down to brass
tacks what business has the SEN
ate tampering with the time
you devote to prayer or in pre-
scribing the particular mode of
prayer you shall use? If the
senate thought it was pleasing
the majority by shooting across
a resolution with the word
"Angelus" as its keynote it is
full of men who are too poorly
posted on the views of the folks
back home to ever again merit
their vote.
It seems that the custom these
days is to get as far away from