Richmond daily register. (Richmond, Madison County, Ky.) 1917-1978, 1921-09-24
''RELICIOUS LIBERTY
AND BLuELAWS

The Dai:- Register has beer
furnished with the following re
port Of the address -nade by G.
W. Curtis on Religious Liber-
ty' at the courthouse on Sunday
G.. w. Curtis, of Louisville
in speaking on the subject O
Religious Liberty and Sunday
Blue Laws" at the courthouse
Sunday night, said in part:
Christ indicated that ths
church and state should be two
separate organizations when he
said. Render therefore unto Cae-
sar the things which are Caesars
and unto God the things that arc
Gods. Matt. 22 III. Also, the
founders of the United States
Constitution had in view the
same end when they added the
first amendment, which reads
Congress hall make no law res
specting an establishments of re-
ligion or prohibiting the free ex-
ercise thereof, but we find that
from time to time there have
been attempts made to place up
on the statute books of our fair
country laws that would reverse
the wheels OF progress. and turl
us toward the dark ages. Tho
prosperity of our country i
founded upon freedom. freedom 0
speech, freedom of the press, ant
religious freedom. making it pos
sible for men Of every religion O.
no religion to live under tho
Stars and Stripes with equal pro
lection to all.
! There are at present well de-
fined plans to place upon tho
Statute books OF various states
as we'll as in the District of Go
1ulnbia, laws that would if ca-
ried out. restrict the liberties O.
many citizens OF. our great ma,
tion. They have been called Su,
day "Blue Laws" because the
are quite like the laws of Puri
tan days. Now the policy anr
example Of Jesus Christ and His
apostles was to persuade nlc1'
and not to force them into. the
church. But today pastors anf
teachers upon seeing the lack OF
spirituality in the churches have
appealed to the arm of civil law
to restrict men from doing any
thing but go to church on Sun
day. When the state places upor
it sstatute books laws that arc
religious. then the state must
through its statesmen. whether
religious or not, become the
Judges in religious matters. Past
history has taught us that un-
ion of church, and state has al
wyas. been followed by a wave OF
persecution.
Sabbath laws are of divine or
gin and we must ncds go to 81
mai for such laws. When Christ
was asked which is the greatest
commandment in the law, his
answer was Thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart.
and with all thy soul, and with
all thy mind. This is the first
and great commandment. Ant
the second is like unto it, Thou
shalt love thy neighbor as thy
self. On these two comnand-
ments hang all the law and the
prophets
God purposely arranged the
Decalogue upon two tables OF
stone, placing the first four com
mandments, which define mans
duty to God, upon one table. and
the last six, which define mans
duty to man. upon the second
table. A violation of the frs,
four thus becomes sin against
God and him alone and He ha.
declared vengeance is mine ane
fwilf repay saith the Lord" Bu1
in regard to mans duty to man
it is right and legitimate thai
laws should be made for the pro
lection of man. Anything tha'
is sin must be SO defined by Goo
land he will eventually deal witt
sin. Anything that becomes ;
crime is always crime, rgard
less Of the dav of the week 81
let u not put man in the place 10
God to punish men for their sim
against God, but let us deal will
crime when committed agains
our fellowmen and heed the ad
monition brought out in the text
|i"Render therefore unto Caesa
the things which are Caesar
and unto God the things that ar
Gods :