The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-10-24
BY 4. M. WicKs.

class of this country, he manages, in
dull sort of manner, to convey to
his hearers some conception of gov
ernmental policy It is possible, with
some concentration, to determine
what he, with his queer New Eng
land GEOGRAPHY, is driving at. For
such occasions his utterances are
carefully prepared, and unquestion-
ably censored by his political adj
visers."
But when, on occasion, he appears
before conventions and INDUCES in
the expression of his own opinions he
becomes incoherent, if not positively
silly.
Such an occasion was his recent APP
pearance before the national council
of the congregational churches, as
sembled in Washington. There, be-
fore a body of people whose bodies
have been catapulted into the 10th
century, tho their minds dwell in the
fourteenth century. the president of
the United States, asserted that religi-
Gus influence over government was
the proper agency to combat the ever
recurring crime waves.
No one expects a chief executive of
this country to understand the eco
nomic basis of crime and propose the
only effective means of abolishing it
the revolution.
1t is not too much. tho, to expect
from a president a slight knowledge
of the facts CLEANED from govern
mental reports regarding crime. Are
non-religious people criminal while
religious people observe the law? If
one were to analyze crime statistics
upon such basis, but one conclu-
sion could be reached: Religion, in
stead of preventing crime, is respon-
sibie for crime. The most powerful
single religious body in the United
States, claiming to have the support
Of less than Is per cent Of the popu-
lation, furnishes more than 70 per
cent of the criminals. On the basis
of this fact alone one can make out
a very good case against religion.
But just as we cannot accept the
Coolidge analysis of the cure for
crime, so we cannot accept the alb
surd contentious of certain free
thinkers that religion breeds crime.
The identical economic conditions
that breed crime also breed ignor-
ance, the basis of religion. Remove
those conditions and both crime and
religion will vanish.
A SECOND error revealed in his
"A address was the statement:
ait is my understanding that gov
eminent rests upon religion. While
in our own country we have wisely
separated church and state in or
der to emancipate faith from all po-
litical interference, nevertheless the
forms and theories of our govern
ment were laid in accordance with
the prevailing religious conviction
Of the people,"
Such a lack of understanding of the
history Of the United States is almost
pathetic. II calls to mind that other
genius, Mr.. Henry Ford, the Detroit
flivver magnate.
Does not Mr.. Coolidge know that
the American revolutionists, in their
revolt against every form OF feudal-
ism, indelibly stamped upon the gov
eminent they created the ultimatum
that church and state must forever re-
main separated and that no man
must be Disseminated against be-
cause of his beliefs? II it is really
Coolidge's understanding that govern
ment rests upon religion, his under
standing is badly warped. Never at
any time in the worlds history did
government rest upon religion. The
close connection between church and
state under feudalism sometimes
created that illusion. 1t was because
the feudal ruling class concealed its
economic interests under the trap
pings of religion and because it used
the church as an armed force against
the rising bourgeoisie, that superb !
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