Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1926-11-08
Governmental ANTAGONIST TO
RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS IN
MEXICO IS SOVIET EFFORT

disguised Soviet campaign he cited
the stand taken by several socialist
! groups in this country. who have en-
couraged and supported Gales in his
offensive.
He went on to say that the Gales
regime is in fact the socialistic cul-
mination of persecution that began
in the days of Hildalgo, in 1910, a
persecution that took drastic consti-
tutional form in 1857. 1t was then
that Jaures, having assassinated
| Macmillan, imposed, by military
power, constitution upon the people
of Mexico that deprived them ON
some basic rights that no govern
! ment can give and that no govern
ment has the right to interfere with.
At that time the constitution proved
as unavoidable as it was unwise.
institutions of rights that crippled
the church in it's educational work
and in the exercise of that moral
suasion by which she has assisted
| the civil power In keeping order
among the populace which now and
then was made up largely of In
dams and half breeds.
Constitution Of 1917
According to the constitution now
in force "only a Mexican by birth
may be a minister of any religious
creed" Mr.. Goldstein declared that
estimated by American standards
this is an intolerable restriction,
since our declaration of religious
freedom assumed that religion is not
of State origin, but rather universal
to all mankind in it's scope.
The other provisions of the consti-
tuition that Mr.. Goldstein dealt with
apply to native born Mevicans. Mex
leo, he said, has absorbed all church
property, Mexico has made the
teaching of religion almost impos-
sible by attempting to dictate what
the Church shall say, how many
clergymen shall officiate in given
State. even how they shall live and
what they shall wear.
The constitution denies to native
Mexicans the right of accommodating
and inheriting material wealth as no
church or minister Of any religious
creed may acquire or inherit from
anyone directly or as a trustee any
property for religious or charitable
purposes. This sets aside not only the
rights of the living but the wills of
the dead. The constitution provides
that all churches, rectories, semina-
ries. colleges, converts, orphan asy-
iums. hospitals and other institution
now existing and all those that shall
be erected for religious or charitable
purposes shall be accounted the prop
erty of the nation.
The people of Mexico may not come
together in the open for religious pur-
poses and not within their own
churches which have all been confiscat-
ed. save they meet under government
The provisions of the
led to the arrest for pa
rading with religious banners In the
same city where Socialists paraded /
with red flags flying and with bias
phemous banners aloft, unashamed and !
una fraid.
No Religious Ceremonies
No religious service at the laying
IF corner stone Is permitted by law
nor inside a cemetery at funeral.
Native Mexicans may not by law fol- (
low the religious calling of preacher !
,r a teacher, one cannot be an admin ,
istrator over any public or private !
charitable institutions for the sick or !
needy. for scientific research or for |
the diffusion of knowledge The |
sneaker declared that the irony of !
stating that Gales is not opposed to /
religion is seen in the enforcement |
Of the constitutional provision that de- /
MES to parents their right to educate |
their children in schools of their own
preference The Gales regime pro-
hibits the teaching of religion Of any |
creed in school by any person, cleric |
3r lay.
Clergymen are not permitted to
vote. Before the courts clergymen