The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1927-02-05

with copies OF The Catholic World" Theirs is a
difficult task editing "a monthly magazine of gem
dN literature and science" Ito quote the flypiece)
when al their expressions of fact or opinion must
be so colOred as to harmonic with the pernicious
doctrine they profess and preach
Had the article to which I shall shortly refer
aroused my ire this essay would never have been
written. | have read so much catholic literature
that its pefversons no longer anger me- But when
/ find paragraph or two that amuses me- my pen,
or my two typewriter fingers rather, are inspired.
This article, might add caused me to give birth
to many outlaws, at the expense Of the bespec-
tacled and ever-so-serious minded PauIist apolo-
gists
Among the religious laity in the Church of Rome,
one would naturally expect to find many strange
opinions. But those expressed in the Editorial Com
ment column of the January issue of this leading
christian journal rival all others for that adjec-
tive, especially in the werdness of logic, naivete,
ard innocence of knowledge displayed.
The general subject of the four essays that make
up the column appears to be "paganism." "We are
surrounded by pagans, and by pagan IDEAS pagan
morals pagan ethics the good father tells u.s. with
the same assurance when he informs us that IL
we pray to any of the thousands Of saints the
church, for business reasons created, that par
ticular halo viii cure our Ills tighten our
burdens, and lessen our woes. AT this juneture
IN his writing. imagine him throwing up
his hands in horror at the propensity OF the thought
as the true follower of the christian" st. Paul
should He does not stick to his subiect-but that
IS trick of apologeties; by wandering he makes
many a point that would otherwise be stiIborn.
| can almost concedc, for example that the SEN
tence to death of Sacco and Vanzetti is pagan"
act for among the few tablets the Phoenicians have
left us we find accounts of the burning in pitch OF
heretics In pagan civilizations hefetics saturated
in pitch Of course, were found to serve most eff
ficienty for Illumination; indeed if we are to be-
eve ancient history, the street lighting system of
ancient Rome depended to a large extent on such
human torches.
But must insist drawing the line even here,
for in ancient times, and even up to the advent of
the Industrial Revolution heretics were burned for
their heresies. In the case of Sacco and Vanzett
their heresy was in not accepting the Rotaran in
depreciation of economics: they to be executed
Tor murder they had no hand in committing. And
pagans gave their transgreSsors an opportunity to
prove their innocence by drinking hemlock tea;
fairer test to my way of thinking, than trial be-
fore Massachusetts judge. l bold no brief for
paganism, but the least say for it is that it
was frank and honest
Then there is the gloomy gas" case of-four years
ago, in which score of Jersey workers were driven
insane during the manufacture of a gasoline com
pound which included in its formula the health
wrecking tetrathyl gas. richly coored advertise
nlent of the gasoline, appearing in a current pc
riodicai, recalled to my mind woodcut Foxs
Martyrs and Martyrdom," which was captioned:
AChrstian martyrs sacrificed to make Roman
holiday" But, Johndee and his fellow Standard
Oil directors viii hasten to correct me- these were
no christian martyrs" only goddam foreigners.
Even the antics of Bemto Mussolni 1 hesitate
IA label pagan, in spite of that grandeur complexed
individuals attempt to restore at the expense of
his overtaxed and downtrodden workers, the glory
that was Rome. The murder Of Matteotti was done
as brutality as ever Caesar Augustus executed a
Gnostic. But murder has always been a fav0rite
sport OF cppreSsorS-I do not believe have any
right to lay its at the doors of the pagans
Ill.,
mentioned. several paragraphs ago the holy
edtorialists wanderings from his subject to make
extra point the sly. He begins by ridi-
cuiing Shaw, proceeds TO attack upon John
Haynes Holmes, brings In Bohemianism and the
suicide Of George Stirring, the poet. and then in
grand finale, analyses Anthony Ludovicis sly
sistrata, o. The Future Of Woman" by the methods
known as reductio sd absurdum in the important
science that defends the faith
The Shavians have claim upon me. / reeog-
niIe Shaw's ability as a dranlstiSt but aDDlv no