Evening star., 1928-10-07
BY WILLIAM HARD.

Religion at this week end is outShout-
| ing every other issue In this campaign
amid an increasing confusion Of thought
highly alarming to responsible leaders
of both parties.
The confusion proceeds from an
| illogical mingling of two distinct and
different religious questions" each of
which is now rending this country from
| top to bottom.
The first is, Should a Catholic, as a
Catholic, be debarred by public opinion
from the presidency"
The second u.s. SHOULD churches, as
churches, and clergymen, as clergymen,
address themselves to political issues
! such as prohibition?"
This writer notes, as a current fact,
\ that there seems to be some develop
ment toward handling the first question
| but that the second question seems alb
| solutely uncomfortable either among
Protestant clergymen or among Catho-
lie clergymen.
On the first question, despite present
| appearances, this writer ventures the
positive assertion that there Is more
Protestant public opinion that is tolerant
of the idea of Catholic in the White
House today among us than ever before
| Two generations ago, for instance, it
would have been absolutely impossible
for the Methodist Board of Temperance,
Prohibition and Public Morals to have
Issued the statement which it has Just
recently issued regarding Catholics as
citizens: That statement is:
1.-THE Methodist Church prefers fact
to theory. The fact is that Catholics
such as Senator Walsh of Montana
| Chief Justice White of the Supreme
Court, Mayor Mitchell of New York and
many others have afforded this country
| patriotic leadership not surpassed by
that of any Protestant. The fact is that
the Catholics, in quite as large a pro-
portion as the Protestants, have demon
strated their single-minded patriotism
In peace and in war"
| This writer on that point recollects
the conversations which took place-off
the fioor--among the Protestant partici-
pants In the great conference of prohi-
bition organizations here in Washington
last Winter. That conference started
the present whole Protestant ecclesiasti-
| cal drive in favor of dry candidate
for President" The dry candidate most
fervently favored among the Demo-
cratic Protestant clergymen in that con-
ference was indisputably Senator Walsh
of Montana, Catholic of particu-
larry notable Catholic piety.
| ~ %*
Protestant opposition to Catholic in
the White House continues intensely,
but 1t continues with big breaks and
holes in It; and Gov. Smith is going to
get q Protestant vote which among our
ancestors would have been unthinkable.
The question, Can a Catholic be Presi-
dent?" would seem to be getting q grad
ually changing answer.
The second question, however as to
| whether or not churches and clergymen
should address themselves to political
issues, seems to show no change Of an
Swer whatsoever.
+ Catholic ecclesiastical dignitaries,
equally with Protestant ecclesiastical
dignitaries address themselves openly
for instance--to the eighteenth amend
ment.
| Cardinal O'Connell of Boston, the
premier cardinal of the Catholic Church
In the United States, has stated:
ut has been made clear thousand
times that we (the Catholics) will work
with our separated brethren (the Prot
estants) as temperance men, but not as
the tools Of those whose confessed policy
Some Protestants, reviving the hoary
hersey of the Aquarians, would Danish
wine even from the sacrifice of the altar
To these appeals the Catholic Church
cannot accede. Voluntary total alb
stinence she applauds. Compulsory pro-
hibition is different thing. Compulsory
prohibition in general is fatty opposed
to Holy Scripture and to Catholic ira
dition."
Cardinal O'Connell manifestly con-
sidered 1t his solemn pastoral duty to
IL ttatt ttk~RA RAr.N IL
litical issue, but also as moral issue
demanding the Illumination Of Chris
tian doctrine.
The query arises:
Who will tell clergymen which DO
litical issues also are moral issues and
which are not?
The query being unanswerable, the
difficulty seems insoluble.
We thereupon find three classes oi
Protestants against Gov. Smith In this
campaign.
The first class is of those who on.
pose him sheerly as a Catholic The
second Is of those who oppose him a.
Catholic and pretend to oppose him
as wet. The third is of those who
sincerely oppose him as a wet These
last are by far the most formidable
because they are able to call upon
the long open historic record of most
Of our Protestant churches in favor Of
prohibition and because they also are
able to appeal to the Protestant RECORD
of open political activity on many
other so-called moral issues" in times
gone by.
Such Protestants in their periodical.
are now constantly citing the interven.
ton of the churches in the great DO.
litical struggle between Stephen A
Douglas Of Illinois and Abraham Lin.
. coin Of Illinois, both Protestants, ir