Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1930-02-27
A RUSSIAN SMOKESCREEN-

AS a smokescreen in defense of bolshevism
which now rules Russia with an iron hand, the Pro
ducers Moose attempts to quote the head of the Rus
sian Orthodox church, as saying that there were no
prosecutions of Christianity in that country. This
spokesman was undoubtedly compelled to say what he
did, or it would have been his finish. If Metropolitan
Sergius, head of the Russian Orthodox church in Mos
COW, made this statement, why then is Archbishop
Platon, head of the Russian Orthodox church in Am
erican joining hands with the New York Federation of
churches in selecting March 18th as the date of univer-
sal prayer for Russian Christians? Fugitives from
Russia who have been there to look after the spirit
ual welfare of the countless thousands who are crop
ing for the divine light, tell that they were forced to
leave unless they signed declarations Of apostacy and
hatred towards God. The working classes who are be-
ing reduced to serfdom and deported to state farms for
their existence are compelled, in order to live, to fore
swear God, and make mockery of all that is holy.
The Producers Moose is allied with or COM
pletely in sympathy with the Soviet iron-mailed rule
of d~espotism, and its editor and r%eportorial force can
only be classed with those despoilers Of all that is
sacred and holy over there in faraway Russia and ST.
IBERIA, as long as they support and uphold such a gov
vernment. The Pope Of Rome issued his %encycllcal and
we say it was not false; the King Of England deplored
the conditions in Russia and asked for a day to be set
aside by all of the Christian world to pray that Chris
tianity in Russia shall not be destroyed, and now I'M
der a New York date line of February 18th we IND
that the Presbyterians, Jews and Lutherans are also
coming out with the same charges against the Soviet
rulers that they are destroying religious freedom IN
Russia, which we quote herewith:
president Hoover was appealed to today to
protect religion from attack" by Russian Soviets
in a letter forwarded him by Arthur j. Brown,
president of the Presbyterian board OF foreign
missions, on behalf of the American committee on
religious rights and minorities.
Protesting against the "denial of the right
of religious freedom in Russia" and declaring that
prosecutions" in the Soviet country have shock
ed the moral sense of the world" the letter in a
resolution embodied in its text, asked that the
President refuse to recognize Soviet Russia until
it's anti-religous campaign ceases.
Lutherans to Pray
At the same time eighty one million Ln-
therans throughout the world were asked by DR..
John H. Moorehead, president of the Lutheran
world convention, to set aside March 2 as a special
day of prayer for Russian Christians.
Jews Denounce Russians Desponers
A statement issued by the American Jew
ish congress denounced the "unspeakabe repres-
sion' of religion in Russia and pledged coopera-
ton with other faiths in a campaign to end the
wrongs in Soviet Russia"
When conditions become such that every sect
and creed join hands against a national disgrace such
as Soviet Russia is now heaping upon Christianity;
when Catholics, Jews and Lutheran and all other re-
ligious associations rise up enmasse to pray that these
devil worshippers be led into the path of righteous
ness, it is passing strange that only sympathizers of
the Producers Moose of Plentywood dares to rise up in
the defense of such an outrage.
Either the heads Of all the recognized Christian
churches of the world are mistaken or else these nit
wits that run the Producers Moose are liars.