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PROTESTANT MENACE
TO
OUR GOVERNMENT.
A LECTURE
DELIVERED IN INVESTIGATOR HALL, BOSTON, BEFORE
THE INGERSOLL SECULAR SOCIETY,
SUNDAY, JAN. 27, 1889,
BY L.K. WASHBURN.
BOSTON:
PUBLISHED BY J.P. MENDUM, INVESTIGATOR OFFICE,
PAINE MEMORIAL BUILDING, APPLETON STREET.
1889
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THE BOSTON INVESTIGATOR.
For more than fifty years this paper has maintained the battle
for Liberty against a world of opposition. And these were years
"that tried men's souls." But "the good old Investigator," (as so
many of its readers are pleased to call it,) has never from the
first wavered or faltered for a moment in this long and unequal
combat. It has borne the brunt of the battle. With this half a
century of faithful service behind it, it may well be called "the
tried and true friend of human rights." It has had for its grand
aim the elevation of man through the truth and inspiration of
Mental Liberty and moral education. True to its name it has
investigated all subjects deemed worthy of attention. It has
investigated religions, politics and customs -- investigated the
dreadful superstitions of the past, the wicked shams of the
present, and the seductive delusions regarding the future.
In short the Investigator is the people's paper. Col. R.G.
Ingersoll says of it, "The Investigator is the best of all Liberal
papers." Reader please let us have your subscription.
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Published every Wednesday at Paine Memorial Building, Boston,
Mass. By J.P. Mendum. Edited by Horace Seaver.
Price, $3.00 per annum, single copies 7 cents, Specimen copies
sent on receipt of a two cent stamp to pay postage.
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Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
1
PROTESTANT MENACE
TO
OUR GOVERNMENT.
MR. CHAIRMAN, LADIES, AND GENTLEMEN: --
It is essential that we understand what our Government stands
for; that we recognize the principles upon which it was founded and
the purposes for which it exists, in order to realize the present
anomalous condition of things, and to see the contradiction between
theory and practice as illustrated in the actual affairs of our
national life. It seems like repeating the familiar knowledge of
the school-room to say that our Government stands for human rights;
that chief among these rights is liberty, and that the very
inspiration of our existence as a people was the demand for
political freedom.
The purposes of our Government is identical with its
principles, to secure to man the freedom which it declares to be
his right. Our Constitution guarantees the citizen of this nation
the blessings of "liberty," and our Government should make good its
word.
our nation was born in a land which had passed through a
religious experience that embraced persecution and toleration,
fanaticism and common sense. The narrow religious spirit of the
Puritan broadened into the philosophic temper of Franklin, and the
rational faith of Jefferson and Paine. The events that immediately
preceded the struggle for independence on this Continent which
commanded the attention of the inhabitants of the Colonies, were of
a political character. Whatever there was of religious or
ecclesiastical interest was either pushed aside or forgotten in the
more important matters of political Government.
The King of Great Britain had oppressed beyond endurance his
American subjects, and the indignation of the Colonists was
ripening into rebellion. The question that appealed to every heart
was one of human rights. The heel of tyranny was on the necks of
the people, and their sufferings had passed the bounds of
submission. Let us understand that among all the alleged grievances
against the King by the Colonists, there was no religious
oppression complained of. Among the causes assigned for separation
by the American people, there was no mention of religious wrongs or
religious injustice. The step taken by the Colonists then was not
to secure any religious reform, but solely to secure a better
political Government.
These are the facts: The question of political independence
from Great Britain was discussed with little or no reference to
religious institutions; the war of the Revolution was fought with
the one idea of political independence as the objective point of
the struggle; the celebration of the victory which the American
army achieved was a rejoicing over the political independence which
the Colonies had won. Our Government was established for no
religious purpose. It is well for this fact to be emphasized at the
present time.
Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
2
The founders of our Republic, whatever their individual
religious convictions or opinions might have been, imposed no
religion upon the nation. The State was to recognize no church, but
to allow equal religious liberty to all. This principle was
affirmed in the strongest language in the National Constitution:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of
religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." We may rest
assured, however, that those most interested in ecclesiastical
matters were not indifferent to the fate of religion, but the vast
importance of political success overshadowed and kept in abeyance
any sectarian or religious ambition which might seek gratification.
Perhaps another reason that the assertion of religious liberty was
engrafted on the Constitution, was, that many of the leaders in the
struggle for independence were Freethinkers. Men who had become
emancipated from superstition, and who were familiar with the
history of ecclesiastical persecution, would not willingly see a
new-born nation committed to hands that cared more for the
interests of a church than for the rights of man.
It was fortunate for the human race that the foremost minds
which gave form and direction to our Government were not religious
bigots or fanatics. On no other Continent, and at no other period
in the history of mankind, had there existed circumstances so
favorable to the triumph of human freedom. Liberty was in the air.
It fell to the people as a natural right. If there was manifested
any disposition to shut it out of the National Constitution, it did
not succeed, There were men who had thought deeply, who were
determined that no union of Church and State should be permitted in
this country. We have in the United States no established religion,
no national church. The letter of the Constitution has not been
violated. Congress has made no law prohibiting religious freedom.
For over one hundred years the American people have boasted that in
this land there was no union of Church and State.
In theory we have religious liberty in the United States, but
in fact we have not. While there has been no legislative act that
commits the nation to any form of religion, our Government has kept
up a sort of religious flirtation with Christianity ever since its
foundation, and has shown it favors and granted it immunities which
cannot be reconciled with its principles of Secularism. If our
nation has no religious intentions, every act which relieves the
Christian Church of a just burden is dishonorable and unfair to
those who do not wish to help support this ecclesiastical parasite.
It is said that our Government has never declared itself in
favor of any religion, and yet ecclesiastical property has been
exempted from taxation; ministers have been paid for praying by
State and Nation; money has been granted by City and State for
sectarian purposes; the Bible has been read in our public schools;
the Governors of our States, and the President of the United
States, have appointed days of fasting and prayer, and commanded
the people to pay them the respect of religious observance, and
various laws, having for their object the control of Sunday in the
interest of Christianity, have been enacted and enforced in nearly
all the States and Territories of the United States of America. We
have an illegitimate union of Church and State in this country, and
Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
3
it is time that it was broken up. In the face of such facts as we
have mentioned, the Constitution which declares that "Congress
shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, needs to
be vindicated.
The National Constitution guarantees religions liberty to
every citizen, and gives every State in the Union the power to take
away this liberty. As a citizen of the United States, I am not
bound by any religion, but as a citizen of Massachusetts I am
compelled to regulate my actions by the faith of Christianity.
Every State can make, and has made, laws abridging religious
liberty. Such laws to-day give the Christian Church the legal right
to take away human freedom, but every such statute is contrary to
the supreme law of the land, and should be abrogated. It is time to
cry "halt!" to the religious power in this country. The march of
events under the flag of freedom takes us into no ecclesiastical
camp. We must decide which is of most value to our people, the
Christian religion or the principles embodied in our National
Constitution; the Protestant Church or a free Government, This
question is being forced upon our attention, and is up for
discussion.
I insist that while every religion is free to propagate its
faith by all the ecclesiastical arts known to priest and minister,
no church has the right to claim the power of the law to shield it
from just criticism, or to enforce its faith upon the people. Our
nation is not a Christian nation. All the legislation in the
interest of the Christian Church is contrary to the declaration of
our principles. Every statute that has for its object the
enforcement of the Christian religion is religious oppression. I
always try to think as well of my fellow beings as I can. I would
like to do justice to those men and women who are trying to have
our Government "stand up for Jesus"; and I will admit that they are
sincere in their efforts, that they honestly believe that we should
be better, more moral and upright as a people, if some
acknowledgment of our national dependence upon the Protestant
religion could be secured from our Government. I will also admit
that Calvin was perfectly sincere in his belief that the doctrines
of Serviettes were dangerous to the soul of man, and that in his
approval of the burning of Serviettes he was perfectly sincere,
I will admit that the Massachusetts Puritans who hung Quakers
on Boston Common were sincere in their cruel and barbarous
persecutions, and that it was with all sincerity that they branded
with hot irons people whom they looked upon as heretics. I will
admit that the Christian prosecution of Abner Kneeland for
blasphemy was sincere, and that this grand man, called "the grey
father of American Free Thought," was sent to jail for an honest
expression of an honest faith in perfect sincerity. I will admit
that the Unitarians were sincere in their fear and hate of Theodore
Parker, when he was a living power in this city, and that sincerity
dictated the tardy repentance which has moved the Unitarian
denomination to pay him the tribute of respect and honor which it
has but lately laid upon the brow crowned with death. I will admit
that all Christians are sincere in their hatred of Freethinkers,
and that the Christian Church hates most sincerely that most-hated
Freethinker whom we to-day have met to honor -- THOMAS PAINE.
Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
4
Sincerity has been the excuse of one-half the villainy of the
world, and the apology of the other half. It has been the fair face
of too many foul deeds. Thousands of crimes and wrongs and
cruelties have been born from the heart of this word. We cannot
deny sincerity to the Mohammedan in his fiendish barbarities to
Christians, nor equal sincerity to Christians in their equally
barbarous retaliation. We feel that the dupe of religious
excitement is sincere in whatever he says and does, but we cannot
for this reason endorse his flaming rhetoric, or imitate his pious
gymnastics. I presume that every bigot and every fanatic in the
world is sincere.
Let us ask the Protestant Christians of the United States, who
are working to get their religion endorsed by the Government, if
they are suffering from political injustice, if they are victims of
political wrongs? Are they singled out among the inhabitants of
this country for legislative afflictions? Are they compelled to
observe against their convictions any particular day of the week as
sacred above another? Is their property taxed unjustly; taxed to
support a worship which they cannot join and a religion which they
cannot accept? Are their children compelled by the laws of the
State to listen to the reading of religious books which are
obnoxious to them. Do they hear prayers in our legislatures that
are offensive to their ideas of right?
The necessary and just demand is not for the Government to
give further aid to the Protestant Church, but to stop the
immunities which this church now enjoys. In view of the many wrongs
and evils which others have to bear on account of the privileges
granted to this church, every Christian should hang his head in
shame and blush with guilt before the American people. The truth is
this: The Protestant churches of the United States want to control
our Government for the advantage of their religion. They already
have secured enactments in all of our legislatures which give them
power to injure in mind and estate those who do not accept the
Christian faith. Yet in face of this fact, and in face of the
National Constitution, which says that Congress shall not prohibit
the free exercise of religion, there is a movement among the
Protestant party for greater ecclesiastical authority.
We cannot be blind to the efforts being made by Christian
fanatics, nor can we see such attempts to weaken our political
Government and strangle our political liberty without a protest.
That the people who are seeking for religious power in this country
are honest and sincere in their endeavors, is not any reason why
our citizens should stand idly by and see their political
institutions overthrown, and the freedom won by the patriots of the
Revolution destroyed by the bigots of the Christian Church.
The Protestant menace to our Government is much too serious to
be dismissed with the selfsatisfying assurance that there is no
danger in this land from the ecclesiastical power. There is a more
imminent danger than most people are aware of, and there is
apprehension lest it be seen too late. The Christian Church, to
hide its base motives, is proclaiming that the increasing
skepticism in this country threatens the moral foundation of
society, and that its further spread endangers the very existence
Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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of our Republic. It is seeking to create a sentiment against the
spirit of free inquiry, which has challenged its authority and
exposed its false claims to Divine guidance. The endeavor to foist
its religion upon the nation is for the purpose of getting the
power to stamp out Liberalism in the United States.
Upon any true and faithful representation of the work of Free
Thought in the world, the Christian Church would be unable to
arouse any prejudice against it. It is only by raising the cry of
"Infidelity" that it can succeed. The word "Infidel" is "mad dog"
to the ear of the average Christian. Start this cry and he at once
arms himself with the cudgel of slander and abuse, and is ready to
engage in any crusade that promises the speedy extermination of his
enemy. But we do not purpose to allow Liberalism to be
misrepresented by Christian lips without demanding satisfaction.
Liberalism is the honest result of honest thought. It is the
expression of honest convictions. As Liberals who have outgrown the
influence of the Christian dogmas upon the mind, we take the
position that such growth assigns us. We are outside of the
Christian Church because we do not belong inside. In our criticisms
of the Christian superstitions we have performed what we believed
to be a duty. We hold that Christianity as a religious system is
both false and wrong, and that we do the world a benefit by
exposing its falseness and errors. Liberalism has never lifted a
hand in persecution, never imprisoned science or burned doubt.
Liberalism has sided with the wronged, the oppressed, the enslaved
everywhere. Liberalism has been heroic in its devotion to truth,
sublime in its endurance of wrongs, and self-sacrificing in its
pursuit of what is right and best for man. And yet the Christian
Church has ever treated those who have rejected its faith as
enemies of all that is pure, good, and true.
Christianity has persecuted men in all ages; it has tortured
doubt, burned unbelief, and led science and truth to the stake and
the gallows. It has sided with the oppressor, with the slave-
holder, with the great and powerful everywhere. It has pursued
liberty with the hate of a tyrant and the venom of a priest. It has
treated knowledge as a spy and truth as a traitor. It has made vice
a virtue by putting a premium on a profession of faith, and virtue
a vice by punishing the publication of an honest doubt. And yet
this priestly piety has the audacity to pose as the friend of
science, of knowledge, of truth, of liberty, and of man.
The Protestant Church asks our Government to give it the right
to teach its dogmas to our children, when there is not a Christian
minister on the earth that can defend these dogmas before the court
of common sense. The Protestant Church asks our Government to
compel the people to observe the Christian Sabbath as a day of
religious worship, when it knows that not one-fourth of the people
of the nation look upon Sunday as any holier than Friday.
The truth is that Orthodoxy is regarded as a theological
comedy by the intelligence of the world, and as being played
chiefly for the benefit of the actors' fund." It has been apparent
for several years that Christianity was losing its hold upon the
faith of mankind, and those who get their living out of this
Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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superstition have exhausted every physical and mental resource to
save Christianity for the purpose of saving themselves. Every
device has been resorted to that promised to postpone the
dissolution of this theological body, and every means tried that
held out the faintest hope that this "arrested development" of
human thought would yield the salaries of those who preached it for
at least another generation.
Various efforts have been made to take away the rights of the
people to save the Christian superstitions, but no more flagrant
violation of the liberty guaranteed the citizens of this Republic
has ever been attempted than is contained in the present endeavor
to have Congress pass what is called a National Sabbath Law. Do our
people realize what this law means? Do they KNOW what the power of
the Protestant Church would be if backed up by the power of our
Government? Let me read enough of the text of this proposed law to
show how far the Christian Church would go to save its
institutions. The bill, which is expected to become a law, was
introduced in the Senate of the United States by Mr. Blair, on the
21st of May, 1888. It was read twice, and referred to the Committee
on Education and Labor. On December 18th, 1888, it was ordered to
be reprinted. This bill is entitled; A bill to secure to the people
the enjoyment of the first day of the week, commonly known as the
Lord's Day, as a day of rest, and to promote its observance as a
day of religious worship." It reads as follows: --
"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in, Congress assembled, --
That no person, or corporation, or agent, servant, or
employee of any person or corporation, shall perform or
authorize to be performed, any secular work, labor, or
business to the disturbance of others, works of necessity, and
mercy, and humanity excepted; nor shall any Person engage in
any play, game, or amusement, or recreation to the disturbance
of others, on the first day of the week, commonly known as the
Lord's Day, or during any part thereof, in any territory,
district, vessel, or place subject to the exclusive
jurisdiction of the United States........
See. 2. That no mails or mail matter shall hereafter be
transported in time of peace over any land postal-route, nor
shall any mail matter be collected, assorted, handled, or
delivered during any part of the first day of the week."
There are certain provisos which are not important to our
purpose. Sections 3, 4, and 5 relate to commerce between the States
and with the Indian tribes; drills, musters and parades; and the
payment and receipt of wages. Sec. 6 refers to such labor and
service as are not deemed violations of the act, but says that "the
same shall be construed so far as possible to secure to the whole
people rest from toil during the first day of the week, their
mental and moral culture, and the religious observance of the
Sabbath Day."
Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
7
Here is a deadly blow aimed at religious liberty in this
country. Such a bill as this is the attempt of religious despair.
Any endeavor to explain it on the ground of public necessity, or in
the interest of public morals, is the veriest hypocrisy. Who
demands such a law as this bill proposes? What is it demanded for?
Have not the people who wish to go to church on Sunday the liberty
to do so? Does any one deny them this right? Does any one object to
their going or try to stop them?
Here is the truth: This bill is not to secure to those who
wish to observe the Sabbath in a religious manner the right to do
so, but it is for the purpose of preventing those who wish to
observe it differently from so doing. It is an effort to coerce the
conduct and consciences of men. It is compulsion. This act of
desperation on the part of the Protestant Christians of the United
States is a confession that their religion is a failure, that
without the arm of the law to compel people to observe Sunday as a
holy day, the church is powerless to secure such observance.
Has no one but a Christian any rights in this country? Is
there nothing else of importance in this land but the church? Are
the only affairs of great moment those that relate to religion? Has
it become necessary for the Government to sanction Christian
opinions and observances in order to make the people respect them?
Then their usefulness is past; they can only be supported by the
oppression of the people. Let Congress pass this National Sabbath
Law, and it will soon be asked to pass a law for the endowment of
the church and the support of the clergy.
The Protestants of this land are not restrained from teaching
their religious dogmas or observing the ceremonies of their
religion. Worship is free. A clergyman may teach the most absurd
faith, the most ridiculous superstition, and the law protects him.
It is not for liberty of conscience that the Christian Church
demands the passage of this Sabbath bill; it is to kill liberty of
conscience and take away the rights of the people.
We are informed that a petition, signed by fifteen millions of
names, praying for the passage of this bill, has been presented to
Congress. What a spectacle in a free country! Has it come to this?
Have we forgotten the lessons of persecution that we can wish to
re-enact religious tyranny? Has toleration, then, been a failure?
Has Christianity taught its adherents no higher justice than to
deny to others what they wish to enjoy themselves?
This Sabbath bill is an attempt on the part of Christians to
take away the liberty of their neighbors. It is for the purpose of
compelling the people to accept their religious opinions, to oblige
them to attend church and support Christian worship. This proposed
law is a blow at private rights and public blessings. It aims not
only to take away the freedom of the individual, its object is to
stop public benefactions. The United States mails are to be handled
to please Christian ministers. They are to be all locked up
Saturday nights and not opened until Monday morning. The railway
trains, that carry the mails, are to stop Saturday night wherever
they happen to be, when the hand of the clock points on the dial to
Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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the hour of twelve, and to remain there twenty-four hours. No
letter is to be collected or delivered on Sunday. The only holy
service on the so-called Lord's Day is the service conducted by the
priest or minister in a Christian Church!
The bill to secure the religious observance of the Sabbath is
the measure of Christian intolerance in the nineteenth century. It
reveals how much of bigotry and fanaticism there is yet alive. It
shows us the spirit that animates the Christian Church, and it
shows us moreover the desperate straits to which it is reduced to
save its religion. If Christians had founded this Government there
would have been no freedom in it. Liberty would have been no larger
than the Apostle's creed. We are reminded upon this occasion of
those words of Thomas Paine: -- "Of all the tyrannies that afflict
mankind, tyranny in religion is the worst."
Protestants have yet to learn that liberty of conscience is
not the right of a few but of all; that people are not to ask a
church what they shall accept as true, or to regulate their
behavior by what a church says is right. Not only does a Government
"derive its just powers from the consent of the governed," but a
church derives its authority from the acquiescence of man. When
that authority is exercised arbitrarily it is to be resisted. The
powers of all organizations of whatsoever character are conferred
by man. There is no other source of authority. The pretended
derivation of power from God is imposition. Such a claim cannot be
defended before intelligence, and dare not be made except where
fear and cowardice make the mind a slave.
The Protestants of the United States, in their attempt to have
enacted a National Sabbath law, aim to usurp the rights of others.
They propose to play the role of tyrants, to teach their religion
at the point of the bayonet. I think I do not mistake the temper of
the American people when I say that they will not submit to this
tyranny. We must have fair fighting to-day. The spirit of the age
sides with the wronged. There is but one way that people can be
made to observe Sunday as the Lord's Day, and that is by convincing
them that this day belongs to him, and not to the people. The
Protestant churches know that they cannot defend their dogma of the
Sabbath, know that there is no reason, no sense in their ideas of
Sunday. They are not honest enough to acknowledge the truth. They
dare not come out, and let this question be decided by the facts.
They know that there is no warrant in Nature, for their foolish
notion of Sunday. The truth is against them, and so they ask the
Government to come to the assistance of the Lord.
It will take more than the Congress of the United States to
settle this question -- more than the passage of a bill to secure
the observance of Sunday as a day of religious worship, to convince
the intelligence of the nineteenth century that one day is better
than another or to be used for a different purpose, except as
mankind find it convenient or desirable. We are in danger of
meriting the criticism of the Hindoo who remarked that " Christians
want six days set apart for cheating man, and one day for cheating
God."
Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
9
I know of no question that engenders more of hypocrisy than
the Sunday question. There is in the action of the Protestants in
this country more than a menace to our liberties on one day of the
week. Let this Sabbath bill before Congress become a law and other
tyrannous measures will follow at its heels. If there is any
expectation that a more rigid religious observance of Sunday will
result in a purer moral atmosphere such expectation is doomed to
disappointment. Tyranny has never yet borne a virtue.
For our Government to endorse any Christian dogma is to exceed
its powers. There would be no religious meaning in such an act. It
would simply be a concession to bigotry which would result in
arousing the people to the real nature of Protestantism and to
their duty towards this pious tyranny. People will not be converted
to Christianity by an act of Congress. The fond faith that a pious
text on our national coin would teach the people to reverence the
divine name did not materialize into the expected piety. A true
life has never yet come from a false education. Instead of
Christians wishing to have placed upon our money the inscription,
"In God we trust," it would have been more consistent for them to
put upon their God: -- In money we trust.
It will do no good to pass a law which is not demanded by the
welfare of the people. An unjust statute has been the mother only
of wrongs. Our Government has nothing to do with the religion of
its people -- no right to interfere in religious matters, only to
see that one party or sect does not oppress another.
Congress would stultify the Government were it to pass the
National Sabbath bill. Were this bill to become a law it would be
unconstitutional. I do not believe that sixty millions of people
should be enslaved to please fifteen million bigots.
**** ****
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