The Daily News. TUESDAY, AUGUST 16. RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 109, 16 August 1910, Page 4

The Daily News. TUESDAY, AUGUST 16. RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE.

There is no intolerance more un-Chris-tian than religious intolerance, because it lays down rules for the guidance oi people who cannot conscientiously adopt thein. The country that gives its people the widest religious freedom is the country that looms largest in the field of deeds. A famous Frenchman, soured by the dominance of one set form of religion, served out to a great people, with varying ideas, thoughts and aspirations, once said, sarcastically 1 , "The English have forty religions, but only one sauce." He might have envied Britain •her toleration of the beliefs of her varied people, but affected to despise them. The events that have recently torn France from north to south, demonstrate the ill effects of intolerance. 1b the making of a nation, or in it a struggle to attain a'lost place, it is not belief but deeds that count. France rebelled) against an enforced religious observance of any particular kind, mainly because the France of to-day is a less ignorant France than formerly. Britain 'is by no me'ans free from the imputation of cruel and cowardly religionism. People have been burnt at the stake, tortured to death, and torn limb from limb because they refused to subscribe to any set of religious rules. The world grows wiser, and the democracy thinks. In England, if a man's belief is not respected', it is at least tolerated, and elsewhere, surely but slowly,' the tide of con/mon sense sweeps on, bearing with it the remnants of the iron religionism, which is not goodness but merely its outward and visible sign. In Spain at the moment there is a most interesting revolution proceeding. Let us believe, in the first place, that, no matter . what a man's religious belief is, he can be either "good" or "bad." No system of religion that may be forced on him, and no intolerance of the religion ho. affects can have any effect on his real self. What a ma.n conscientiously believes and acts aip to, avoiding human sins ot omission or commission—that is the religion that does him good. It is intolerant for any religionist to assert that because any man does not see eye to eye with him, that he is unworthy, and, as we see in Spain, one man has caused a revulsion of feeling that demands a toleration absolutely unthinkable in that country. It is shown by a cable which we publish this l morning that one of the most famous clericals of this or the previous century has, during the best part of his life, been detached' altogether from the world. Brilliant man and administrator as this great Cardinal is, it is impossible that he can understand the people, their jdeals, their feelings, their beliefs. His duty is clear to him, and ihis methods must be castiron because of his duty. There is ao doubt in the mind' of any tolerant person that most eminent clericals are guided 1 in their acts by their most steadiast and precious beliefs, but that they may not be able to see matters religious from the point of jpiew of the people will be admitted. The Premier of Spain (Senor Canalejas) lias, as the basis of his policy, permitted religious toleration in Spain. This has been fought both in Rome and among; the clericals of Spain. The result of this policy is that those worshippers who do not conform to the established code of religious observance may now worship openly. For thirty years Royal orders restricted religious liberty, and, as we saw in a cablegram 6f a few weeks ago, King Alfonso, influenced by his advisers, has now decreed that all denominations may, .without interference, worship in what manner they affect. The accession of the young King and his marriage with Princess Ena was opportune for persistent attempts to obtain tolerance for all. Kings nowadays are necessarily more democratic than formerly, and in the case of Alphonso, I who has travelled widely, it is only rea-1 sonable that he should concur in the ' desire of his Ministry to meet the wishes of the democracy. Spanish prelates were naturally and deeply hurt, and protested that they were alarmed,

not so much by the measures that had been taken, but at their inopportuneness, when negotiations with Rome were pending. These prelates held that the display of exterior signs on places of worship antagonistic in belief to the established religion, was not so much a matter of tolerance as liberty, and tliat it would wound the feelings of the great body of Conformists. Tliey further mentioned that the constitution was being infringed, plainly demonstrating that a religion may be nationalised, no matter what the separate and sacred feelings of units may be. But, all the same, the feelings of the minority have been considered not only by the Premier and Ministry of Spain, but by the King himself. There have been many causes leading up to the results in Spain, very difficult to understand by people who live in the broad freedom of the British Empire. In the first place, Spain is a very pleasant place, the people are gentle, polite, artistic and clever. Therefore, foreigners love Spain, and many Jive in it. Education has advanced in Spain. The country which had a chance of annexing the world: has more than its proportion of brilliant people, and their influence counts. There is a party in Spain that merely tolerates Royalty. (This party is powerful and progressive, (if not 'kind, and it has undertaken an anti-clcrical campaign. That is to say, , that although Republicans may believe I nothing, they will side, not with the ' conformists, ibut with the people who have obtained tolerance from the State. <

The fight in Spain is a very real fight, and in it the good that religion may do jis left out. The main feature is tlie determination of both 6ides to win, a determination that, as before, may cause bitter strife and end in personal conflict.