The first great voice raised on these shores for the complete separation
of church and state was that of the Baptist preacher Roger Williams,
founder of the Rhode Island colony, which as a state has proved in
the latter days one of the worst traitors to the spirit of democratic
justice. While the Baptist church as a whole has become no more loyal
to religious freedom than any other, and has thus cheaply and basely
surrendered its once glorious heritage, it has always embosomed
individual members who could not forget that the founders of their
sect suffered persecution to the death for proclaiming full freedom of
conscience, and for declaring that the state could not lawfully meddle
with affairs of religion. The Rev. Dr. Alvah Hovey, for many years head
of the famous Newton (Mass.) Theological Seminary, wrote more than
one book in which the principles of Secularism were proclaimed in
full measure from the standpoint of orthodox religion, and enforced by
numberless arguments drawn from the Bible and from theological lore. The
relatively small sect of Seventh Day Adventists is constantly active
in fighting for the complete separation of church and state, maintaining
with ardor that Christianity stands in no need of patronage from human
government. Indeed, it is amazing that any Christian, who is not playing
a part, but truly believes in the divine origin of his faith, can come
to any other conclusion. If the church is of God, it will live and
conquer, though all men forsake it, and needs not the feeble prop of
political favor; if it is of man, and must therefore risk failure unless
bolstered up by artificial aid and by state subsidy, there is no reason
why anybody not directly interested in its prosperity should wish to
preserve it. Whether of God or of man, it is in no legitimate sense
the ward of the state. In recent years, numerous church members are
beginning to have some inkling of these truths, and to express their
willingness to renounce the adulterous union with the politicians.
At the hearings before the Committee on Taxation of the New York
Constitutional Convention, in June, 1915, for example, preachers and
laymen, representatives of individual churches and of Men's Christian
clubs, appeared in favor of abolishing the exemption from taxation
enjoyed by the churches. They did so, not as enemies of the church,
but as its most far-sighted friends. Thoroughly believing in its divine
mission, they were convinced that it could not afford to make itself
dependent on graft for its very life.