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Untitled Article
• The evils which enforced taxation , under a colour of religious ' * ways and means , " inflicts on the prosperity of the commonwealth are too numerous for this Declaration to comprise ; consequently , we conclude by declaring-, that Tithes and Church Rates are no % justified by the Christian Religion ; and it is quite apparent that Minister ' s Money and
the sectarian part of the Church-Rates will speedily produce in towns the same ill will and excitement which Tithes have brought about in the country . Constraining one man to support another rrtan ' s Religion must provoke sectarian exasperation , and continue to exalt contention and jealousy into hatred and violence , destined to terminate in demoralization and murder .
We then , as good Citizens , desirous to adopt and brinff $ bout a Christian mode of supporting the Christian Relig ion * publicly declare our utter reprobation of a money tyranny , which , under the fiction pf sustaining religion , extinguishes every benevolent feeling , and causes the nation to discredit Christianity ; instead of , by public virtue , and brotherly kindness , giving glory " to God in the highest / ' and pro * - moting " on earth peace and good will to men , "'
The editor of the Southern Reporter observes , that ' it is a singular feature in this document that it may be , and in point of fact is , signed by persons of all religious persuasions , by Protestants , Dissenters , and Catholics . It is natural enough that the two latter should wish to be relieved fro m hardships bearing alike on their spiritual and temporal interests . But , in addition ,
we find that almost every enlightened member of the former believing in the scriptural nature of his system , and in the omnipotence of truth , wishes his opinions to stand solely on the foundation of their own rectitude , and scorns the assertion that they need to be supported by penal statutes , and by exactions from those professing Christians who cannot accede to . thern . '
Many such men there undoubtedly are , both in the Irish and English branches of the Established Church , It is time for them to come forward and exercise their legitimate influence in the settlement of this important question . They ought to protest against its being represented as a question between the religious and the non-religious part of the community , or between the established and the non-established religionists . Those who have
no care about religion , in any of its forms , but who are heavily taxed for the support of its ministers , will , of course , endeavour to throw off the burden . Those who do prize religion , but who have a religion of their own , which their consciences prefer , and which they pay for the support of , will , of course , endeavour , as
opportunity serves , to be rid of the pecuniary pressure of another religion which they disapprove - These classes , although qn very different principles , may be deemed natural eneipi . es of taxation for an establishment . Tbe religion of the one , and the indifference of the other , alike make them feel the impost an imposition and an oppression . And it is a condemnatory fact against mi establishment when these classes are ao nu-
Untitled Article
118 Religion without Taxation .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1832, page 118, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1806/page/46/
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