NON-CATHOLIC INTOLERANCE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXI, Issue 36, 4 January 1895, Page 6

NON-CATHOLIC INTOLERANCE.

(Brooklyn Catholic Review.")

It is a common belief among our neighbours that all Catholic countries are intolerant, and th*t in all Protestant countries religious liberty prevails. But this is not the state of the case. Oar Baptist contemporary, the New York Examiner supplies some facts on this subject. Speaking of religious persecution in Europe it says : " The Baptist Church in Dresden lately petitioned for fretdom to worship God, and this is the decision of the Court of Appeal of Saxony : • The Baptist congregation in Dresden has no recognition from the State as a religious congregation ; it is not a society, for its constitution and rules have not been recognised ; it has no legal existence ; it is neither an association nor a fellowship j but only a gathering of rersons whose acts are null and void in the eyes of the State.' At an unauthorised gathering, this Baptist congregation is completely under tha regulation of the police, and must comply with such rules as the police see fit to decree. The c are, that they can meet only in the homes of members, a special police license being given for tht purpose, distinctly epecifying the rooms. Nobody bat a Baptist can be pressnt. No Sjnday school ia permitted. Th« pastor is not recognised as such, and cannot conduct a funeral service, either in the house or at tht grave. Of course he cionot perform a lawful marriage ceremony. Moreover, even these privileges are enjoyed only at the pleasure of the police, and are liable to be revoked at any time." The Examiner is aitonished to find that Spain is "in advance

Of Protestant Germany in this matter," and allows Baptists to have regular meeting-places, " few or no restrictions being placed upon attendance at these Baptist chapels." In Italy, bo the Examiner lays, "about the same liberty exists as in Spain." But "Norway, and Sweden and Denmark, until recently, were more rigorous than Germany. These three are intensely Pr jtestant countries, but they hate been persecutors from the beginning. However, it is good to haTe out neighbour, itself most Protestant, tell these truths. The faot (■ that the Catholic Church is the sturdiest advocate of the rights of conscience in all the world.