Defends Church

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

The CRIMSON editor of October 5 is himself guilty of the charge he mistakenly levels at the Catholic Church--that of misrepresenting the birth control referendum issue.

The Catholic Church is not covertly ordaining justices of the Commonwealth; nor is it even raiding the Commonwealth treasury for funds for its parochial school children. In leading the opposition to the amendment which would encourage birth control, it is exercising its right of free speech while fulfilling its sacred duty of keeping all men from moral harm.

Voluntary organizations may, do, and should propagate their ideas and impress the public with them. The Church does not attempt to "force" the state to carry out its will; it merely attacks the proposed amendment. It is up to the voters to tell the state what they want. And are the voters in considering, the issue, "not . . . to argue it on a religions level," as the CRIMSON says? Is religion illegitimate?

Law and religion must criss-cross over morality, State and Church both abhor and forbid murder, bigamy, and swindling; this is a natural, not a sinister, connection.

The person unconvinced of the heinousness of birth control may constitutionally vote for it, and campaign for it; the person and the organization who hate indifference to God's law should and shall fight it. Lucian C. Pariato '50   Aloya A. Michel '50   Richard A. Diroll '50