Letter from P. D. Gurley to Mississippi Governor John J. Pettus; March 7, 1860

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Letter from P. D. Gurley to Mississippi Governor John J. Pettus; March 7, 1860

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People

Breckinridge, John C. (John Cabell), 1821-1875 Buchanan, James, 1791-1868 Pennington, William, 1796-1862 Turley, P. D.

Military Units

United States. Army United States. Navy

Organizations

Churches Churches--United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Synod of Baltimore Military education Military education--United States Military Academy Military education--United States Naval Academy Universities and colleges Universities and colleges--Virginia. University of Virginia

Occupations

Military Chaplains

Places

Virginia--Independent City. Alexandria Washington (D.C.)

Social Identifiers

Military Families

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Washington, D.C. March 7^th_" 1860.
Dear Sir:

I am directed by the Synod of Baltimore to forward to you the following resolutions unanimously adopted by the Synod at its meeting in Alexandria, Oct. 20^th_" 1859, and request you that you will make such use of them as you may think proper.

Yours respectfully,
P. D. Turley,
Stated Clerk of the Synod of Baltimore.

Resolutions.

1. Resolved, That Synod do hereby call the attention of all concerned to the fact, by them believed to be incontrovertible, that virtual and real establishment of one denomination of Christians in the chaplaincy of our Government Military Academy at West Point, and of our Naval Academy at Annapolis, has somehow grown up, in the clearest contravention of that religious freedom which is the equal right of all.

2. Resolved, That the extreme inequality now existing in the chaplain service of the Army, viz:sixteen Episcopalian chaplains, two Methodist chaplains, and one Presbyterian chaplain; and also the extreme inequality now existing in the chaplain service of the Navy, viz: ten Episcopalian chaplains, four Methodist chaplains, four Presbyterian chaplains, and one Baptist chaplain, giving to a single denomination of Christians, in each case, more chaplains than all the rest put together, clearly grows out of the religious establishment in the above

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named public schools for the training of officers.

3. Resolved, That it an erroneous idea, wherever it exists in the public service, that the officers and their families are the sole spiritual charge of the chaplains; but such spiritual charge embraces also equally the privates of the service.

4. Resolved, That the rule established in the University of the State of Virginia, that the chaplaincy shall be in the hands of no one denomination of Christians longer than a given term of years in succession, is the obvious and proper remedy for the present great grievance in the public schools.

5. Resolved, That it is the indubitable right of this Synod, and of all the Christian people of this con=federacy, to demand the preservation of religious liberty and equality in the administration of the government; that such demand implies no improper interference, on the part of ecclesiastics, with civil and political affairs, but is on the contrary, a necessary and rightful part of that vigilance on which the continuance of the freedom and purity of religion does depend.

6. Resolved, That none of the pleas or palliations by which those who obtain the exclusive benefit of such religious establishments attempt to justify and maintain them, are entitled to the slightest weight, as experience has shown that an established religion is generally, if not indeed universally, an infraction of the rights of a majority for the benefit of a minority, and is no advantage, but an injury to religion itself.

7. Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be forwarded

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by our stated clerk to the stated clerk of each of the Synods in our connection, with the request that they be laid before his Synod at its next meeting; that they be published in all such newspapers as are willing to insert them; that a copy be sent to the Governor of each of the States, a copy to the President of the United States, a copy to the President of the Senate of the United States and to the Heads of the Departments of the General Government, and a copy to the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States, with respectful requests to them that they will make such use of them respectively as they may think proper.