May Organize St. Paul Group for Tolerance

Formation of a St. Paul organization to promote religious tolerance and at the same time encourage individual loyalties of faith has emerged as the probable consequence of a “tolerance dinner” here addressed by a rabbi, a Catholic priest and a Protestant minister.

Four hundred persons heard the addresses in the St. Paul Athletic Club and joined unanimously in the suggestion that steps be taken toward establishment of a St. Paul group to work under affiliation with the National Conference of Jews and Christians.

It was under auspices of the national conference that the speakers, Rabbi Morris S. Lazaron, the Rev. John Elliot Ross and the Rev. Everett R. Clinchy, appeared. They are touring the United States in the interest of tolerance.

The suggestion looking to the formation of the St. Paul organization came not from the speakers nor from any representative of the conference but was made from the floor in an open discussion which followed the addresses. It was greeted with enthusiastic applause.

It was emphasized that the aim of the organization will be “not to find some platform upon which we can all agree” or “not to make a soup of American culture” but to promote a common goodwill in the interest of American democracy, regardless of race or creed; to bring into the open “misunderstandings which are the seed of intolerance”, and at the same time to encourage wholesome differences of opinion and adherence to individual faiths.

F. W. Beckman, who with Judge Gustavus Loevinger, leader in St. Paul Jewish communal life, and Judge Thomas D. O’Brien, served as co-chairmen of the St. Paul committee which arranged the meeting, was named temporary chairman.