On Occasion of Protest Against Russian Religious Persecution, Jewish Congress Joins in Celebration O

Jews, Catholics and Protestants, undeterred by bomb threats, met Tuesday evening at the Metropolitan Opera House for the seventh annual celebration of the founding of the state of Maryland and the establishment of religious liberty in America, held by the Calvert Associates under the auspices of Cardinal Hayes, Archbishop Curley, Governor Ritchie, Dr. Arthur J. Brown, and Bernard Deutsch.

Among the Patrons and Patronesses were Cardinal O’Connell, Rev. Dowling, Archbishop of St. Paul, His Eminence the Metropolitan Platon of the Greek Orthodox Church and a number of other notables among whom were: Princess Catherine Radziwill, Otto H. Kahn, Col. Michael Friedsam, Lieut-Governor Herbert H. Lehman, and Bernard G. Richards.

Drawing a parallel between Maryland of the 17th century and Soviet Russia today, Dr. Nathan Krass in a very effective address which was repeatedly applauded by the audience declared: “We have made great progress since March 25th, 1634, when the principle of religious liberty was proclaimed at St. Mary’s by George Calvert, Lord Baltimore, and later by his son Cecilius. Religious liberty at that time meant that all persons within the province of Maryland could worship as Trinitarian Christians, but whoever denied the Holy Trinity or spoke reproachfully thereof, was subject to punishment by death and confiscation of all property. Unitarians, Jews and other non-Christians, even though they were neither Atheists nor Agnostics, were therefore, excluded from the privileges and rights of religious liberty.” (Jews in Maryland were emancipated in the year 1825. For 150 years the profession of the Jewish faith in Maryland was a capital offense.)

Denunciation of the Russian Soviet religious policy by Dr. Krass, the Rev. Edmund A. Walsh, Michael Williams, president of the Calvert Associates, and by Matthew Woll, president of the American Federation of Labor, whose speech was delivered in his absence by William Collins, organizer of the A. F. of L., vied with tributes to the American principle of religious liberty and to George Calvert, Lord Baltimore, founder of Maryland.

About two thousand people attended the meeting. Christian songs such as Rise Up O Men of God,” “Ave Maria” and “Hallelujah” were rendered by the choir of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine under the direction of Dr. Miles Farrow, while the Temple Emanu-el choir, under the direction of Lazare Saminsky, rendered “Adon Olam” and “W’shamru.”