Spiritualists and the General Election
Spiritualists and the General Election are 2 letters written by Arthur Conan Doyle published in Light on 20 april & 11 may 1929.
Spiritualists and the General Election (20 april 1929)
Sir, — The General Election is nearly upon us, and it may be the one chance in many years for us to win our religious freedom. We can never have a clearer case or more brutal provocation. When the Home Office authorised a prosecution of the Secretary of our chief London organisation on no charge save that of arranging an appointment with a medium, things have reached a point which could not be exceeded. It is now or never. If we do not fight now, what challenge would ever induce us to fight?
It is not pleasant to have to mix religion with politics, but things are so arranged in this country that there is no other way of righting a wrong. Would not Catholics or Ritualists work politically if their forms were interfered with, or Nonconformists if their methods were made illegal? We have no choice but to use this weapon, and it can only be effective if we combine for the sake of that which is so much more important than any worldly matter. When we have won our cause we can then all take our several ways.
We have to be clear as to what it is we want. We do not want to cover cheats or charlatans. But of the two it is better that they, or some of them, should escape punishment than that the religious and scientific progress of Spiritualism should be delayed by the persecution of real mediums or of the officers of Societies which employ them.
The first step, it seems to me, should be to cancel those Acts concerned with Witchcraft or Vagrants, which were framed before modern Spiritualism existed, and which have been so unreasonably used against us. Then a single Act should be passed to regulate the situation. The National Spiritualists' Union, in an excellent paper on the subject, has suggested a clause that:
- No criminal proceedings shall be instituted or carried on against any person acting or purporting to act as a Spiritualist medium in the absence on the part of such a person of a deliberate intention to deceive or defraud.
If such were the law, and if certificates of honesty from recognised Spiritualist Churches or Societies were honoured by the police, then we should at least have made a great, if not a final advance.
For whom then should we vote? Since the Conservatives have treated us in this shameful way, and since Sir W. Joynson-Hicks has written to say that he can hold out no hope of a change in the law, it would seem that they are definitely excluded, unless we have some complete proof of a change of heart before the Election. I speak as one who has spent much time and work and money in contesting two Unionist seats (Edinburgh in 1900 and Border Burghs in 1905) so that I at least practise what I preach when I say that we must break our old political bonds. We must harden our hearts, turn away from those who have used us so ill, and find our support in one or other of the remaining parties.
Suppose that the representatives of both these parties give us an assurance that religious liberty will be observed by them, and the law set right, then obviously we can vote for either of them according to our views on other matters. If however we get a hearty response from one, and no response, or an uncertain one, from the other, then we should act in accordance, and throw our whole organised vote upon the side of our friends, passing the word to every church and every society in the country.
It is no small thing which we have to offer. Apart from 500 registered churches and many unregistered ones, we have a great number of supporters who would take our point of view, even though they do not belong to any organisation. Indeed, there is a considerable section of the public who would resent so clear a case of religious persecution even if they had no sympathy with our particular tenets.
There is, in my opinion, little use in taking the opinion of individual candidates. They have no power, and Election promises are soon forgotten. It is only by dealing with the central organisations that we can get trustworthy assurances, and that we can make sure of being a real factor in the contest. When one considers how many seats there are which are held by small majorities and when one remembers that there are few in which our people are negligible, it would appear that we may often be the deciding factor.
But it is now or never. If we miss this chance we carry on into the same dreary routine of secret information from the bigots to the police, agents provocateurs, ignorant and prejudiced magistrates, prison sentences upon honest mediums, and all the other evils from which we suffer. If we break our ranks or fail now, then we deserve even such a fate. — Yours, etc.,
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
Near Malta, April 2nd, 1929.
P.S. — The above is, I need not say, a mere expression of individual opinion, with no official authority behind it, but it is in general agreement with the views already expressed by the N.S.U. — A.C.D.
Spiritualists and the General Election (11 may 1929)
Sir, — I Sir, I notice notice that your correspondent, "A Developing Psychic", is "horrified" and considers it "selfish" that the Spiritualists should combine to free their mediums from persecution, acting in the only way by which such an end can be attained. Personally, I should think it very selfish if those of us who are not open to such persecution did not unite to help those who are. As to voting for what is best for all — if we Spiritualists really believe what we say, then, surely, anything which advances our cause cuts deeply at the evils of life, and must be in the end the best thing for all. Mere temporary political considerations cannot outweigh a permanent advantage. — Yours, etc.,
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
Windlesham, Crowborough, Sussex.
