Libelous

1895

Is it unlawful to quote Scripture? Yes, in some cases and for some purposes.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that a grand jury in Ohio indicted a man for sending a slanderous postal card to one of his debtors. The objectionable matter consisted of three Biblical quotations:

"Owe no man anything."

"Let us walk honestly."

"Many days and years shall ye be troubled."

The grand jury, it appears, did not admit the right of a man to call his neighbor a thief, even in Scriptural phraseology.