Religion
Golden Rule, Churches, Funerals

"Western Comrade" (Life on the Llano), November 1915

"A lady from Kerman writes and asks six questions. One of the questions is difficult to answer and I doubt the wisdom of attempting to answer it. The query is, 'What provision have you made for bringing up the children with a religious training? I feel that I want my children to have Sunday school and to be brought up with a feeling of reverence for God.'

As yet, we have no regular provision for 'religious training' in the popular acceptation of the phrase. We feel that parents who have arrived at the age of discretion should be able to bring up their children along those lines pretty much as they ought to go. As there are so many sects and creeds it would be hard to install the Sunday school that would be satisfactory to all. We have people of all sorts of religious beliefs in the colony, and we have some with no belief at all. To establish a colony religion, so to speak, doubtless would be very distasteful to a large majority of residents here who feel they have sufficient intelligence to individually work out these problems for themselves. The feeling is that if colonists want to hold 'divine worship' it should be held within the sanctity of the home, and that none of the present public buildings used for the purpose, and also there is a rule that if anyone wants to propagate any particular religious creed, that individual must submit to the open forum and answer any questions put.

Socialists the world over do this, as well as most other lines of human uplift invite interrogations. As a rule, the expounder of the gospel does not do this. Whenever the proper person comes along qualified to teach the Bible in the proper way, that is as generally wanted, then that person will have an opportunity to display his profundity and skill. Until then, probably, the Sunday school, as regularly known, will have to be a small group affair.

We believe that reverence to God is shown by reverencing and helping one's brothers and sisters and that God can be seen in the faces of all, if deeply sought and that God can be seen in these giant hills and valleys and that Nature's god smiles up from the carpet of flowers adorning the wide plains."

"Western Comrade" (The Church and Llano), November 1915

"...We are sometimes condemned because we do not build a church at the colony. Please tell us, you who think you are the followers of the lowly Nazarene, who we would accept in that church? Would you exclude from it the Jew, or would you accept the Jew and exclude the Mormon, or would you condemn to everlasting punishment both the Jew and the Mormon and accept only the Methodist?

It may be you would have us build a church for each of the various sects which the competitive system has developed. If so, we would need more churches than cow stanchions.

Would you have us continue the practice of building hundred thousand dollar edifices in the name of the Carpenter, and mortgage the soul, the conscience and the honor of those who 'worship' there to the money lender of the community? Would you have us build these great palaces and dedicate them to the worship of the Carpenter who had no place where he could lay his head?

Those who have blindly followed formalities have, at times, shown evidences of having realized there is a second commandment, as well as a first, and have attempted to show the South Sea Islander that it is not in harmony with the teachings of the Nazarene for him to slay his brother, put him in a pot, cook him and eat him; but these same formality worshipers will boldly defend our present industrial system whereby the strong devour the weak, by absorbing daily the greater part of the production of the workers, through a system of profits, rents and interests. They fail to see that to consume a man's time is to consume his life. They do not stop at consuming a man's time, but consume the time and life of the women and babies, grinding into profits the lives and souls of the most helpless members of our race.

We are not at all disturbed when the defenders of the present industrial system use every means to retard the work of those who would establish a community where the god of profit is not worshipped and where the rights of the individual are conserved through co-operative ownership of the means of production.

Those who preach submission to the present conditions and forget that justice should be done, are quick to condemn. Those who would teach the wage slave of today to be patient and bye and bye everything will be lovely, are careful to see that there is pie in the cupboard today at their own home. Is it any wonder that the workers are tired of preaching and are seeking an asylum from those who would coin the most sacred belief of man into money and self-aggrandizement?

We have frequently asked correspondents who clamor for churches to send us the plans of the church where the Carpenter of Nazareth worshipped, but none has been forthcoming.

Have we a place of worship? Yes, we have God's great, unlimited creation of mountain and plain. We breathe the pure air, unpolluted by the breath of him who shouts the praise of a murderous army or shrugs his shoulders indifferently when the state literally tears the head from the body of its victim at a legal hanging.

No, we have no visible church; but we have a determination to erase from our hearts that cannibalistic spirit (our heritage for generations) and establish in its stead that spirit of real brotherhood which not only revolts at making a pot roast of our brother, but also refuses to eat his time or consume his wife and babies."

"Llano Colonist," September 23, 1922 (Impressions of Llano by Geo. Sutherland, a visitor to the Colony)

"There are no Holy Joes (preachers) at Newllano, with their eternal and infernal patter about abstract goodness, and, by the same sign, there is an absence of profanity and general cussedness. Here we have concrete goodness -- men and women at Llano Colony are not driven by the devilish spirit of modern industry and business... No need of preachers or other parasites in this place...

In Newllano, one is impressed with the simplicity, directness and sincerity of the colonists in their speech... These people look happy, care-free, hopeful and unfettered; in their faces one misses the look of fear, worry, and anxiety which so characterizes the features of an increasing number 'on the outside,' in this 'land of the free (?) and home of the brave (?)' -- here is ECONOMIC SECURITY. These people OWN their jobs; they know no masters, save such as are found in their common needs, common hope, and the ambition back of the BIG IDEAL, all of which they are realizing from day to day by their vision, intelligence, industry and spirit of unselfishness and service."

"Llano Colonist," November 12, 1927

"There is a degree of cordiality, congeniality and comradeship not found in many other communities that I know of. I have been here four weeks and I have not seen a person that I had any reason to believe had been drinking and I haven't heard a quarrel. There is no police, preacher, gambling house nor house of ill fame to my knowledge. C.M. Maxwell"

"Llano Colonist", September 22, 1928

"The passing away of a loved one is always sad and heart-rending to the bereaved wife or husband, as the case may be. Here in Llano Colony, however, it does not carry with it the desolation and loss that befall the individual family in the outside world. We are all brothers and sisters here. While the individual may pass away, the colony remains. Llano Colony is one big family. The death of a husband, does not mean the loss of the provider. The widow and orphans are provided for to the best of the colony's ability. No funeral expenses harrass any one here. They are all paid for without extra cost to relatives. We own the burial ground, make the casket, provide the flowers, music and funeral address and care as before for all the needs of the family. The Llano Way is the most comprehensive insurance scheme ever devised by the mind of man. Ours is a universal appeal, not hedged in by narrow nationalistic appeals, political partisanship or religious sectarianism. We believe in the utmost freedom for every one, so far as it is possible within the present scope of the law to enjoy it."

"Vernon Parish Democrat", March 7, 1929

"Kuzbasing in Dixie by Kate Richards O'Hare -- Some folks insist that the Colony just simply cannot succeed because it has neither church, preacher, nor creed; and some "cuss it out" for being too pious. The colonists themselves manage to get considerable amusement out of other people's concern for their souls' salvation, and refuse to worry about it themselves. Some of the best members are spiritualists and mental scientists, and some are agnostics. Some think they are religious and some think they are very irreligious; but as long as they are loyal to the common good and work in harmony with community plans they are perfectly free to have any sort of religion, or none at all. If a priest or rabbi, a Confuscian or a Buddhist came to Llano he would be made welcome, fed, sheltered and listened to with respect; but if he cared to stay he would have to find a useful job and work at it."

"Llano Colonist", June 29, 1929

"There is no justice outside the Golden Rule and there is and can be no injustice in it. If your religion in any way conflicts with the Golden Rule, it is not true but only imagination; believing in something that does not exist. This is casting no reflection on your honesty and sincerity. Inside the Golden Rule all is harmony, outside all is in harmony. Inside there is no sin; outside all is sin."

"Llano Colonist", September 13, 1930

"The difference between Llano and the outside is strikingly shown by the experience of some of our friends that left Llano to better their condition on the outside. They lost a member of their family, a beloved daughter, who became sick and died. To care for her during her sickness and later for her funeral a debt of about a thousand dollars was contracted and has to be paid. Now if all this had happened at Newllano there would have been no doctor's bills for the family to meet, no funeral expenses to be paid by them. The colony bears all money expenses, which are ridiculously insignificant in such instances. One dollar and a quarter is all the money expense funeral involves here. We own our cemetery, manufacture the casket out of our own material, supply the flowers from our own garden, furnish the singers, music, the funeral address, conveyance and all with no money to be paid to any outsider by the family as such."

"Llano Colonist", December 5, 1931

"The authority for individual conduct in Llano Colony is the Golden Rule. When we are considerate of each others intrests, welfare and feelings we will develop and establish the most agreeable relationship with one another."

"Llano Colonist", March 5, 1932

"Harmony and Concord are the essential requirements of integral cooperation, and these will always be shown by those imbued and fully committed to the practice of the Golden Rule. Ignorance and selfishness are the root cause of all discord, strife and wretchedness. When we practice good fellowship with all the world, as we all ought to do in the interest of our own well-being, security and happiness, we will have become veritable embodiments of the Golden Rule."

"Llano Colonist," June 18, 1932

"On behalf of the colony, I want to thank Captain Arthur Pritchard, announcer for the Loyola University, New Orleans, 'WWL' station, who gave the colony one of the greatest boosts over the air that it is possible to conceive...

One of the things that seemed to make a hit with Captain Pritchard was the low cost of funerals. He, acquainted only with the 'casket trust' which should be 'coffin' as Horace Greely always instructed his cubs, knows that the prices of 'caskets' or coffins are high. Fact is, he couldn't believe that burials could be so cheap."

"Llano Colonist", December 1, 1934

"Last week we told you of Leo Roscoe's accident, that of losing his balance and falling into the hot water veneer pit, and that his injuries were serious, though we hoped for the best. Today, Thursday, November 22, at 12:30 P.M., Leo breathed his last, much to the sorrow of his many friends -- all here were his friends and especially his sister, Mrs. Mabel Busick, with whom he has lived during the past four years...

Though fatally scalded -- two thirds of his powerful body being involved -- he suffered litte, and was patient, and rather cheerful to the many visitors to his sick chamber. Nature was kind to him in the matter of assuaging his pain, and he suffered most from the one position he was compelled to assume.

He really was conscious up to within a few minutes of his end and received the holy sacraments of the Holy Catholic Church, administered by the Reverend Father Pashaub, who traveled from Many, 35 miles to the north. Five minutes after the departure of the Father, Leo had breathed his last..."

"Llano Colonist", December 8, 1934

"Leo Sylvester Roscoe, for the past four years a very valuable member of Llano Co-operative Colony, died Thursday at 12:30 p.m... from burns received from falling into the hot water tank at the veneer factory...

His funeral was held at 3 p.m. Saturday from the dining hall of the Colony with the Reverent Father Pashaub of Many officiating. He was buried in the Colony's cemetery."

"Llano Colonist", July 13, 1935

"The society is non-sectarian and there are people here, of course, of many religious sympathies and others of none; so whatever your attitute toward religion is, you would find a group with whom you fitted."