52 Church and state are wholly separated in the United States. When a man takes office, no one asks him to what church he belongs, or what his faith is. If a man wants to believe in the religions of India or China, no officer of the National government has a right to interfere with him, providing he does not violate a law of the land. Religious tolerance is a growth. The Puritans who founded New England, although they fled to America because of religious persecutions, did not practice religious tolerance in the New World. 53 “The witchcraft craze at Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692, is commonly thought to have been the legitimate outgrowth of the gloomy religion of the Puritans. Nineteen persons were hanged or burned at the stake for having bewitched children. One was crushed to death under heavy weights because he would not confess that he was possessed of the devil. From the time of King John down to 1712, innocent lives were constantly sacrificed in England on this charge.”—Thwaites’s _The Colonies_, p. 190. 54 Constitution of the United States, Amendment I. 55 The first ten amendments to the Constitution of the United States are limitations on the powers of Congress, and these amendments do not is any way limit the powers of the several States. It is a fact, however, that practically all the States have incorporated these same amendments in their Constitutions thereby placing the same limitations upon their legislatures. A State may change its Constitution and thereby curtail freedom of speech and press as it may think necessary to protect its people, and some of the States have enacted laws forbidding anarchists to hold public meetings or to publish yellow journals in which they berate the government or instigate rebellion or sedition among the people. But the Federal government cannot pass any law abridging the freedom of speech or press except such as may be enacted under the war powers of the government when in actual war, such as was enacted in the Espionage Act of 1917. 56 Libel is defined as any statement printed, or written, or any picture or caricature that causes another person to be brought into hatred, contempt, or ridicule or to be shunned by his associates. Slander is any oral statement that causes another person to be brought into hatred, contempt, or ridicule, or to be shunned by his associates. In order to constitute either slander or libel the statement or utterance must be communicated to a third party.