Choose a topic from Vol 2:

God

Proof of God's existence
God's nature
Supreme control over all things and the problem of suffering and evil

Man

Destiny of man
Death
Immortality of man's soul
Pre-existence denied
The human free will
Determinism absurd

Religion

Necessity of religion
Salvation of the soul
Voice of science
Religious racketeers
Divine revelation
Revealed mysteries
Existence of miracles

The Religion of the Bible

Gospels historical
Missing Books of the Bible
The Bible inspired
Biblical account of creation
New Testament problems
Supposed contradictions in Sacred Scripture

The Christian Faith

Source of Christian teaching
Jewish rejection of Christ
Christianity a new religion
Rational foundation for belief
Causes of unbelief

A Definite Christian Faith

Divisions amongst Christians
Schisms unjustified
Facing the problem
The wrong approach
Is one religion as good as another?
Obligation of inquiry
Charity and tolerance

The Protestant Reformation

Meaning of "Protestant"
Causes of the Reformation
Catholic reaction
Reformers mistaken
The idealization of Protestantism
The Catholic estimate

The Truth of Catholicism

Meaning of the word "Church"
Origin of the Church
The Catholic claim
The Roman hierarchy
The Pope
The Petrine text
St. Peter's supremacy
St. Peter in Rome
Temporal power
Infallibility
Unity of the Church
Holiness of the Church
Catholicity of the Church
Apostolicity of the Church
Indefectibility of the Church
Obligation to be a Catholic

The Church and the Bible

Catholic attitude towards the Bible
Is Bible reading forbidden to Catholics?
Protestant Bibles
The Catholic Douay Version
Principle of private interpretation
Need of Tradition
The teaching authority of the Catholic Church

The Dogmas of the Church

Revolt against dogma
Value of a Creed
The divine gift of Faith
Faith and reason
The "Dark Ages"
The claims of science
The Holy Trinity
Creation and evolution
Angels
Devils
Man
Reincarnation
Sin
Christ
Mary
Grace and salvation
The Sacraments
Baptism
Confession
Holy Eucharist
The Sacrifice of the Mass
Holy Communion
The Catholic Priesthood
Marriage and divorce
Extreme Unction
Judgment
Hell
Purgatory
Indulgences
Heaven
The resurrection of the body
The end of the world

The Church and Her Moral Teachings

Conscience
Truth
Charity
Scandal
Tolerance
Censorship
The Inquisition
Astrology
Other superstitions
Attendance at Mass
Sex education
Attitude to "Free Love"
Abortion
Suicide

The Church in Her Worship

Magnificent edifices
Lavish ritual
Women in Church
Catholics and "Mother's Day"
Liturgical Days
Burial rites
Candles and votive lamps
The rosary
Lourdes water
The Scapular

The Church and Social Welfare

Social influence of the Church
The education question
The Church and world distress
Catholic attitude towards Capitalism
The remedy for social ills
Communism condemned
The Fascist State
Morality of war
May individuals become soldiers?
The Church and peace
Capital punishment
Catholic Action

Comparative Study of Non-Catholic Denominations

Defections from the Catholic Church
Gnosticism
Manichaeism
Arianism
Nestorianism
Eutychianism
Coptic Church
Greek Orthodox Church
Anglican Episcopal Church
The "Free" or "Nonconformist" Churches
Presbyterianism
Methodism
Church of Christ
Baptists
Seventh Day Adventists
Plymouth Brethren
Catholic Apostolic Church or Irvingites
Salvation Army
Spiritualism
Christian Science
Christadelphians
British Israelism
Liberal Catholics
Witnesses of Jehovah
Buchmanism or the "Oxford Group Movement"
From Protestantism to Catholicism

To and From Rome

Conversion of Cardinal Newman
Why Gladstone refrained
The peculiar case of Lord Halifax
Gibbon the historian
Secession of Father Chiniquy
Father Tyrrell, the modernist
Bishop Garrett's departure
Judgment on lapsed Catholics
Protestant apathy towards conversion of Catholics
Principles for converts to Catholicism
God's will that all should become Catholics

British Israelism

1336. What is your opinion of British Israelism?

It is a non-Christian substitute for religion based upon an unbridled imagination, a denial of history, and a perverted sense of patriotism which would like to exalt the British Empire and the United States of America at the expense of other nations. It is really a freak religion which goes to the opposite extreme from the position adopted by Judge Rutherford. Where Judge Rutherford declares that the British Empire and America are Satan's organizations, the British Israelites declare that they alone constitute God's chosen people on the face of the earth.They teach that, with the coming of Christ, the Jewish religion was not abolished in favor of Catholicism. The true religion was preserved amongst ten tribes of Israel who got lost, and wandered far afield to the British Isles. As descendants of these lost tribes the British nation and the United States of America constitute God's chosen people today. Those who want to belong to the true "Israel" today must, therefore, belong to one of these two nations by blood relationship. There is no need to belong to any Church. Needless to say, the British and American Governments are blissfully unconscious of the sublime dignity and greatness which the British Israelites wish to thrust upon them. In 1932 the British Israel World Federation issued as a National Message that the end of the world was coming in 1934, when God's people, the British Empire and the United States, would be arrayed in warfare against the rest of the world. The final battle of Armageddon would then occur, when the English and the Americans would triumph over God's enemies, the French, Germans, Italians, Russians, Spanish, and other peoples.

1337. What do British Israelites teach?

They teach that, with the coming of Christ, the Jewish religion was not abolished in favor of Catholicism. The true religion was preserved amongst ten tribes of Israel who got lost, and wandered far afield to the British Isles. As descendants of these lost tribes the British nation and the United States of America constitute God's chosen people today. Those who want to belong to the true "Israel" today must, therefore, belong to one of these two nations by blood relationship. There is no need to be-long to any Church. Needless to say, the British and American Governments are blissfully unconscious of the sublime dignity and greatness which the British Israelites wish to thrust upon them. In 1932 the British Israel World Federation issued as a National Message that the end of the world was coming in 1934, when God's people, the British Empire and the United States, would be arrayed in warfare against the rest of the world. The final battle of Armageddon would then occur, when the English and the Americans would triumph over God's enemies, the French, Germans, Italians, Russians, Spanish, and other peoples.

1338. Why do you disagree with the system?

Because it is absolutely opposed to the teachings of Christ, to the facts of history, and to the ordinary laws of logic and reason. Christ sent His Apostles to teach all nations. The Jews were the chosen race for the preservation of God's revelation until the coming of Christ. But there is no chosen race in any national sense since the coming of Christ whose religion is for all men of good will. The British Israel Theory is a denial of Christ, and of His work of redemption. Again, that the British people are descendants of the lost tribes of Israel is quite unhistorical, and without any foundation other than the fantastic dreams of the originators of this absurd doctrine. Reason, too, is violated by the ridiculous arguments so often put forward in its favor, arguments based on verbal quibbling in the English language which depend for their success on the reader's ignorance of Hebrew. For example, to prove British descent from Israel, we are invited to consider the word "Saxon." Compare with that the two words, "Isaac's son." Cut out the "I," and you have "Saac's son" or "Saxon." There is scarcely need to comment upon such a travesty. 1934, when the world should have come to an end, has come and gone. And with the failure of that prediction, belief in British Israelism, which should never have come, should at least have gone. But there will always be people in whose credulous souls hope springs eternal, and who can forget yesterday in the glorious prospects of tomorrow. At any rate, no Christian could adopt the British Israel religion without denying the mission of Christ, and abandoning the Christian Faith.

1339. Is there nothing in the claim that the British constitute the lost tribes of Israel?

None whatever. The theory is based on guesswork, misinterpretation of Scripture, and the violation of history. Professor Rawlinson rightly remarks that the theory can appeal only to the ignorant and unlearned, or to those "who are unaware of the absolute and entire diversity in language, physical type, religious opinions, and manners and customs, between the Israelites and the various races from which the British can be shown historically to be descended." The British Israel Theory sets at defiance all ethnological and linguistic evidence. Sir E. B. Tylor remarks that "there is indeed no doubt that this abject nonsense has a far larger circulation than all the rational ethnology published in England."

1340. Is it possible to trace the lost tribes to any country?

There are no lost tribes to be traced. The whole idea of the lost tribes is based on absurd mystical interpretations of a few passages in Scripture; and on the conditions proposed by the exponents of the "Lost Tribe" theory, any one nation or country would do as well as any other. Remnants of the tribes are supposed to have been found marauding in the Afghan passes, wandering with the reindeer in Lapland, or slaughtering human victims in ancient Mexico. Deluded people have found the "Lost Tribes" wherever they have wanted to find them.

1341. Do you deny that the king of England is directly descended from David of Israel?

I do. And there is not a member of the Royal Family who would not repudiate the notion. Nor is there a reputable historian who would not reject the idea the moment it was put before him. As one distinguished scholar has said, "The theory could have been invented only by persons equally uncritical in history and etymologies, and to whom the history of nations was quite unknown." It is self-evidently false to suppose an earthly throne to be the throne of David, and an earthly kingdom restricted to a section of the peoples of the earth to be the essentially spiritual and universal kingdom of Christ predicted in the Old Testament Christ, of David's line, is He who is now reigning in the universal Church He established; and the substitution of the king of England for Christ is a blasphemy which the King of England would be the first to disclaim.

1342. According to the British Israelites, the Great Pyramid is shrouded in mystery.

There is much that is mysterious about the pyramids. But, religiously unbalanced people have tried to attach to the pyramids a lot of mysteries of their own making.

1343. There are marks on the Great Pyramid whereby dates of happenings past and future can be determined.

That is not true. There are no intelligible inscriptions on the Great Pyramid. Religious eccentrics have, therefore concentrated on the formation of the interior passages, working out from their angles, direction, and length, all kinds of predictions of the future.

1344. What is the Catholic belief concerning these historical and prophetic markings?

There are no such markings, and Catholic belief is not concerned with the pyramids. Matters of purely geographical, anthropological, and historical interest are to be sought in their proper place, the textbooks of explorers, archaeologists, historians and others. The Great Pyramid is not an integral part of the Christian religion; and that it is a kind of Bible in stone inspired by Almighty God is too absurd and farfetched to merit discussion.

1345. I might mention that Catholics are excluded from the inheritance of British Israel.

Catholics desire to be excluded. Christ died for all mankind, and the Catholic Church prefers fidelity to Christ. Once the word "British" is introduced, that is the end of any claim to catholicity of outlook. The soul of a Negro, or of a Japanese, or of a German, is as dear to the Catholic Church and to Christ as that of a British or an American subject. Christ abolished the restriction of the true religion to the chosen people of Israel, and extended it to all mankind.

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