Catholic Apologetics Online

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Comparative Study of Non-Catholic Denominations

To and From Rome

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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MORE FROM VOLUME 2

• About the Author
• Introduction
  - Rev. Charles Mortimer Carty
• Preface
  - John Gregory Murray
  Archbishop of Saint Paul
• Forward
  - Dr Leslie Rumble, MSC

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