Joseph McCabe (1867-1955) was one of the most prolific authors of all time. He was brought up as a Roman Catholic, worked on Latin documents, and made himself very well-informed about Christianity, but turned against it. But he was extremely naive about Jews; bear this in mind.
Click for Detailed notes on McCabe - scroll down for selections from A Rationalist Encyclopaedia (1948).
Here's the full A Rationalist Encyclopaedia (about 1.3 MBytes; Word format; includes notes on some of its limits)
Click for Detailed notes on McCabe - scroll down for selections from A Rationalist Encyclopaedia (1948).
Here's the full A Rationalist Encyclopaedia (about 1.3 MBytes; Word format; includes notes on some of its limits)
Kulturkampf, The.
J. McCabe, Rationalists Encyclopaedia
A struggle against the Catholic Church, mainly in regard to the control of education - "cultural struggle," the word means conducted by Germany under Bismarck 1871-86. Successive annexations of other German provinces had greatly altered the proportion of Protestants and Catholics. In 1867 Prussia had 14,000,000 Protestants to 7,000,000 Catholics; in 1871 the Empire had, through the inclusion of Alsace-Lorraine, 25,000,000 Protestants and 15,000,000 Catholics. The Roman clergy, threatening to stir the Poles and Alsace-Lorrainers, made exorbitant demands, and the Liberals pressed for action. Bismarck suppressed the Catholic section of the Ministry of Worship, expelled the Jesuits, and passed the "May Laws" (checking education and the training of priests). The Catholics reacted by organizing themselves politically in the Centre Party, and hundreds of their churches were closed and priests imprisoned. The "persecution" was mildness itself in comparison with the savage treatment by the Catholic hierarchy of Protestants, Freethinkers, and Democrats which had only just ceased in Europe, but it glows like a Neronian episode in Catholic literature, The struggle ended when the Catholics engaged to join with the Government in attacking Socialism. [See Germany, Religion In.]Return to Joseph McCabe Selection
Back to Table of Contents
Scanning, HTML Rae West. First upload 98-06-15