WIST Quotations

Belloc, Hilaire -- Remark to William Temple

Dave — Mon, 12 Jul 2021 22:55:32 +0000

The Catholic Church is an institution I am bound to hold divine — but for unbelievers a proof of its divinity might be found in the fact that no merely human institution conducted with such knavish imbecility would have lasted a fortnight.

Hilaire Belloc (1870–1953) Franco-British writer, historian [Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc]
Remark to William Temple

Quoted in Robert Speaight, The Life of Hilaire Belloc (1957). Variant: "The Catholic Church is an institution I am bound to hold divine, but for unbelievers, here is proof of its divinity, that no merely human institution run with such knavish imbecility would have lasted a fortnight."

Mencken, H. L. -- Minority Report, ch. 62 (1956)

Dave — Mon, 04 Jan 2021 20:43:41 +0000

It is now quite lawful for a Catholic woman to avoid pregnancy by a resort to mathematics, though she is still forbidden to resort to physics and chemistry.

H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) American writer and journalist [Henry Lewis Mencken]
Minority Report, ch. 62 (1956)

Regarding the Pope allowing the "rhythm" method of contraception.

Hofstadter, Richard -- “The Paranoid Style in American Politics,” Herbert Spencer Lecture, Oxford (Nov 1963)

Dave — Wed, 02 Dec 2020 16:17:13 +0000

Anti-Catholicism has always been the pornography of the Puritan. Whereas the anti-Masons had envisaged drinking bouts and had entertained themselves with sado-masochistic fantasies about the actual enforcement of grisly Masonic oaths, the anti-Catholics invented an immense lore about libertine priests, the confessional as an opportunity for seduction, licentious convents and monasteries.

Richard Hofstadter (1916–1970) American historian and intellectual
“The Paranoid Style in American Politics,” Herbert Spencer Lecture, Oxford (Nov 1963)

Reprinted in Harpers (Nov 1964).

Inge, William Ralph -- “Institutionalism and Mysticism” (1914), Outspoken Essays: First Series (1914)

Dave — Mon, 06 Jul 2020 19:31:42 +0000

The philosophical historian must admit that all the changes which the Catholic Church has undergone — its concessions to Pagan superstition, its secular power, its ruthless extirpation of rebels against its authority, its steadily growing centralisation and autocracy — were forced upon it in the struggle for existence. Those who wish that Church history had been different are wishing the impossible, or wishing that the Church had perished. But this argument is not valid as a defence of a divine institution. It is rather a merciless exposure of what happens, and must happen, to a great idea when it is enslaved by an institution of its own creation. The political organisation which has grown up round the idea ends by strangling it, and continues to fight for its own preservation by the methods which govern the policy of all other political organisations –force, fraud, and accommodation.

William Ralph Inge (1860–1954) English prelate [Dean Inge]
“Institutionalism and Mysticism” (1914), Outspoken Essays: First Series (1914)

Lehrer, Tom -- “The Vatican Rag,” That Was the Year That Was (1965)

Dave — Thu, 10 Mar 2016 17:50:39 +0000

Get in line in that processional,
Step into that small confessional.
There the guy who’s got religion’ll
Tell you if your sin’s original.
If it is, try playin’ it safer,
Drink the wine and chew the wafer.
Two, four, six, eight,
Time to transubstantiate!

Tom Lehrer (b. 1928) American mathematician, satirist, songwriter
“The Vatican Rag,” That Was the Year That Was (1965)

Kerr, Jean -- Quoted in (1961-04-14) “Show Business: BROADWAY,” Time Magazine

Dave — Mon, 21 Sep 2015 13:49:56 +0000

The most important thing about me is that I am a Catholic. It’s a superstructure within which you can work, like a sonnet. A good director tells the actors where to move exactly; then they’re free to act. I’m grateful for that discipline, and I’ve never had a crisis of conscience.

Jean Kerr (1922–2003) American author and playwright [b. Bridget Jean Collins]
Quoted in (1961-04-14) “Show Business: BROADWAY,” Time Magazine

Washington, George -- Letter (1775-09-14) to Benedict Arnold, “Charge to the Northern Expeditionary Force”

Dave — Fri, 26 Jun 2015 15:02:31 +0000

I also give it in charge to you to avoid all disrespect of the religion of the country, and its ceremonies. Prudence, policy, and a true Christian spirit, will lead us to look with compassion up their errors without insulting them. While we are contending for our own liberty, we should be very cautious not to violate the rights of conscience in others, ever considering that God alone is the judge of the hearts of men, and to him only in this case are they answerable.

George Washington (1732–1799) American military leader, Founding Father, US President (1789–1797)
Letter (1775-09-14) to Benedict Arnold, “Charge to the Northern Expeditionary Force”

Regarding the invasion of (Catholic) Quebec, Canada.

Cuomo, Mario -- “Religious Belief and Public Morality,” John A. O’Brien Lecture, U. of Notre Dame (13 Sep 1984)

Dave — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 12:13:19 +0000

In addition to all the weaknesses, dilemmas and temptations that impede every pilgrim’s progress, the Catholic who holds political office in a pluralistic democracy — who is elected to serve Jews and Muslims, atheists and Protestants, as well as Catholics — bears special responsibility. He or she undertakes to help create conditions under which all can live with a maximum of dignity and with a reasonable degree of freedom; where everyone who chooses may hold beliefs different from specifically Catholic ones — sometimes contradictory to them; where the laws protect people’s right to divorce, to use birth control and even to choose abortion. In fact, Catholic public officials take an oath to preserve the Constitution that guarantees this freedom. And they do so gladly. Not because they love what others do with their freedom, but because they realize that in guaranteeing freedom for all, they guarantee our right to be Catholics: our right to pray, to use the sacraments, to refuse birth control devices, to reject abortion, not to divorce and remarry if we believe it to be wrong.

Mario Cuomo (1932–2015) American politician
“Religious Belief and Public Morality,” John A. O’Brien Lecture, U. of Notre Dame (13 Sep 1984)

Francis I (Pope) -- “How the Church Will Change,” interview with Eugenio Scalfari, La Repubblica (1 Oct 2013) [tr. K Wallace]

Dave — Wed, 08 Oct 2014 09:12:24 +0000

Heads of the Church have often been narcissists, flattered and thrilled by their courtiers. The court is the leprosy of the papacy.

Francis I (1936–2025) Argentinian Catholic Pope (2013–2025) [b. Jorge Mario Bergoglio]
“How the Church Will Change,” interview with Eugenio Scalfari, La Repubblica (1 Oct 2013) [tr. K Wallace]

Francis I (Pope) -- In “Pope Francis: I’m Not a Marxist,” TIME (15 Dec 2013)

Dave — Wed, 09 Jul 2014 12:48:31 +0000

The promise was that when the glass was full, it would overflow, benefiting the poor. But what happens instead, is that when the glass is full, it magically gets bigger: nothing ever comes out for the poor.

Francis I (1936–2025) Argentinian Catholic Pope (2013–2025) [b. Jorge Mario Bergoglio]
In “Pope Francis: I’m Not a Marxist,” TIME (15 Dec 2013)

On the "trickle-down" theory.

Voltaire -- Questions sur les miracles (1765)

Dave — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 10:45:06 +0000

Formerly there were those who said: You believe things that are incomprehensible, inconsistent, impossible because we have commanded you to believe them; go then and do what is unjust because we command it. Such people show admirable reasoning. Truly, whoever is able to make you absurd is able to make you unjust. If the God-given understanding of your mind does not resist a demand to believe what is impossible, then you will not resist a demand to do wrong to that God-given sense of justice in your heart. As soon as one faculty of your soul has been dominated, other faculties will follow as well. And from this derives all those crimes of religion which have overrun the world.

[Il y a eu des gens qui ont dit autrefois: Vous croyez des choses incompréhensibles, contradictoires, impossibles, parce que nous vous l’avons ordonné; faites donc des choses injustes parce que nous vous l’ordonnons. Ces gens-là raisonnaient à merveille. Certainement qui est en droit de vous rendre absurde est en droit de vous rendre injuste. Si vous n’opposez point aux ordres de croire l’impossible l’intelligence que Dieu a mise dans votre esprit, vous ne devez point opposer aux ordres de malfaire la justice que Dieu a mise dans votre coeur. Une faculté de votre âme étant une fois tyrannisée, toutes les autres facultés doivent l’être également. Et c’est là ce qui a produit tous les crimes religieux dont la terre a été inondée.]

Voltaire (1694–1778) French writer [pseud. of Francois-Marie Arouet]
Questions sur les miracles (1765)

Commonly translated: "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."