Intolerance and persecution towards Spiritism The following fact was reported to us by one of our correspondents. Out of convenience, we do not reveal the name of the place where it happened but, if necessary, we have the supporting document in our hands.
The parish priest of…, having learned that one of his parishioners had received The Spirits’ Book, came to find her at her house and made a scandalous scene, calling her by very little evangelical names; he also threatened not to bury her when she died, if she did not believe in the devil and hell; he then seized the book and took it with him.
A few days later, the lady that was not much affected by the uproar, went to the priest to ask him for her book back, telling herself that if he did not return it to her, it was not difficult to get another one, and that she would know how to put it in a safe place.
The book was returned, but in a condition that proved that a holy anger had come upon it. It was stained with deletions, annotations, refutations, in which the Spirits were treated as liars, demons, stupid, etc. The faith of that lady, far from being shaken, was only the more strengthened. It is said that more flies are caught with honey than with vinegar; the priest presented the vinegar to her, she preferred honey, and she said to herself: Forgive him, Lord, for he does not know what he is doing. Whose side was real Christianity on?
Scenes of this nature were very common seven or eight years ago, and sometimes had a vicious aspect that turned to burlesque. We remember this missionary who foamed with rage, while preaching against Spiritism, and was agitated with so much anger that one feared, for a moment, that he would fall from the pulpit. And this other preacher who invited all the holders of Spiritist books to bring them to him to set them on fire in a public square. Unfortunately for him, not even one was brought, and he compensated for it by burning all those that could be obtained from bookstores, in the courtyard of the seminary. Today, that they have recognized their uselessness and inconvenience, these eccentric demonstrations are very rare; experience has shown that they have deviated more from the Church than from Spiritism.
The fact reported above is of a particularly serious character. The priest is at home in his church, in his terrain; he is on his own right to give or refuse prayers, according to his conscience; sometimes, he undoubtedly uses it in a way that is more harmful than useful to the cause that he defends, but after all he is within his rights, and we find it illogical that people who are, in their thoughts, if not in fact, separated from Church, who do not fulfill any of the duties that it imposes, intend to compel a priest to do what, rightly or wrongly, he considers contrary to his rule. If you do not believe in the effectiveness of his prayers, why demand it from him? But, for the same reason, he exceeds his right when it is imposed on those who do not ask for it.
In the case in question, by which right was this priest going to violate the conscience of that lady in her own home, doing an inquisitorial visit there, and seizing what did not belong to him? What does religion gain from such excess of zeal? Clumsy friends are always harmful.
This fact itself is of little importance, and it is, ultimately, only a small annoyance that proves the narrowness of the ideas of its author; we would not have spoken of it, if it had not been linked to more serious facts, to actual persecutions, whose consequences are more serious.
Strange anomaly! Whatever the position of a man, officer, or subordinate in any capacity, he has every right to be Protestant, Jewish, or even nothing at all; he can be openly incredulous, materialist or atheist; he can advocate this or that philosophy, but he does not have the right to be a Spiritist. If he is suspected of Spiritism, as in the past one was suspected of Jansenism, he is suspect; if the matter is confessed, he is looked at suspiciously by his superiors, when they do not think like him, considered a disruptor of society, he who abjures any idea of hatred and revenge, whose rule of conduct is Christian charity in its most rigorous meaning, benevolence for all, tolerance, forgetting and forgiveness of insults, in a word, all the maxims that are the guarantee of social order, and the greatest curb of bad passions . Well! Something that always and among all civilized peoples, is an entitlement to the esteem of honest people, becomes a sign of reprobation in the eyes of certain people who do not forgive a man for having become better through Spiritism! Whatever his qualities, his talents, the services he renders, if he is not independent, if his position is not invulnerable, a hand, an instrument of an occult will, falls on him, strikes him, if possible, in his means of existence, in his dearest affections, and even in his consideration.
That such things are happening in countries where the exclusive faith establishes intolerance, in principle, as its best safeguard, it is not surprising; but that they take place in countries where freedom of conscience is enshrined in the Code of Laws, as a natural right, it is more difficult to understand. One must, therefore, be afraid of this Spiritism that they, nevertheless, vow to present as an empty idea, a chimera, a utopia, a stupidity that a breath of reason can destroy! If this fantastic light is not yet extinguished, it is not for lack of people blowing it. So, blow, always blow; there are flames that are fueled by blowing, instead of extinguishing them.
However, some will say, what can be reproached in those who wish and only practice good; who fulfills the duties of his office with zeal, probity, loyalty, and devotion; who teaches to love God and their neighbor; who preaches concord and invites all men to treat each other as brothers, without distinction of cults or nationalities? Isn’t he working to appease the dissensions and antagonisms that have caused so many disasters? Isn’t he the true apostle of peace? By rallying the greatest possible number of followers to his principles, by his logic, by the authority of his position, and above all by his example, won’t he prevent regrettable conflicts? If, instead of one, there are ten, a hundred, a thousand, won’t their healthy influence be all the greater? Such men are precious helpers; we never have enough of them; shouldn’t we encourage them, honor them? Isn't the doctrine that makes these principles take the heart of man through conviction, based on sincere faith, a pledge of security? Besides, where have the Spiritists been seen as turbulent and troublemakers? On the contrary, haven’t they always and everywhere identified themselves as peaceful people and friends of order? Whenever they have been provoked by malicious acts, instead of retaliatory, haven’t they carefully avoided anything that could have been a cause of disorder? Has law enforcement ever had to crack down on them for any act contrary to public tranquility? No, because an officer, in charge of maintaining order, said not long ago, that if all his citizens were Spiritists, he could close his office. Is there a more characteristic tribute paid to the feelings that animate them? And what slogan do they obey? To that of their conscience alone, since they do not relate to any obvious or hidden personality in the shadow. Their doctrine is their law, and that law commands them to do good and to avoid evil; by its moralizing power, it has brought exalted men back to moderation, fearing nothing, neither God nor human justice, and capable of anything. If it were popular, how much weight would it not bring in times of turmoil and in turbulent centers? How then can such a doctrine be a reason for reprobation? How can it draw persecution on those who profess and propagate it?
You are astonished that a doctrine that only produces good has adversaries! But don't you know the blindness of partisanship? Has it ever considered the good that a thing can do when it is contrary to its opinions or to its material interests? Do not forget that some opponents are opposed by system much more than ignorance. It is in vain that you would hope to bring them to you by the logic of your reasoning, and by the prospect of the positive effects of the doctrine; they know this as well as you do, and it is precisely because they know it that they do not want it; the more rigorous and irresistible that logic, the more it exasperates them, because it shuts their mouths. The more we demonstrate to them the good that Spiritism produces, the more they get irritated, because they feel that this is its strength; so, even if it had to save the country from the greatest disasters, they would push it back anyway. You will triumph over a skeptical, a sincere atheist, a vicious and corrupt soul, but never over biased people!
What do they expect from the persecution? Stop the rise of the new ideas through intimidation? Let us see, in a few words, if this goal can be achieved.
All great ideas, all renovating ideas, both scientific and moral, received the baptism of persecution, and it had to be, because they offended the interests of those who lived on the old ideas, prejudices, and abuses. But since these ideas were truths, have they ever seen persecution stopping their course? Isn't history of all times there to prove that they have, on the contrary, grown, that they have been consolidated, propagated by the very effect of persecution? Persecution was the stimulus, the sting that pushed them forward, and made them move faster by over-exciting the minds, so that the persecutors worked against themselves, and their only gain was to be stigmatized by posterity. They only persecuted ideas for which they saw a future; those that were deemed inconsequential were left to die their natural deaths.
Spiritism too is a great idea; it was therefore to receive its baptism, as its predecessors, because the minds of men have not changed, and what has happened to others will also happen to Spiritism: an increase in importance to the eyes of the crowd, and consequently a greater popularity. The more the victims are visible by their position, the more impact there will be, because of the extent of their relationships.
Curiosity is all the more excited when the person is surrounded by more esteem and consideration; everyone wants to know why and how; to know the bottom line of these opinions that arouse so much anger; one questions, one reads, and this is how a crowd of people who would perhaps never have been concerned with Spiritism, are brought to know it, to judge it, to appreciate it and to adopt it. Such was, as we know, the result of furious declamations, pastoral prohibitions, diatribes of all kinds; such will be that of persecutions; they do more: they elevate it to the rank of serious beliefs, because common sense says that one does not strike nonsense.
Persecution against false, erroneous ideas, is useless, because they discredit and collapse on their own; it has the effect of creating supporters and defenders for them, and delaying their fall, because many people regard them as good, precisely because they are persecuted. When persecution only attacks true ideas, it goes directly against its goal, because it promotes their development: it is therefore, in all cases, an ineptness that turns against those who commit it.
A modern writer regretted that Luther had not been burnt, to destroy Protestantism at its root; but since he could not have been burnt until after the emission of his ideas, if it had been done, Protestantism would perhaps be twice as widespread as it is. John Huss was burnt; what did the Council of Constance gain? It covered itself with an indelible stain; but the ideas of the martyr were not burned; they were one of the foundations of the reform. Posterity has bestowed glory on John Huss and shame on the council. (Spiritist Review, August 1866) Today, they no longer burn, but they persecute in other ways.
No doubt, when a thunderstorm breaks out, many people take shelter; persecutions can, therefore, have the effect of temporarily preventing the free manifestation of thought; believing to have suffocated it, the persecutors fall asleep in a deceptive security; but thought subsists, nonetheless, and repressed ideas are like plants in a greenhouse: they grow faster.
