In the opinion of secular scholar Joseph McCabe, the teaching of Jesus was “almost entirely ethical.” He contends that the dogmatic pillars of organizational Christianity, such as original sin, the atonement and the divinity of Christ, were not part of Jesus’ message and originated with Paul. He also discusses the interminable and insoluble disagreements among theologians over the following two millennia. In conclusion, he expends particular vitriol on the institution of the priesthood, of which he had himself been a member in his younger days.
Joseph McCabe was a notable antagonist to all forms of organized religion. In this essay, he offers brief and incisive critiques of some major non-Christian religious systems.
Much of the writing by secular scholar Joseph McCabe was devoted to the de-mystifying of organized religion. In this trenchant essay, McCabe seeks to disprove the assumption that the religious instinct in humanity was evident from the earliest days of civilization, and that the search for spiritual revelation was one of the primary activities of primitive societies. From an examination of the history of several ‘undeveloped’ races which had survived into the twentieth century, McCabe came to the conclusion that the concepts of God and deification have only been developed in advanced civilizations, and that ‘primitive man’ had no interest in religious speculation.
Most organized religions have a major focus on the afterlife and offer methods for obtaining salvation—the process of ensuring that devotees will enjoy eternal bliss in the next world. In this pamphlet, skeptical scholar Joseph McCabe presents his objections to claims of the existence of the soul and of heaven and hell. In McCabe’s view, the desire for immortality is a notable example of wishful thinking; the guiding rule of nature is death, not eternal existence—though we may wish it.
This pamphlet offers a condensed history of Europe between the fall of the Roman empire and the twelfth century. The author’s profound anticlerical bias becomes apparent as he explores the influence of Christianity on a world in which order was maintained by the imposition of violence, and in which the general populace was kept in a state of ignorance and serfdom. He supports his conclusions with quotes from his own translations of documents of the period.
In the final sentence, McCabe sums up his view of the Dark Ages: “What claims to be the highest ethical religion in the world was followed after its general adoption by a general degradation of character to which you will find no parallel in the history of pagan civilization.”
This pamphlet is a typical example of Joseph McCabe’s grasp of history, and of his hostility to organized religion. McCabe explains here how, with the spread of education, attachment to organized religion will inevitably decline. He also examines the trends in psychology and the influence of their application to the study of religion.
This publication originally comes from the Little Blue Book series published by E. Haldeman Julius.
Many have claimed for Freemasonry a heritage that has been traced to biblical times and involved many historical celebrities. In this acerbic essay, religious scholar Joseph McCabe reveals that this tradition actually commenced with the guilds in the Middle Ages, and that it inevitably attracted the hostility of the Catholic Church because of its populist and atheistic leanings. He also shows that Freemasons were significant players in the struggle for democracy that eroded the power of popes and princes
In 1947, when this pamphlet was written, the ghastly memory of the Holocaust was fresh in the public mind. The author explores this climatic catastrophe of racial persecution to reveal it not as an anomalous occurrence, but rather as the evidence of a form of institutionalized prejudice which had operated for more than a millennium. “Humanity,” McCabe argues, “will enter into full and friendly cooperation only when the myths disappear and pure humanism is the base of man’s standard of conduct.”
The original full title of this pamphlet was: “The Bloody Story of Anti-Semitism Down the Ages: A Few Friendly Counsels of a Freethinker to the Members of our Three Great Religions”
“The history of Satan, prince of the demonic world, is the story of one of the weirdest of man’s illusions,” writes McCabe. In this text, McCabe treats the devil essentially as a creature of folklore, originating in prehistoric times. He demonstrates how the influence of belief in the devil has dwindled dramatically with the spread of scientific investigation and rationality.
This pamphlet, which comes from the Little Blue Book series published by E. Haldeman Julius, is a typical example of McCabe’s incisive examination of history and his caustic wit.
In this short history, scholar of religion Joseph McCabe explores the nature and development of witchcraft as an alternative religion fundamentally opposed to Christianity. He examines the inevitable persecution of witches by the established church, and describes how the development of the Enlightenment movement eventually led to the end of the practice of witch hunting.
