Joseph McCabe

For other people named Joseph McCabe, see Joseph McCabe (disambiguation).

File:Joseph-mccabe-1910.jpg

Joseph McCabe

Joseph Martin McCabe (12 November 1867 – 10 January 1955) was an English writer and speaker on freethought, after having been a priest earlier in his life.

Early life

McCabe was born in Macclesfield in Cheshire, but his family moved to Manchester while he was still a child. He entered the Franciscan order at the age of 15, and spent a year of preliminary study at Gorton Monastery. His novitiate year took place in Killarney, after which he was transferred to Forest Gate in London (to the school which is now St Bonaventure's Catholic Comprehensive School) for the remainder of his priestly education. In 1890 he was ordained into the priesthood with the name Father Antony.

He was recognised as an outstanding scholar of philosophy, and was sent for a year (1893 – 1894) to study at the Catholic University of Louvain. Here he was successfully taught Hebrew by A van Hoonacker, and less successfully, Syriac by T. J. Lamy. He also studied under, and befriended, Mercier. He returned to London and resumed priestly and educational duties, until in October 1895 when he was put in charge of the newly founded Franciscan college in Buckingham, (which is now St Bernardine's Catholic Church, Buckingham). He had gradually been losing his faith and eventually left that post and the priesthood in February 1896.

Writing career

Shortly after leaving the priesthood, McCabe began writing. He wrote a pamphlet on his experiences, From Rome to Rationalism, published in 1897, which he then expanded to book length as Twelve Years in a Monastery (1897). From 1898–1899 he was secretary of the Leicester Secular Society, and he was a founding board member in 1899 of the Rationalist Press Association of Great Britain. He wrote prolifically on science, religion, politics, history and culture, writing nearly 250 books during his life. Many of his books and pamphlets were published by E. Haldeman-Julius, both as Little Blue Books and Big Blue Books. Over 100 Big Blue Books by McCabe were published.

McCabe was also respected as a speaker, and gave several thousand lectures in his lifetime.

McCabe is also known for his inclusion in G. K. Chesterton's book Heretics. In a previous essay he took Chesterton to task for including humor in his serious writings. By doing so, he allowed Chesterton to make the quip "Mr. McCabe thinks that I am not serious but only funny, because Mr. McCabe thinks that funny is the opposite of serious. Funny is the opposite of not funny, and of nothing else."

In about 1947, McCabe accused the Encyclopædia Britannica of bias towards the Catholic Church. He claimed that the 14th edition, which had been published in 1929, was devoid of the critical comment about the church that had been in the 11th edition. McCabe similarly accused the Columbia Encyclopedia of bias towards the Catholic Church in 1951. These and similar actions have made him be termed a "Catholic basher" by his Christian critics. Biographer Bill Cooke, however, disputes the allegation, citing McCabe's opinion that "Catholics are no worse, and no better, than others", and "I have not the least prejudice against the Catholic laity, which would be stupid." .

McCabe was also active in organizations, although his biographer notes that he had a difficult relationship with some of their leading figures, and consequently relations between McCabe and various groups could also be strained. McCabe's freethought stance grew more militant as he got older, and he joined the National Secular Society in the year before he died.

Works

The 'Big Blue Books': (a selection of titles available online)

• The Vatican's Last Crime
• How the Pope Of Peace Traded In Blood
• How the Cross Courted The Swastika For Eight Years
• The Vatican Buries International Law
• Hitler Dupes The Vatican
• The War And Papal Intrigue
• The Pious Traitors Of Belgium And France
• The Pope And The Italian Jackal
• Atheist Russia Shakes The World
• Fascist Romanism Defies Civilization
• The Totalitarian Church Of Rome
• The Tyranny Of The Clerical Gestapo
• Rome Puts A Blight On Culture
• The Church The Enemy Of The Workers
• The Church Defies Modern Life
• The Holy Faith Of Romanists
• How the Faith Is Protected
• The Artistic Sterility Of The Church
• The Fruits Of Romanism

Some Other Works:

• - (1897). Twelve Years in a Monastery. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 
• - (1901). Peter Abelard. London: Gerald Duckworth and Company Ltd. 
• - (1905). The Religion of Woman: an Historical Study. London: Watts & Co.  with an introduction by Lady Florence Dixie
• - (1910). The Evolution of Mind. London: Adam & Charles Black. 
• - (1912). Goethe: The Man And His Character. London: Eveleigh Nash. 
• - (1912). The Story of Evolution. London: Hutchinson & Co. 
• - (1913). The Existence of God. The Inquirer's Library 1. London: Watts & Co. 
• - (1914). The Sources of the Morality of the Gospels. London: Watts & Co. 
• - (1915). The War and the Churches. London: Watts & Co. 
• - (1918). The Popes and their Church: a Candid Account. London: Watts & Co. 
• - (1920). A Biographical Dictionary of Modern Rationalists. London: Watts & Co.  See List of names in A Biographical Dictionary of Modern Rationalists
• - (1926). The Human Origin of Morals. Little Blue Book 1061. Girard, Kansas: Haldeman-Julius Publications. 
• - (1926). Christianity and Slavery. Little Blue Book 1127. Girard, Kansas: Haldeman-Julius Publications. 
• - (1927). The Psychology of Religion. Little Blue Book 446. Girard, Kansas: Haldeman-Julius Publications. 
• - (1929). The Story Of Religious Controversy. Boston: The Stratford Company. 
• - (1930). Why I Believe In Fair Taxation Of Church Property. Little Blue Book 1502. Girard, Kansas: Haldeman-Julius Publications. 
• - (1930–1931). The True Story of the Roman Catholic Church (in six double volumes). Girard, Kansas: Haldeman-Julius Publications. CS1 maint: Date format (link)
• - (1933). What Gods cost Man. Little Blue Book 1732. Girard, Kansas: Haldeman-Julius Publications. 
• - (1934). The Riddle of the Universe To-day. London: Watts & Co. 
• - (1935). The Social Record of Christianity. Thinker's Library 51. London: Watts & Co. 
• - (1936). Is The Position Of Atheism Getting Stronger?. Girard, Kansas: Haldeman-Julius Publications. 
• - (1939). A History of the Popes. London: Watts & Co. 
• - (1945). A Biographical Dictionary of Ancient, Medieval, and Modern Freethinkers. Girard, Kansas: Haldeman-Julius Publications.  (Note that online sources often erroneously date this work to 1920, confusing it with his Biographical Dictionary of Modern Rationalists.)
• - (1947). Eighty Years a Rebel; Autobiography. Girard, Kansas: Haldeman-Julius Publications. 
• - (1947). The Lies and Fallacies of the Encyclopedia Britannica; How Powerful and Shameless Clerical Forces Castrated a Famous Work of Reference. Girard, Kansas: Haldeman-Julius Publications. 
• - (1948). A Rationalist Encyclopædia: A Book of Reference, On Religion, Philosophy, Ethics, and Science. London: Watts & Co. 
• - (1948). A History of Satanism: Telling How the Devil Was Born, How He Came to Be Worshipped as a God, and How He Died. Haldeman-Julius Publications. 
• - (1950). Rome's Syllabus Of Condemned Opinions: The Last Blast Of The Catholic Church's Medieval Trumpet. Big Blue Book B-878. Girard, Kansas: Haldeman-Julius Publications. 
• - (1951). The Columbia Encyclopedia's Crimes against the Truth. Big Blue Book B-939. Girard, Kansas: Haldeman-Julius Publications. 

• Luther Burbank Speaks Out

Bibliography

• Cooke, Bill (2001). A rebel to his last breath: Joseph McCabe and Rationalism. Prometheus Books. ISBN 1-57392-878-X.

External links

• Works by Joseph McCabe at Project Gutenberg
• Checklist of the Little Blue Books - lists little blue books including Joseph McCabe's, not listed in the "Works" section of this article.de:Joseph McCabe

fi:Joseph McCabe