The War Upon Religion / Being an Account of the Rise and Progress of Anti-Christianism in Europe

by Francis A. Cunningham

The two great powers of Germany then contending for supremacy among the loosely confederated States were Prussia and Austria. In the Parliament of Frankfort the presidency of that body was conferred upon an Austrian archduke. The alarm was immediately sounded. If Germany were to become a united empire, was it not possible that Austria, as an integral part, might gain the ascendancy, and thus subject the whole German nation to the rule of a Catholic sovereign? In 1848 the union of the German Empire was set aside, and Frederick William IV. even refused to accept an imperial crown that would have among its gems the great Austrian state. Again in 1866, when the union of German States was being formed, Austria was formally excluded, nor has she been invited to enter the Confederation ever since. Her Catholic influences were the obstacles that stood in her way toward Prussian favor.

WAR UPON CATHOLIC STATES.

At the same time Prussia could not ignore the fact that many powerful and influential States around her and even within her dominions were almost entirely Catholic. Poland, Bavaria and the Rhenish Provinces were too strongly Catholic to permit of any open aggression upon religious lines, although in the secrecy of ministerial cabinets the way for such aggressions was being constantly prepared. What was wanted was only an evidence of political weakness in the Catholic States, and this opportunity was offered only too soon.

Since 1860 the papal power had been slowly yielding in Italy to the attacks of Liberalism, aided very much by the encouragement of German cabinets. In 1866, Austria was stricken down by the hand of Prussia; in 1870, Catholic France felt its force at Sedan and at Paris; in the same year, Rome fell into the hands of usurpers. Even among the Catholic States of Germany the influence of Prussian intrigue had weakened the governments and made them tools in the hands of the more powerful ally. All these disasters in Catholic countries signified that Protestant Prussia was now in a position to impose herself with her laws and her religion upon the whole body of people coming within her sway. It is not surprising, therefore, that when William I. felt the glory of the imperial crown upon his brow, he should begin, like his predecessor, Frederick William III., to dream of a universal German Church of which he should be the Pope, and of which all his people should become willing and faithful members.

THE EMPEROR WILLIAM I.

Closely allied with this desire for a Protestant ascendancy was an intense hatred of Rome and of Ultramontainism, especially as manifested in the dogma of Papal Infallibility as declared in the Council of the Vatican in 1870. This spirit had betrayed itself before 1870 especially in the words and actions of Bismarck, who remarked during the course of the French War: "As soon as the war with France is ended, I shall march against the infallibility." To this end the populace was aroused and Protestant fanaticism was given full swing. The tocsin of alarm was sounded before the imaginary peril of a Roman invasion, and before the pretended assaults of the Church upon the State.

HATRED OF INFALLIBILITY.

For two years the secular press had echoed these fears and waved before the eyes of Germany the effigy of "Infallibility." All sane notions were cast aside, while defiance and hatred were sown in all hearts. All the journals, with one accord, took up the ever new theme of the Syllabus and of Infallibility to demonstrate to the German people that the jurisdiction of the bishops was absorbed forever by the papal jurisdiction, that the clergy were now slaves, and that every Roman Catholic, at a sign from the Pope, was bound henceforth to betray his king, his conscience, and the laws of the country. Feeling, under such impulsion, ran high, to such an extent in fact that the fear of Infallibility made many forget the part the Catholics had ever taken for the defence of the King, the country, and social order.

Underlying all these causes was the true reason of the Kulturkampf, the spirit of Caesarism, the desire to make the Church subservient in its life, in its doctrines, and in its hierarchy, to the caprices of the sovereign State. The forces to effect this had been growing steadily for some time. There were especially three parties to which the idea of a State controlled Church appealed. There were those who were hostile radically to the idea of religion, and whose campaign was directed against God; their leader was Bluntschl. Others, antagonistic to the Christian idea, attacked all positive religion, and desired the abolition of all Christian denominations; they were led on by Bennigsen. Finally, the Prussian Evangelicals, jealous of the progress of Catholicity, wished to create a great national Church in what they would call the Evangelical Empire, a Church that would acknowledge no interference from the outside, from Rome or elsewhere. Into this national Church it was determined to absorb all the Catholics of the Empire. This was the dream of Bismarck.