Nearest French equivalent to Philosophical Anglicanism.
The Genuine Catholics.
External Conformity in France.
The nearest French equivalent for philosophical Anglicanism is the theory that the religion a man professes is a matter of heredity in his family, and that as an individual he takes what he likes of it and no more. This theory differs, however, from philosophical Anglicanism in one important point—it is never published to the world. When expressed at all, which happens very seldom, it is expressed in the privacy of conversation, but the tacit acceptance of it is very wide. The genuine Catholics insist, on the contrary, that “all or nothing” is the one immutable principle of their religion, and that he who disbelieves the minutest detail of the Catholic dogmas is no more a Catholic than if he professed Protestantism openly.[43] However this may be, the fact remains, that any Frenchman who conforms externally to the Church of Rome is counted as a Catholic from the social point of view. I need not expatiate upon the convenience of the theory that the doctrines of the Church are like a banquet offered, of which the guest may take only what his appetite demands. We most of us accept something that might be called a Catholic doctrine, if only that it is wrong to steal.
Jesuitism.
Liberty in the Church of Rome.
Pliability of Modern Catholicism.
Besides this lax idea amongst laymen, there is the influence of Jesuitism amongst the clergy. The Jesuits are said to confess the ésotérisme inévitable of a great popular religion so frankly that the modern intellectual man may find complete liberty in the Church of Rome. It appears that by an ingenious manner of presenting them all Roman Catholic doctrines may be made capable of a liberal interpretation in order that the modern thinker may remain within the fold.[44] Even the very spirit of Catholicism is ready to adapt itself to his taste. If he dislikes an intolerant spirit, the Church becomes most tolerant. He is told that all sincere men who endeavour to do right are sure of salvation, whatever may be their religious belief. If it is painful to him to think that the damned are suffering eternal torture, he is soothed by the assurance that the flames of hell are a figure of speech, and that the real punishment of the damned is only regret for their misdeeds, and privation of the sight of God, two evils that all Christians suffer from in this present world without finding it unendurable.
Formalism in Simplicity.
Liberty in Variety.