FROM Americanism and the Anti-Christian Conspiracy (1899) by Msgr. Henri Delassus (translated by Patrick Odou; pp 47-48):
After 18 centuries of unyielding obstinacy in its religious beliefs and practices, Israel is shaking. We see many Jews becoming philosophers and free-thinkers, no longer having any other bonds with the Jews of the Talmud than those of race and blood.
They are called liberals in opposition to the traditionalists. They qualify themselves as “reformers.” Those who are called “reformers,” says the Israelite Archives, “want to be immediately rid of all the chains and reject the Talmud.” (XII, p. 242 ff., 1867)
The liberal reformers are recruited especially from those who live in the West, those who have drunk from the cup of our civilization.
It should not be understood, however, that by renouncing the religious beliefs and practices of their ancestors, they renounce their race and abandon their pretension to dominate all the peoples of the earth. No, they compete with the orthodox in holding high and strong the banner of Israel. But they claim, in opposition to the latter, that the transformation of Judaism in which they are engaged is necessary for the fulfillment of its mission.
They say to the orthodox Jews: “Your obsolete observances prevent Judaism from being accepted and thus make us fail in the proselytism that we must exercise.” (Israelite Archives, p. 448, 1867)
So, if the Talmudists differ from the liberals, it is only in the matter of believing which way is the best to achieve the mission that Israel claims to have received. We know that this mission is to prepare the way for the one they expect to be their messiah. The Talmudists continue to wait for a flesh-and-blood messiah who will make them masters of the world. The liberals say that this messiah is none other than the Revolution, whose “principles” break down all societies and prepare for their universal empire.
To spread these “modern principles,” to make them produce the fruit they expect, they believe it necessary to rid themselves of the old observances to which their fathers subjected themselves, believing that their fidelity would hasten the arrival of a personal messiah. They say that this is just cumbersome baggage; moreover, the old-fashioned Jew could not “make himself accepted” by others. For them, it is important to gain the acceptance of the people whom they want to “proselytize.”
What is this proselytism? Is it to compel the faithful of other religions to enter Judaism? The Jews have never considered this type of proselytism: They are a people, a race apart, “the first aristocracy of the world,” the only ones who are really men. They have never desired to raise to their level beings that are only human in appearance.
What they have in mind is domination. To establish this domination, it is not enough to annihilate patriotism in the hearts of men; it is necessary and of the utmost importance to extinguish in their hearts religious faith. This is so because nothing gives man more dignity and independence than his union with God through faith and charity. It is necessary to push men into what one of them has aptly named “the Church of religious free-thinking.”
Pay attention to this association: free-thinking and religion. They know that man is naturally religious and that they cannot destroy his nature. Therefore, they must be content to lead men of all religions into a vague religiosity in which each one believes what he wants to believe, and pays to the divinity the cult he deems convenient.
