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American freedom and Catholic power Hardcover – 1950

by Paul Blanshard (Author)

8 customer reviews

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Editorial Reviews

Mild tanning to spine and pages. Otherwise clean, sturdy copy.

Product details

Hardcover: 350 pages
Publisher: The Beacon Press (1950)
Language: English
ASIN: B00005VD6G
Package Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
Average Customer Review: 8 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,797,555 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #21950 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Catholicism
- #42651 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Christian Denominations & Sects
- #521430 in Books > Religion & Spirituality

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8 customer reviews

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good read, well referenced and indexed

October 12, 2014

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Well written, good read, well referenced and indexed. Author points out that the Catholic hierarchy is not just a religious organization. It is a state, headed by the Pope in the .Vatican - a state that has subjects all over the world, and which demands loyalty to itself first - before loyalty to the nation where it's subjects reside. He calls it an undemocratic system of alien (Vatican) control. Catholicism repudiates the separation of church and state and brands religious freedom "one of the principal errors of our time."

The author distinguishes between the Catholic people and the Catholic hierarchy.and says that Catholic people in America love freedom and democracy.

He outlines the Catholic hierarchy's plan for America as follows: 1) increase the Catholic population through differential birth rate, conversion and immigration 2) attain public support for Catholic schools and eventually take over the public schools 3)control a large enough voting block - a closely knit political organization to control the government - not necessarily a majority but a pressure group with enough power to destroy any national leader who challenges it's program openly and specifically.

Kennedy read a later edition of this book before he wrote his famous speech on separation of church and state in 1960.

4 people found this helpful

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A gross error by someone

May 16, 2014

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

To this book's title is appended the date =November 16, 1984=. The appended date is a gross error. Paul Blanshard died 27 January 1980. I already own both the 1949 and 1958 editions. I first read the latter in the summer of 1958! On the possibility this was a posthumous or memorial edition, I ordered it. What I got was a September 1960 printing of the 1958 edition. In October 1960 this copy was left lying on the floor of a chicken coop. After scraping 53 years of guano off, it was mailed to me with no documents enclosed inside the package. Whoa! To believe I have submitted a Request for refund is likewise an error. I insist upon a refund. This is a 5-star book, and Beacon Press would do well to consider a 21st Century release.

3 people found this helpful

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August 27, 2014

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

I haven't finished this book, yet.

2 people found this helpful

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Andrew W. Johns

A biting attack on mid-20th century Church policy

March 18, 2005

Format: Hardcover

I picked this up without knowing anything about the book or the author. The tone set in the opening chapters led me to believe that this would be a fair discussion of the relationship between American Society and the Roman Catholic Church. The copious source notes indicate show the extent of the author's research into the subject matter, and an unbiased presentation of the facts would have been quite useful as a basis for discussion and debate. Unfortunately, the author describes his finding in an extremely cynical fashion, and makes his opinions of the goals of the Church hierarchy quite plain, which detracts from the books impact. Had the author simply presented the facts, and allowed the reader to reach his or her own conclusions, this book would have been an important tool in assessing the role of the Church in America.

Published in 1949, there is much about this book that is out of date. The reforms of the Second Vatican Council in the 1960's has greatly changed the Catholic Church, though the author's points regarding medicine and sex remain largely valid. American society has changed as well, with the cultural upheaval of the 1960's and tremendous changes in technology. Finally, the world has changed...facism and communism have both largely disappeared, and the Church's influence in Europe had waned considerably.

This book represents an attack by the author on Church policies from a half-century ago, and in that sense it has lost its relevance. To the extent that religious conservatives are still trying to co-opt public policy, there are still point in here to ponder.

12 people found this helpful

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William P. Cunningham

A Classic of Bigotry

March 17, 2003

Format: Hardcover

If any twentieth century book deserves the monniker "Epoch-changing," Blanshard's 1949 certainly does. Although it is a classic of anti-Catholic bigotry, American Freedom is distinguished from other screeds by an extensive set of footnotes and better than average research.
Blanshard is a master of the political spin. It is clear that he is, like many WASPs, terrified by the expanding Catholic minorities in the U.S.
As Mike Jones has documented in John Cardinal Krol and the Cultural Revolution, the Blanshard book helped stimulate a coordinated effort to nip Catholic power. First, an effort began to break up the Catholic neighborhoods in the major Eastern cities, thus diluting their power base in the legislatures. Second, the foundations funded research into a "Catholic contraceptive," which became the birth-control pill.
The book tries to look objective, but after fifty years even the most strident anti-Catholic will admit that the language and presentation are offensive. It is ironic that a nation that ended WWII with such animosity toward anti-Semitism continues to promote anti-Catholicism.

26 people found this helpful

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