VICTOR ZAMMIT,
A Lawyer Answers The Catholic Church’s Attack
On Spiritualism
Introductory statement
Father Herbert Thurston, S.J., a Jesuit scholar who on
behalf of the Catholic Church, authored a major document
reflecting the Catholic Church’s view on Spiritism
(or Spiritualism as is known in the English speaking countries).
The article is listed in the official Catholic Answers in
the Classic Apologetics. Read
his full article. The attack against the religion of
Spiritualism by this Jesuit priest is very similar to the
anti- Spiritualism article to be found in the Catholic Encyclopedia.
As someone who was brought up as a Catholic I feel I should
speak out without any fear or favor against what I consider
to be a most dangersous article written allegedly on behalf
of the Catholic Chuch.
Fr Thurston's article is NOT consistent with the article
published in Osservatore Romano by Father Gino
Concentti - one of the most competent theologians in the
Vatican- who takes a more favourable view of the religion
of Spiritualism. As a matter of fact, Fr Concetti says,
"According to the modern catechism, God allows our
dear departed persons ... to send messassges to guide us
...The Church has decided NOT to forbid any more dialogue
with the deceased ... (providing these contacts are done
for serious religious and scientific studies ..).
The fact the Fr Thurstan and the Catholic Encyclopedia articles
are still on the Internet means they have to be answered
because in these articles there are many errors of fact.
The reader uninformed, untrained or uneducated in empirical
Spiritualism may be grossly misled by these errors. I will
be concentrating on Fr Herbert Thurston's article because
it is the more aggressively anti-Spiritualism.
Father Thurston’s authority comes from Catholic theology
– which is a personal belief in his religious teachings.
My authority comes from empiricism– the use of scientific
method to measure phenomena. In our investigations as empiricists,
we do not have the luxury of beliefs.
In assessing the validity of the Fr Thurston’s article
I rely on my professional training in what is admissible
evidence at Supreme Court level and my university training
in scientific method.
I also rely on my sixteen years of empirical research into
the afterlife where I was able to make contact with intelligences
from the afterlife from at least three afterlife levels.
The empiricist does not cherish any particular beliefs
because history shows that many bitter lessons have been
learnt when cherished beliefs were subsequently shown to
be fundamentally wrong – the Church’s wrongful
geocentric view of the universe otherwise known as the Galileo’s
principle is a classic example.
Note carefully: it is universally accepted that people
tend to accept the personal religious beliefs of the country
and culture into which they were born. This means that Fr
Thurston’s beliefs would inevitably be linked with
the beliefs of the country of his birth: if he were born
in India, he’s very likely to be a staunch believer
in Hinduism; if born in North Africa a Moslem; if born in
China either a Maoist or an atheist. But his Western birth
made him a Christian.
But because empiricism uses scientific method to validate
phenomena- and scientific method has been used for decades
and is being used to test afterlife phenomena- being born
in a different country would NOT change the argument one
iota. If something can be repeated over time and space and
yields the same result, keeping variables constant, we are
dealing with ‘truth’. For example, who is going
to argue anywhere in the world that 7+5 do not equal 12?
Religion can NEVER do that.
My professional training as a lawyer taught me that in
ALL circumstances, without exception, NEVER to believe anyone,
anything, anywhere, anytime and anyplace unless I am presented
with irrefutable, hard core evidence that what is being
stated can be independently substantiated. This is the kind
of admissible empirical evidence we must have in order that
we do not delude ourselves with irrelevant and erroneous
traditional and historical man-made unsubstantiated beliefs.
Especially if the religous beliefs were written by writers
about whom we nothing. (It must be remembered
that we do not have the original, authentic Biblical texts
and there is evidence that the relevant religious texts
were changed a number of times.)
Fr Thurston, as a Catholic theologian, measures everything
in terms of his own subjective, personal Catholic beliefs.
So he rejects any information which is inconsistent with
his beliefs– even if the information has been empirically
elicited.
Note very carefully: for the record, the
Church is definitively wrong to assume as
it did for many centuries that the Church’s authority
overrides science or empiricism.This belief has been entrenched
in Catholic countries and became part of the tradition,
history and culture of all Catholic countries. In many countries,
the Catholic Church claims it is a mortal sin to accept
the empirical instead of the theological and it is a sin
to question the Church's dogmas and beliefs. That was drummed
into me in my early years.
Just because a personal subjective religious belief has
been around for some 2,000 years – it is not changed,
transformed or modified by the passage of time from a personal
belief into objective evidence. The Church’s authority
is inevitably subjective authority. And if there is inconsistency,
the objective authority of empiricism will always prevail
over the Church’s personal subjective authority. This
critical principle is not in dispute – but its consequences
are enormous.
Whilst Fr. Thurston occasionally admits that in some instances
communication from those who crossed over to us is possible,
his overall tone throughout his article is definitively
aggressively negative. His underlying premise is that the
religion of Spiritualism is negative, unproductive, misleading
and should be left alone.
The Church of England formally investigated Spiritualism
and in its very important report under the auspices of Archbishops
Lang and Temple the appointed committee – all very
highly qualified including experts in evidence – found
that whilst there has to be procedural caution, communicating
with intelligences – included our loved ones –
from the other side is possible.
Later this conclusion was supported by a Vatican theologian
Fr Gino Concetti who stated in the Vatican newspaper Osservatore
Romano, “According to modern catechism,
God allows our dear departed persons who live in an ultra-terrestrial
dimension, to send messages to guide us in certain difficult
moment of our lives. The Church as decided NOT to forbid
any more the dialogue with the deceased with the condition
that these contacts are carried out with a serious religious
and scientific purpose.” (American EVP Inc. Newsletter
vol 16 No.2 1997)
Fr Thurston’s major conclusions:
– all of which are fundamentally inconsistent
with what has been empirically discovered and with
the above report of the Church of England and with the Vatican
theologian quoted above- are:
1) that the only valid authority for afterlife matters is
the “living Supreme Pontiff";
2) that spirit communication is full of ‘contradictions’
transmitted by ‘evil spirits;’
3) that any afterlife messages (supposedly) from loved ones
is a belief built on very ‘insecure foundations’;
4) that people on earth are fooled by evil spirits who ‘constantly
pretend to be what they are not’;
5) ‘that it is impossible for any spirit to give any
convincing proof of his identity’;
6) that ‘direct voice’ sitting ‘cannot
proceed from the larynx which has long since crumbled to
dust’;
7) that spiritualism has certainly not been associated with
progress – no new fact has come to light through this
source which as added to the world’s knowledge or
has led to seek higher ideals.”
Rebuttals and refutations
1. Just for the record, Fr Thurston wrongly
labels spiritualists as ‘believers.’
Spiritualism is now supported by empirical
methodology. Empirical Spiritualists do not believe but
accept the existence of the afterlife as a matter of evidence.
Whilst there may be some minor interpretations of Spiritualism,
its primary objective has been to provide evidence for survival.
Since the birth of modern Spiritualism in 1848, there has
been continuous refinement of that evidence and over the
last 100 years it has become more empirical. Accordingly,
there is a distinction to be made between being a ‘believer’
in religion and accepting admissible evidence for the existence
of the afterlife.
2. He states that “… it
must be a little difficult to explain why any effective
intervention of the spirit world in human affairs (contact
between the living and spirits) should have been so long
delayed" …(and) “…be that as it may,
no one can dispute that modern Spiritualism only dates from
the year 1848.” First, there is no dispute
at all that the Catholic Inquisition started in 1172AD and
continued until the 1840’s. During that time anyone
in any place dominated by the Christian church who stated
she/he was contacting spirits would have been burnt at the
stake. Whilst historians agree that a significant number
of people who claimed to be receiving messages from the
afterlife were burnt at the stake – including the
famous St Joan of Arc, there is some difference as to the
number of victims. It was only after the Church lost its
political power and dominance that there was relative freedom
to talk about spirit communication. The Vatican’s
Office of Inquisition was not disbanded until 1910. The
horror of the Inquisition, I submit, is the real reason
why spirit communication was not discussed openly and the
reason why European mediums only came out in the open AFTER
the 1850’s. Indigenous cultures had an unbroken history
of spirit contact until it was suppressed by European missionaries.Spirit
communication has always existed and has been the major
source of all religions. Experts would agree that the Bible
is full of paranormal activity: channeling, hearing voices
in the head; teleportation; materialization; spiritual healing;
apparitions. These paranormal activities are now being demonstrated
publicly.
3. Fr Thurston states, “We
are told that many of these intelligences (spirits) who
passed on thousands of years ago are supremely wise. But
then these spirits turn out not to be so wise!"
This statement shows that Fr Thurston did not do his homework.
No informed spiritualist would make that statement because
he/she knows that afterlife information does not come from
just the one level. Spiritualists take seriously the biblical
injuction “ test the spirits”. In the afterlife,
spiritualists accept that there are a number of levels with
different vibrations (from the coarsest lower dark realms
ascending in the speed of vibrations to the refined highest).
Transmission from the astral level has less accuracy than
information from a higher realm.
4. “But while we may
admit that the Fox sisters were genuine mediums …
both came to a very sad end.” The argument
imputes that if Spiritualism is to have any value, its founders
would not end up ignominiously as alcoholics. Father Thurston
quotes an alleged message to the Fox sisters that spirit
promised them protection ‘while you do your duty’
but appeared to have completely abandoned the Fox sisters
during the last years of their lives. His implication is
that if people come to “a sad end” it means
they are not talking to the right spirits! Religion aside,
being spiritual means that we must have free will. The Fox
sisters could NOT have had their free will taken away from
them. Spiritualism teaches us about ‘self-responsibility’
and that we co-create difficult circumstances for our own
growth. For this reason alone, we have to allow the Fox
sisters their way of living and their way of making decisions.
Fr Thurston conveniently forgets that Jesus also “came
to a very sad end” and on the Cross was asking God
why he had been abandoned.
5. “... in my judgment
investigation will have to be carried on for … centuries
before it will be possible to pronounce confidently upon
the nature of the strange occurrences of which we have incontrovertible
evidence.” To-day in the twenty first
century we have experienced exponential growth in understanding
the afterlife. Spirit contact with afterlife intelligences
has been subject to numerous empirical studies over time
and space and Spiritualists certainly know more about what
is going on in the afterlife than what any religious book,
any Bible or any dogma state. These days we even have the
testimony of Catholic priests who crossed over – such
as Mons. Hugh Benson who through the medium Anthony Borgia
transmitted some four books. Mons Benson eloquently and
brilliantly relates to us not only what the afterlife is
like, but how what he taught when he was on earth was all
wrong. Read his books for the most impressive details. One
stunning revelation is that what we have in the Bible is
only some 5% of what Jesus stated. There is also Fr Johannes
Greber who independently made his own investigation into
mediumship and was absolute stunned by the wisdom which
came through. He took down volumes of most valuable information
transmitted through the medium about specifically where
the Bible has been changed, interpolated and illegitimately
interfered with. Fr Thurston has to do his homework first
before he negligently makes fundamental erroneous statements.
We do have the information now – not in centuries
to come.
6. “How can we expect guidance or the regeneration
of mankind from powers that have shown themselves both blind
to foresee the future … (Sir Oliver Lodge’s
RAYMOND: “Spiritualism will make a most stupendous
effect”… at a Mrs Leonard’s séance
Mr Myers states that, “… in ten years’
time the world will be a different place.” All these
did not happen argues Fr Thurston. One would have to see
the messages in detail – not just take a line or two
just to suit the argument stating – see what the spirits
said did not come about, how then can you have confidence
in these spirits? Myers would have meant that given certain
contingencies, the acceptance of Spiritualism will be accelerated.
This is no different to the Biblical statements when Jesus
was expected to return to earth after his death. That is
why nothing was written down at the time. That did NOT happen.
So it is a matter of interpretation and context. We are
repeatedly told that what seems a very short time in the
spirit world is a long time on earth and vice versa. But
critical to all this, just because things did not happen
the way they were predicted if they were really predicted,
this does not reduce, negate or invalidate spirit contact
which has given mankind highly persuasive evidence of the
existence and conditions of the afterlife no religious writings
have ever told us.
7. “… earlier
and recent accounts of what was purport to be hauntings
or obsessions originating in the spirit world provide plenty
of excuse for believing that the agencies concerned are
often malicious, deceptive and altogether evil.”
Fr Thurston knowingly focuses on the negative to willfully
denigrate without ANY consideration for the many transmissions
of information from the afterlife which were highly inspirational.
It is most unfair, unreasonable and unethical not to state
that there have also been many most positive experiences
in spirit contact. In many parts of the world there are
now television shows – such as the John Edward, James
Van Praagh, Colin Fry and others - showing the world mediums
at work. We do not see malice or deception or evil. We see
people on earth being reunited with their loved ones from
the other side.
8. “Mrs Osborne the
medium warned that there are dangers in Spiritualism …
goes to illustrate the reasonableness of the biblical veto
on dabbling in the occult.” Without
doubt, to the untrained, untutored and uninformed, spirit
contact can be dangerous. No doubt about that. But that
does not mean that with professional caution and leadership
the religion of Spiritualism is to be avoided. This is not
dissimilar to the analogy that one ought not drive a car
because cars can injure you or kill you. Like everything
else, extreme caution when dealing with afterlife entities
is critical. But the need for extreme caution needs to be
balanced against the huge benefits mankind obtains in contacting
the higher spirits. Allan Kardec’s The Spirits’
Book for example is a brilliant book with a wealth of information
about the afterlife. What is so evil about this book? A
closer look shows that many leading Christians associated
with Jesus themselves transmitted this critical information.
Silver Birch, a most reliable, high teaching about the afterlife
is now regarded as classic. The Course in Miracles, allegedly
transmitted by Jesus himself has influenced millions to
live more positively. I consider them to be works of art
– masterpieces from the afterlife because we obtain
highly critical, most relevant and vital information the
Bible never talked about.
9. “Spiritualists can
hardly be surprised that the Catholic Church having good
reason to believe that the evocation of the spirits of the
dead throughout the ages has produced nothing but evil,
refuses resolutely to countenance any attempt at communication
with the other world.” There is no evidence
whatsoever that throughout history all spirit contact was
evil – see 8 above. I see this as an attempt by Fr
Thurston to mislead the reader and to impute Catholic justification
for the butchering and slaughter of mediums and psychics
over some seven hundred years by the Catholic Inquisitors.
The fact is that to-day spirit contact has been and is being
subject to empirical investigation – and the results
are just brilliant. For the first time in history, research
into afterlife matters has been taken away from the Churches
to accurately report what happens when contact is made.
There is nothing in the Bible as it is to-day that will
help anyone know what is going to happen to them when they
pass on – the greatest, most important event in a
person’s life. For this reason, empiricism has taken
over the study of the afterlife and no amount of negativity,
no amount of bullying, no amount of threats and fear from
the Catholic Church or from any of its agents will stop
mankind from finding out the truth about the afterlife.
Of course, another reason why Fr Thurston wrote a hostile
article is because the evidence of contact with our loved
ones completely nullifies and negates the Catholic teaching
that when we die we stay unconscious ‘six feet under’
until Jesus comes back “to judge the living and the
dead.” This is a huge problem for the Church and has
to be removed from its theology.
10. “… the majority
of those who crowd to the trance addresses of mediums of
conversations with the dead … are unbalanced, gullible
and badly in need of protection”. Fr
Thurston is exceeding his authority as an alleged intelligent
spokesperson and is descriptively (not analytically) articulating
an emotional negativism consistent with his own anti-psychic,
anti-Spiritualist prejudice. The whole world watches these
(‘gullible’) people – nearly everyday
live on television. We listen to how they respond to their
loved ones from the otherside. We see them cry with joy
when the television medium - after accurately describing
the characteristics and the history of the spirits while
alive tells them that their loved ones still love them and
are near them to help them. These people come across as
decent people; they come across as intelligent, sensitive
and level headed. In fact, the television medium John Edward
and leading American medium George Anderson attracts a lot
of Catholics – the same Catholics who may go to Church
on Sunday. John Edward has even written a book on the value
of saying the rosary! In South America there are a large
percentage who are Catholics and Spiritualists and who see
no contradiction between the two.
Further, Fr Thurston unfortunately uses negative
adjectives such as 'gullible' and 'unbalanced' and 'in need
of protection' to subtly denigrate Spiritualists - yet he
asks Catholics to accept that a snake had a human voice
box with which to persuade Eve to eat an apple which brought
down all of mankind; that the sun was made to stop to help
Joshua; and that Jonah was swallowed by a big fish and spat
out alive after three days!
11. “…
no student of the Spiritualistic movement can fail to observe
that there has been for many years a steady trend in a direction
hostile to Christianity and contemptuous of religious dogma.”
This of course is partially correct (See item 10 above).
Many Christians who crossed over find that priests on earth
had really no idea at all about the conditions in the afterlife
and the lower ones come back to denounce Christianity in
their own vulgar way. The higher ones transmit information
to give us the correct information about the afterlife –
but they are also highly critical of the irrelevance of
religious ritual to increase spirituality (attain higher
vibrations of the soul), of the bulk of impractical and
useless Christian man-made theology. The most substantive
criticism to my knowledge has come from those who themselves
were Christians when they lived on this earth. For example,
Mons. Hugh Benson – books I mentioned above through
the medium Anthony Borgia transmitted a number of books
specifically outlining what is wrong with the Catholic teaching.
Go and obtain a copy of a book called FACTS – a most
devastating argument why the Church is on the wrong track
about the nature of God and about the afterlife. I found
it very convincing because what was written clearly made
sense to me. Further, a most devastating spirit transmission
exploded the myth of eternal damnation – to many this
was world shattering information . This was an afterlife
transmission to a Catholic priest Fr Johannes Greber (see
his most insightful book about spirit communication called
COMMUNICATING WITH THE SPIRIT WORLD OF GOD) by a spirit
who was an expert about the Bible. He stated that Jesus
NEVER stated words to the effect, “ be cursed into
eternal damnation …”. The spirit said that was
a willful mistranslation from the original Greek Biblical
writing into Latin of the word ‘eon’ which.
Eon in fact we were informed by the spirit that at the time
of Jesus it meant a period of time – a hundred years.
Eon, the spirit stated was deliberately mistranslated into
‘eternity’. The record shows that the priests
used this eternal damnation for centuries to bully, frighten
and terrify the people around the world.
12. Fr Thurston strongly attacks Arthur
Findlay, the ‘psychic historian of the twentieth century’
who is also a strong spiritualist. Fr Thurston misrepresents
A Findlay, “… he treats all such
doctrines of the Trinity, the Fall of man, The Atonement,
everlasting punishment etc, as patent absurdities which
can only be a subject for ridicule.”
The onus was on Fr Thurston to rebut what Findlay stated
about Christianity, to show where, when, how and why Findlay
was wrong. That Fr Thurston FAILED to do. It is blatantly
NOT true that Findlay is out to ridicule – as Fr Thurston
says. Findlay explains how these beliefs originated. And
that is a traumatic shock to anyone who like me grew up
as a Catholic because The Fall of man, the Trinity, Atonement
existed before Judaism, before the events mentioned in the
Old Testament. I strongly suggest the reader to obtain a
copy of A Findlay’s THE ROCK OF TRUTH because guaranteed,
information from this book will be a permanently liberating
experience. The book reveals in detail for example, that
Catholic rituals of baptism, confession, communion and other
rituals PRE-DATE Christian era. I was lied to by the priests
when I was growing up being inculcated with Christian theology.
With stunning clarity A Findlay’s analysis the New
Testament shows that Christianity did not introduce anything
new.
13. “Helen Duncan was
a fraud … investigation proved beyond doubt that this
enveloping sheet was nothing but a roll of very thin cheese-cloth
or butter-muslin, which had been swallowed by the medium
and regurgitated.” Even Catholics these
days agree that this statement is very unfair, very wrong
and most misleading. Fr Thurston negligently repeated verbatim
the closed minded skeptics’ argument and lies against
Helen Duncan that ectoplasm – a vapourish substance
which is excreted from the medium’s body does not
exist. These skeptics came up with this silly cheese-cloth
claim. Yet, no skeptic could demonstrate using cheese cloth
or butter muslin to show how Helen Duncan supposedly did
it. Professor West relatively recently stated Helen Duncan
must have hidden it in her anus! I wrote to this Professor,
and promised him a large sum of money if he himself could
demonstrate that. There was absolutely NO evidence at all
that Helen Duncan swallowed anything. When tested, she was
stripped naked by other females, given a body search - she
was thoroughly examined. Now Fr Thurston, ought not blindly
copy the closed minded skeptics’ erroneous argument
because scientists in fact researched ectoplasm. For the
documented version about Helen Duncan click www.victorzammit.com
click on chapter 11 and more about scientists researching
ectoplasm (Baron Von Schrenk-Notzing in Europe and Professor
W J Crawford in Ireland) go to chapter 10.
14. “Suggestion has
been made that they (the souls communicating through mediums)
maybe the some souls of the unbaptised, who died in infancy
or without any sufficient knowledge of God, and whom Catholics
believe to enjoy some sort of natural beatitude in limbo.”
Here, empiricism shows the Catholic Church it is definitively
wrong! There have been repeatedly highly professional empirical
testing of mediums by some of the most intelligent and professional
scientists in this world – and there has been very
intense analysis of critical information which was transmitted
from the afterlife explaining who was communicating and
about the nature of the afterlife. Empiricism states with
absolute certainty that baptism, confession, communion and
religious ritual are absolutely meaningless in going to
the higher realms on crossing over. It is what we do and
NOT what we believe that are critical. Why? Because you
can indulge in ritual ad infinitum – you can sing
hymns on Sundays till your heart burns out – and not
positively affect the ‘soul’ of the individual.
But doing selfless service with the right motivation you
will be immediately positively increasing the vibrations
(spirituality) of your soul which will be critical on crossing
over. What in fact we are dealing with when the negative
spirits try to mislead the uninformed on earth are those
people who used to live on this earth who were not spiritually
advanced and who were habitually trouble making. On crossing
over absolutely nothing changes.
15. “… it is impossible
for any spirit to give any convincing proof of his identity
… the tones of the voice or tricks of expression which
are reproduced in a “direct-voice”
sitting cannot proceed from the larynx which has long since
crumbled to dust.” Here again Fr Thurston representing
the Catholic Church has not done his research as he is expected
to do – he expresses colossal ignorance of the process
of “direct-voice” from the afterlife. Advanced
spirits use ectoplasm from the medium to erect human voice
box so that spirits can speak in the same voice they had
when they were on earth. More about direct voice mediumship
go to www.victorzammit.com chapter 12.
16. “Spiritualism has
certainly not been associated with progress. No new fact
has come to light through this source which has added to
the world’s knowledge …” There
has been a wealth of information transmitted from the afterlife
which one can find in the objective evidence for the existence
of the afterlife in my book mentioned above. I cited some
sources from 200 books to substantiate my argument about
the objectivity of the evidence which have not been rebutted
by any theologian or scientist or philosopher or by any
closed minded skeptic or materialist. The Church did NOT
have this information – it had to be transmitted from
the afterlife. By contrast, to-day in the twentyfirst century
we find that Catholics in civilized, advanced countries
are voting with their feet and NOT attending Church or listening
to priests as they used to. There is a grave crisis in the
Catholic Church because the modern man and woman just cannot
accept stories which violate human intelligence. Empiricism
has in the last few decades taken over the research of the
afterlife and has made nugatory, negated and neutralized
a number of religious beliefs.
On the other hand, the losers and defeatists of materialism
are certainly no help to anyone on this planet earth in
these matters.
Spiritualism, backed by hard core empirical evidence is
the only way for mankind’s salvation because through
it we obtain highly relevant, critical and vital empirically
elicited information directly from the afterlife.
My suggestion is for Christian theology to be revised to
make it consistent with empirical Spiritualism – because
whilst theology is being seen to be redundant and irrelevant,
Spiritualism – because it is empirically based - will
inexorably survive permanently.
Ist July 2005
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