The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1892-06-11
INTELLECTUAL SUPERIORITY.

We are once more called upon to en-
Tighten our esteemed contemporary, the
North. In a recent number of The IRISH
STANDARD we gently rebuked the North
For INDUCING too much in vain-glorious
boasting, and asked it to answer this
question: "Does the North mean to say
that the Scandinavians changed their
religion on account of their superior in
telligence and that the Irish preserved
it because of their ignoranceY We were
not at all surprised to get this answer:
SWELL, that's about what we do mean"
Though it may appear out of place to
talk religion while politics is 80 much in
the air during the Republican conven
ton, still as The IRISH STANDARD and
the North are Democratic organs which
care but little for Republican politics we
shall have a good-natured talk on re-
ligion without quarreling about it. The
North says that at the time of the Rsfor-
nation ''the people Of Ireland we're SO
completely under priest rule that serious
consideration of the questions then aris-
ing were entirely out of the question, for
they had delegated to their priests the
right to think, and had thus lost the
power of thinking." On the other hand,
the North asserts that in Scandinavian
nations the priests never gained mastery
over the people, and though worshipping
the virgin and the saints, the Scandina-
VANS stopped at worship of the priests,
"Suppose we say" continues the North,
that in this we give evidence of superior
intelligence; and we believe that is a fair
statement of the CASE" OF course, the
North is entitled to it's own opinions and
we do not question it's honesty in the
least, but the facts of history are against
it's assumptions.
Leaving aside the Irish for the present
let us consider the cause which led the
people of Norway and Sweden to give up
their Catholic faith. Was it their SUI
perior intelligence or was it something
else that brought about transformation
of doctrine? We unhesitatingly assert
that it was the persuasive logic of the
bayonet and the sword that caused them
to relinquish Catholicism and reluctantly
made them yield allegiance to the Pro-
testant faith established by their despotic
rulers. Let us first take Norway. The
Danish government enforced Protestant
ism upon that gallant little country.
Christian III. marched at the head of an
army into Norway and reduced it to
obedience in the matter of faith, and
there deprived the people of whatever
national independence they possessed.
The Norwegian senate was abolished and
almost every office of emolument in the
country was given to the Danish nobility.
The bishops and priests were forced to
resign their positions, conform to the new
doctrine or fly the country to save their
lives. The Norwegians got no oppor-
tunity to Judge of the merits or dement's
Of the new religion, as compared with
that which they believed and practiced,
but when they lost their spiritual guides
they gradually weakened in their old
Faith and adopted the religion forced upon
them by their Danish taskmasters. This
is the whole matter in nutshell. No
one could hold Office but those who be-
longed to the state religion and 1T is SO
to the present day. Now let us take up
Sweden, and see why it changed it's re-
[igion. Was it because Of the high intel
lig6nce of it's inhabitants? Nota bit of it. |
As Hallam says, the most striking effect
of the first preaching Of the Reformation
was that it appealed to the ignorant. |
The object Of introducing Lutheranism
into Sweden was to enrich the king and
mobiles at the expense Of the church.
The Danish King, Christian III, founded
The Lutheran church in Sweden BY the
!reacherous butohery OF the principal
nobility and several Of the bishops who