Anthroposophy and its Opponents

GA 255b — 24 April 1920, Dornach

Religious Opponents I

I would like to trouble you today with just a few details, because perhaps the time of the General Assembly week is particularly unsuitable for drawing attention to such things.

Dr. Boos was compelled by a number of articles that appeared everywhere here with thickly juicy slander against our cause to write the following open letter to – well, to those it concerns, and in such a way that it was necessary to point out the way in which the fight is being waged:

Open letter to Mr. Mo. Arnet, Catholic priest in Reinach, Baselland. The undersigned hereby states: 1. The Ninth Commandment (Exodus 20) reads: “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” This prohibition has not been repealed in Christianity (compare Eph. 4:25). 2. In the “Katholisches Sonntagsblatt des Kantons Baselland und seiner Umgebung” (Catholic Sunday Paper of the Canton of Baselland and its Surroundings) of April 11, 1920 (No. 15), which you edited, you print under the title “Von den Anthroposophen” (On the Anthroposophists) an article that had previously appeared anonymously in the Catholic party newspapers “Neue Rheinfelder Zeitung” and “Die Nordschweiz”, which, in addition to numerous inaccuracies, contains no fewer than twenty-three whopper lies! I ask you: How do you reconcile these two facts with the third, that you, the editor of the Sunday paper, hold the office of a priest in a Christian denomination, and that you also presume to judge the Christianity of other people? You can give the answer to this question in whatever form you want. I will be there again. Dr. jur. Roman Boos, Attorney-at-Law Zurich – Dornach

Now the number of lies can be counted everywhere, and one will find these 23 whoppers. But one is dealing with a type of people who confuse everything. I have often emphasized: from our side, from the anthroposophical side, we never act aggressively, never attack anyone first, but we have to defend ourselves. They attack, then describe our defense as an attack. This is made clear in a cute little pamphlet that Dr. Boos received from a - yes, what is it called in the Odyssey? - from a “nobody”:

We are people of the highest education. Recently I had the pleasure of listening to a conversation between anthroposophists. ...

I don't think it's particularly tasteful to have such conversations on the tram, but, well, it just happens. Now,

... Dr. Boos also seems to me to have a very high level of education. May I kindly ask this finely educated and highly situated gentleman not to attack our priests any further, in whatever way you will. We will not let the priests of our Catholic religion be dragged through the mud by you. May revenge come upon you and all the vermin on the hill above. These are the voices of the people.

You see, my dear friends, what is being said and how necessary it is not to oversleep the things that are happening. In response to Dr. Boos, the “Katholisches Sonntagsblatt”, which is edited by Mr. Arnet, the pastor of Reinach, reads:

To Dr. Roman Boos, Attorney-at-Law, Dornach - Zurich. You have accused me of lying in the “Arlesheimer Bezirksblatt”, and in the most outrageous way imaginable, without providing any information as to the points on which I am guilty of untruthfulness as a result of printing the article in question from the “Neue Rheinfelder Zeitung” in the “Basellandschaftliches Sonntagsblatt”. I hereby call on you to provide proof of your brazen assertion and will be ready to fight out the matter in dispute on objective ground. Pastor M. Arnet, Editor

Well, my dear friends, once again the world is upside down. Who has something to prove? The one who has been quiet and has not harmed anyone, or the one who spreads 23 lies in the world? He feels called upon, the other should prove. Anyone who has lied 23 times should, above all, feel obliged to stand up for what he started with in the first place. Is this considered today? Is it considered that someone has the responsibility to stand up for what he claims? Does that not mean to throw all sense of responsibility to the wind? This manner of acting alone characterizes sufficiently what this is about.

I had to trouble you once again with these matters, which, as you know, are numerous enough today.