67. Joseph Müller: “Reform Catholicism”

In the book "Reform Catholicism. The religion of the future. Presented to the educated of all denominations", the Bavarian clergyman Dr. Joseph Müller argues that Catholicism must make use of the achievements of modern science. In this way, he argued, it could regain its old magic power. The Church could tolerate the teachings of the present quite well; it only had to put the Catholic stamp on them so that they could serve religious sentiment. Professor Schell also holds similar views. The Herts cannot decide to believe that Catholicism is the mortal enemy of modern science and that it is incapable of being reformed by it. When a scientific truth is commented on by a Catholic, it immediately loses its original meaning. For the Catholic philosopher does not and cannot want his principles to be transformed; he wants, on the contrary, to press and twist modern science so that it fits into the dogmatic ideas of the Church. One can convince oneself of the correctness of these remarks by reading those scientific writings that have recently been published by Catholic philosophers.