Crux Ansata - An Indictment of the Roman Catholic Church
Genre Religious/Political/Historical
First Published 1943
Republished after 1960 Yes
Currently in Print ?
Availability Uncommon
Number of pages 116 (Agora, 1944)
My rating 3 and 1/2 stars
Wells asks: "Why do we not bomb Rome?"
Written during the height of WW2, Crux Ansata (Latin: "The Cross with a handle") is an uncomprimising attack on Roman Catholicism and Pope Pius XII. Indeed some will contend that Wells goes too far, but this book, it must be remembered was part of the war effort. When it was written, Wells had recently retired from the position of Minister of Allied Propaganda, but that official retirement did not stop him continuing that effort.
During those grim days of bombing and terror, many wealthy people fled London to the safety of country estates. But H.G. Wells refused to leave London. He knew that shared suffering between the economic classes was key to the war effort. He would not leave knowing that the poor had no choice but to stay and he meant to shame his fellow wealthy Londoners by his resolve. His front door was blown in several times by German bombs, and even though he was in his late 70's and ill health, he joined in the regular patrols of the war-time streets for fires. It was under this sort of duress that he wrote Crux Ansata.
In Crux, Wells uses his pulpit of public teacher to add fuel to the fire of British morale. He praises the independant spirit of the Englishman and denounces the "spreading octopus" of the Church and its "Shinto alliance." However, the bulk of this book remains a very readable history of Christianity, not unlike the style of his famous Outline of History, though it suffers slightly from a forced quality, almost as if he were tired of reciting. It has occasional long quotes by other authors, but as was necessitated by the difficulties of war time, it is a short book; terse and to the point. There are times though when Crux Ansata dwindles into vagueness, and one gets a brief passing feeling that H.G.'s mental sharpness was begining to errode. Despite this, however, Crux has its share of powerful quotes that, in part, save it from being merely a piece of wartime propoganda.
"Christianity early ceased to be purely prophetic and creative. It entangled itself with archaic traditions of human sacrifice, with Mithraic blood-cleansing, with priestcraft as ancient as human society, and with elaborate doctrines about the structure of the divinity. The gory entrail-searching forefinger of the Etruscan pontifex maximus presently overshadowed the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth..." (Crux Ansata, page 12).
"Even in comparison with Fascism and the Nazi adventure, Roman Catholicism is a broken and utterly desperate thing, capable only of malignant mischief in our awakening world" (ibid, page 79).
"Watch a priest in a public conveyance. He is fighting against disturbing suggestions. He must not look at women lest he think of sex. He must not look about him, for reality, that is to say the devil, waits to seduce him on every hand. You see him muttering his protective incantations, avoiding your eye. He is suppressing "sinful" thoughts" (ibid, page 113).
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Review written by Geoffrey Doyle.
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Last modified on Thursday, 12-Aug-1999 14:44:09 EDT
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