{"id":52409,"date":"2020-11-06T09:58:59","date_gmt":"2020-11-06T13:58:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/?p=52409"},"modified":"2020-11-06T09:58:59","modified_gmt":"2020-11-06T13:58:59","slug":"seidensticker-folly-61-catholic-censorship-justified-unique","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2020\/11\/seidensticker-folly-61-catholic-censorship-justified-unique.html","title":{"rendered":"Seidensticker Folly #61: Catholic Censorship: Justified? Unique?"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Guest Post by Paul Hoffer<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-52417\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/572\/2020\/11\/Voltaire.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"611\" height=\"767\"><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Atheist and anti-theist<\/span>\u00a0<a class=\"decorated-link decorated-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crossexamined\/about\/\" target=\"_blank\">Bob Seidensticker<\/a>,\u00a0<span style=\"color: #000000;\">who was<\/span>\u00a0<a class=\"decorated-link decorated-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crossexamined\/2012\/08\/post-1\/\" target=\"_blank\">\u201craised Presbyterian\u201d<\/a>,<span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0runs the influential<\/span><a class=\"decorated-link decorated-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crossexamined\/\" target=\"_blank\"><em>\u00a0Cross Examined<\/em><\/a>\u00a0<span style=\"color: #000000;\">blog. He asked me there,<\/span>\u00a0<a class=\"decorated-link decorated-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crossexamined\/2018\/08\/25-stupid-arguments-christians-should-avoid-part-7-2\/#comment-4033896473\" target=\"_blank\">on 8-11-18<\/a>:\u00a0<span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">\u201cI\u2019ve got 1000+ posts here attacking your worldview. You just going to let that stand? Or could you present a helpful new perspective that I\u2019ve ignored on one or two of those posts?\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<span style=\"color: #000000;\">He added in June 2017<\/span>\u00a0<a class=\"decorated-link decorated-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crossexamined\/2017\/06\/christians-need-atheist-speaker-next-conference\/#comment-3386826295\" target=\"_blank\">in a combox<\/a>:\u00a0<span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">\u201cIf I\u2019ve misunderstood the Christian position or Christian arguments, point that out. Show me where I\u2019ve mischaracterized them.\u201d <span style=\"color: #000000;\">Delighted to oblige his wishes . . .\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Bob (for the record) virtually\u00a0<em>begged<\/em>\u00a0and<em>\u00a0pleaded<\/em>\u00a0with me to dialogue with him in May 2018, via email. But b<\/span>y\u00a0<a class=\"decorated-link decorated-link\" href=\"https:\/\/disqus.com\/home\/discussion\/crossexamined\/5_ways_to_correct_misinformation_while_minimizing_the_backfire_effect\/#comment-4128127494\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">10-3-18<\/a>,<span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0following<\/span>\u00a0<a class=\"decorated-link decorated-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2018\/08\/hysterical-frenzy-vs-me-on-atheist-seidenstickers-blog.html\" target=\"_blank\">massive, childish name-calling attacks<\/a>\u00a0<span style=\"color: #000000;\">against me,\u00a0 encouraged by Bob on his blog, he banned me from commenting there. I also banned him for violation of my <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2015\/08\/my-comments-policy-thoughts-on-amiable-and-constructive-dialogue.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">rules for discussion<\/a>, but (unlike him)\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2018\/08\/why-i-blocked-anti-theist-atheist-bob-seidensticker.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">provided detailed <em>reasons<\/em><\/a> for <em>why<\/em> it was justified.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Bob\u2019s cowardly hypocrisy knows no bounds.<\/span>\u00a0<a class=\"decorated-link decorated-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crossexamined\/2019\/06\/response-to-atheists-five-worst-arguments-2-of-2\/#comment-4522378558\" target=\"_blank\">On 6-30-19<\/a>,<span style=\"color: #000000;\"> he was chiding someone for something very much like his own behavior:\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">\u201cSpoken like a true weasel trying to run away from a previous argument. You know, you could just say, \u2018Let me retract my previous statement of X\u2019 or something like that.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<span style=\"color: #000000;\">Yeah,\u00a0<em>Bob<\/em>\u00a0could!<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<a class=\"decorated-link decorated-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2019\/07\/atheist-bob-seidensticker-intellectual-coward-my-32-critiques.html\" target=\"_blank\">He still hasn\u2019t yet uttered one peep in reply<\/a>\u00a0<span style=\"color: #000000;\">to \u2014 now \u2014 60 of my critiques of his atrocious reasoning.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Bible-Basher Bob reiterated and rationalized his intellectual cowardice yet again on 10-17-20:<\/span> <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">\u201cEvery engagement with him <span style=\"color: #000000;\">[yours truly]<\/span> devolves into pointlessness. I don\u2019t believe I\u2019ve ever learned anything from him.\u00a0But if you find a compelling argument of his, summarize it for us.\u201d<\/span> <span style=\"color: #000000;\">And again the next day:<\/span> <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">\u201cHe has certainly not earned a spot in my heart, so I will pass on funding his evidence-free project. Like you, I also find that he\u2019s frustrating to talk with. Again, I evaluate such conversations as useful if I can learn something\u2013find a mistake in my argument, uncover an error I made in Christians\u2019 worldview, and so on. Dave is good at bluster, and that\u2019s about it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Bible-Basher Bob\u2019s words will be in<\/span>\u00a0<span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">blue<\/span>.\u00a0<span style=\"color: #000000;\">To find these posts, follow this link:\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong?s=Seidensticker+Folly+%23\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201c<\/span>Seidensticker Folly #\u201d<\/a> <span style=\"color: #000000;\">or see all of them linked under his own section on my<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2006\/11\/atheism-agnosticism-secularism-index.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">Atheism page<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">*****<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The following is a critique of a portion of Bob\u2019s article, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crossexamined\/2020\/04\/yeah-but-christianity-built-hospitals\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cYeah, but Christianity Built Hospitals!\u201d<\/a> <span style=\"color: #000000;\">(4-22-20; update of 2-6-16). It was written by my friend Paul Hoffer.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Christianity had an uneasy relationship with any ideas that didn\u2019t directly support the Church. The 1559\u00a0<em>Index Librorum Prohibitorum<\/em>\u00a0listed books by 550 authors that were prohibited by the Roman Catholic Church, though prior lists had prohibited books almost since the beginning of Christianity. The list is a Who\u2019s Who of Western thought and included works by Sartre, Voltaire, Hugo, Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, Hobbes, Spinoza, Kant, Hume, Descartes, Bacon, Milton, Locke, and Pascal. The List was abolished only in 1966.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql\">\n<div dir=\"auto\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Sadly, Mr. Seidensticker does not share with his readers <em>why<\/em> the works were banned. One has to wonder if he has ever bothered to research why the books were put on the Index. Here is what I could find out:<\/span><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">*<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Jean-Paul Sartre was an atheist and an existentialist who believed that hell was other people and that all life was obscene. That is a pretty good reason to argue that his works were injurious to morality. I have read several of his works in a Catholic high school and in college, including <em>No Exit<\/em> and <em>The Flies<\/em>: that epitomized his philosophy.<\/span><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">*<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">By the way, there is such a thing as Christian Existentialism that states the universe is not irrational, but merely paradoxical; said paradox is resolved in the union of God and man in the person of Jesus Christ. This is considered acceptable in terms of the Catholic faith.<\/span><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">*<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql\">\n<div dir=\"auto\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Francois-Marie Arouet, aka Voltaire, was a French historian and an ardent foe of the Catholic Church. His view that the Church needed to be destroyed was the foundation of both Freemasonry and the French Revolution. Several of his works were banned because they were actually obscene. For example, <em>Candide<\/em> promoted bestiality and lascivious acts. Not only did the Church ban it, but the US government also did too under its pornography laws in the early 20th century.<\/span><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">*<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql\">\n<div dir=\"auto\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Two of Victor Hugo\u2019s works were banned: <em>Les Miserables<\/em> and <em>The Hunchback of Notre Dame<\/em>. They were banned because they were deemed critical of the Church and promoted Republicanism, which was associated with Voltaire\u2019s ideas. They were removed after that view became politically acceptable. Some of Alexandre Dumas\u2019 works, in contrast, were banned because they portrayed priests doing extremely immoral things.<\/span><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">*<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql\">\n<div dir=\"auto\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In the case of Copernicus, the Church actually did not ban his book on heliocentric theory until 1616 when Protestants used the Church\u2019s acceptance of it to attack it as being anti-Scriptural. Unfortunately, the Church put it on the list for 200 years to deprive the Protestants of a weapon against the Church.<\/span><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">*<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql\">\n<div dir=\"auto\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Kepler, a Lutheran, had his books banned, for reasons similar to Copernicus in the 1600s. They were not banned because he believed in heliocentrism, which the Church actually accepted.<\/span><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">*<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql\">\n<div dir=\"auto\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Galileo\u2019s works were originally banned, but between 1716-1835, the ban was lifted. They were not banned because they taught heliocentrism as a theory. They were banned because he claimed heliocentrism was an infallible fact (he was wrong, of course, as the sun is not the center of the universe). <span style=\"color: #008000;\">[Dave: see more about<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2015\/10\/galileo-bellarmine-scientific-method.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">Galileo\u2019s faulty views of scientific method and supposed \u201ccertainty\u201d<\/a><span style=\"color: #008000;\">]<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">*<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql\">\n<div dir=\"auto\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Thomas Hobbes\u2019 works were not banned by the Catholic Church because of any scientific reason. He insisted that the state had the right to subjugate religion and that the state could use religion to control people. He was opposed to the Church\u2019s independence from the state. His books were also burned by the English government and his fellow philosophers.<\/span><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">*<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql\">\n<div dir=\"auto\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Spinoza, an excommunicated Jew, had his books banned because he claimed that the Law was fake, the human soul dies with the body, and that God only exists as a philosophical concept.<\/span><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">*<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql\">\n<div dir=\"auto\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Immanuel Kant\u2019s <em>Critique of Pure Reason<\/em> was banned because it denied the Holy Trinity and argued that Jesus was not God, but a human being of moral perfection. Teaching heresy is a pretty good reason to ban the faithful from reading a book.<\/span><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">*<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql\">\n<div dir=\"auto\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">David Hume\u2019s works were banned because he also denied the Trinity and argued that one can not know anything of God by studying creation (which is contrary to the doctrine of the Church). <span style=\"color: #008000;\">[Dave: actually I discovered that Hume \u2014 often falsely thought to be an atheist, whereas he was a deist \u2014 actually<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2015\/10\/was-philosopher-david-hume-an-atheist.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">accepted a version of the teleological argument, or argument from design<\/a><span style=\"color: #008000;\">]<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">*<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql\">\n<div dir=\"auto\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Rene Descartes\u2019 works were banned because they were thought to smack of deism: the view that God created the universe as a mechanism, and that we are merely extensions of that mechanism (to be fair, he was a faithful Catholic).<\/span><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">*<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql\">\n<div dir=\"auto\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Francis Bacon was an anti-Catholic Anglican who encouraged laws that persecuted the Catholic adherents in England. He also claimed in the banned writing that we cannot use our reason to know anything about God (which was contrary to the doctrine of the Church).<\/span><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">*<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql\">\n<div dir=\"auto\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">John Milton\u2019s <em>Paradise Lost<\/em> was banned by the Church for the simple reason that it made Satan the hero of the story and portrayed God as the bad guy who rigged things so make sure Satan could never win. He was also a rabid anti-Catholic and used the book as a vehicle to claim that many of the Church\u2019s teachings actually were Satan\u2019s. Ironically the first time I read the whole book was taking Masterclasses at the Catholic Seminary and School of Theology.<\/span><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">*<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql\">\n<div dir=\"auto\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">John Locke\u2019s works were not banned because of his political philosophy or because he was anti-Catholic (they should be tolerated but should not have equal rights as other citizens), but because the banned works denied the Trinity, and that Christ was fully divine and fully human (Locke expressed Arian-like views), as well as the validity of Scripture as God\u2019s revelation (he believed that God revealed Himself to prophets but when they wrote down what God revealed to them was merely derived and could be in error).<\/span><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">*<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql\">\n<div dir=\"auto\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Blaise Pascal\u2019s works were banned because they were seen as supporting Jansenism, a Catholic heresy <span style=\"color: #008000;\">[Dave: many \u2014 if not most \u2014 historians now believe that Pascal did <em>not<\/em>\u00a0actually accept that heresy]<\/span>. They were not banned because of any scientific or philosophical reasons.<\/span><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">*<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql\">\n<div dir=\"auto\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">To say that the Church was anti-intellectual is false. There are lots of reasons to ban books. Schools and universities do it all the time. Conservative ideas are banned as a matter of course on most college campuses. Are schools like Harvard and Yale anti-intellectual? Or does Mr. Seidensticker only criticize the Church for protecting the faithful from ideas that could lead them astray? Those works were not banned because they didn\u2019t directly support the Church. They were banned because it was perceived they had something in them that denied Church teaching. It is laughable for someone to complain about censoring people\u2019s works when they do not even know why they were censored in the first place.<\/span><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">*<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">***<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">*<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Photo credit:<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0<span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Voltaire\u00a0(1694-1778) \u2013 French writer, historian, and philosopher, painting (c. 1725) by\u00a0Nicolas de Largilli\u00e8re (1656-1746)<\/span> <span style=\"color: #000000;\">[public domain \/<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Nicolas_de_Largilli%C3%A8re,_Fran%C3%A7ois-Marie_Arouet_dit_Voltaire_adjusted.png\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Wikimedia Commons<\/a>]<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">*<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">***<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Guest Post by Paul Hoffer Atheist and anti-theist\u00a0Bob Seidensticker,\u00a0who was\u00a0\u201craised Presbyterian\u201d,\u00a0runs the influential\u00a0Cross Examined\u00a0blog. He asked me there,\u00a0on 8-11-18:\u00a0\u201cI\u2019ve got 1000+ posts here attacking your worldview. You just going to let that stand? Or could you present a helpful new perspective that I\u2019ve ignored on one or two of those posts?\u201d\u00a0He added in June 2017\u00a0in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2331,"featured_media":52417,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[124,112],"tags":[4129,3804,1043,258,212,4126,12254,12245,1199,12239,5552,12251],"class_list":["post-52409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-atheism-agnosticism","category-philosophy-science","tag-alleged-bible-contradictions","tag-angry-atheist","tag-anti-theism","tag-atheism","tag-atheist-christian-discussion","tag-bob-seidensticker","tag-catholic-censorship","tag-christianity-censorship","tag-christianity-science","tag-church-censorship","tag-cross-examined","tag-index-librorum-prohibitorum"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Seidensticker Folly #61: Catholic Censorship: Justified? Unique? Seidensticker Folly #61: Catholic Censorship: Justified? Unique?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Guest Post by Paul Hoffer Atheist and anti-theist\u00a0Bob Seidensticker,\u00a0who was\u00a0\u201craised Presbyterian\u201d,\u00a0runs the influential\u00a0Cross Examined\u00a0blog. He asked me Bible-Basher Bob Seidensticker seems to think that Catholic censorship &amp; its &quot;Index&quot; were self-evidently absurd &amp; indefensible. Paul Hoffer examines some relevant historical facts.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2020\/11\/seidensticker-folly-61-catholic-censorship-justified-unique.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Seidensticker Folly #61: Catholic Censorship: Justified? Unique? Seidensticker Folly #61: Catholic Censorship: Justified? Unique?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Guest Post by Paul Hoffer Atheist and anti-theist\u00a0Bob Seidensticker,\u00a0who was\u00a0\u201craised Presbyterian\u201d,\u00a0runs the influential\u00a0Cross Examined\u00a0blog. He asked me Bible-Basher Bob Seidensticker seems to think that Catholic censorship &amp; its &quot;Index&quot; were self-evidently absurd &amp; indefensible. Paul Hoffer examines some relevant historical facts.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2020\/11\/seidensticker-folly-61-catholic-censorship-justified-unique.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dave.armstrong.798\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-11-06T13:58:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/572\/2020\/11\/Voltaire.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"611\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"767\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dave Armstrong\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dave Armstrong\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2020\/11\/seidensticker-folly-61-catholic-censorship-justified-unique.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2020\/11\/seidensticker-folly-61-catholic-censorship-justified-unique.html\",\"name\":\"Seidensticker Folly #61: Catholic Censorship: Justified? Unique? Seidensticker Folly #61: Catholic Censorship: Justified? Unique?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-11-06T13:58:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-11-06T13:58:59+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#\/schema\/person\/471eaa20e441eca4bb1ea50393cf632e\"},\"description\":\"Guest Post by Paul Hoffer Atheist and anti-theist\u00a0Bob Seidensticker,\u00a0who was\u00a0\u201craised Presbyterian\u201d,\u00a0runs the influential\u00a0Cross Examined\u00a0blog. He asked me Bible-Basher Bob Seidensticker seems to think that Catholic censorship & its \\\"Index\\\" were self-evidently absurd & indefensible. 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Formerly a campus missionary, as a Protestant, Dave was received into the Catholic Church in February 1991, by the late, well-known catechist and theologian, Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave\u2019s articles have appeared in many influential Catholic periodicals, including \\\"This Rock\\\" (now called \\\"Catholic Answers Magazine\\\"), \\\"Envoy Magazine\\\" (Patrick Madrid), \\\"The Catholic Answer,\\\" \\\"The Coming Home Journal,\\\" \\\"Gilbert Magazine\\\" (American Chesterton Society), and \\\"The Latin Mass.\\\" He also writes a featured column for every issue of \\\"The Michigan Catholic\\\": published by the archdiocese of Detroit, and was editor for most of the apologetics tracts published by the St. Paul Street Evangelization apostolate. Dave\u2019s apologetics and writing apostolate was the subject of a feature article in the May 2002 issue of \\\"Envoy Magazine.\\\" He served as the staff moderator at the Internet discussion forum for The Coming Home Network, from 2007-2010. Dave has been interviewed on many nationally syndicated Catholic radio shows, including \\\"Catholic Answers Live\\\" (twice), \\\"Faith and Family Live\\\" (Steve Wood), \\\"Kresta in the Afternoon,\\\" \\\"Son Rise Morning Show,\\\" \\\"Catholic Connection\\\" (Teresa Tomeo), and \\\"The Catholics Next Door.\\\" His large and popular website, \\\"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism,\\\" was online from March 1997 to March 2007, and received the 1998 Catholic Website of the Year award from \\\"Envoy Magazine.\\\" His blog of the same name (now transferred to Patheos), begun in February 2004, contains more than 1,500 papers, at least 500 debates or dialogues, and over 50 distinct \\\"index\\\" web pages. Unsolicited correspondence has indicated many hundreds of conversions (or returns) to the Catholic faith as a result, by God's grace, of these writings. Dave's conversion story was published in the bestselling book \\\"Surprised by Truth\\\" (edited by Patrick Madrid; San Diego: Basilica Press, 1994). Sophia Institute Press has published six of his books: \\\"A Biblical Defense of Catholicism\\\" (Foreword by Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J., 1996 \/ 2003), \\\"The Catholic Verses\\\" (2004), \\\"The One-Minute Apologist\\\" (2007), \\\"Bible Proofs for Catholic Truths\\\" (2009), \\\"The Quotable Newman\\\" (editor: 2012), and \\\"Proving the Catholic Faith is Biblical\\\" (2015). He is co-author (with Dr. Paul Thigpen) of the inserts for \\\"The New Catholic Answer Bible\\\" (Our Sunday Visitor: 2005), and editor for \\\"The Wisdom of Mr. Chesterton: The Very Best Quotes, Quips, and Cracks from the Pen of G. K. Chesterton\\\" (Saint Benedict Press \/ TAN Books: 2009). \\\"100 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura\\\" was published by Catholic Answers in May 2012. His \\\"Quotable Wesley\\\" compilation was published by (Protestant \/ Wesleyan publisher) Beacon Hill Press in April 2014. Several of his 49 books are bestsellers in their field. Dave maintains a popular personal Facebook page, a Facebook author page, and has a Twitter account as well. He offers almost all of his books in e-book form on his own Biblical Catholicism site (http:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/), at a permanent deep discount: only $2.99 for ePub, mobi, and AZW, and $1.99 for PDF. His writing has been enthusiastically endorsed or recommended by many leading Catholic apologists, authors, and priests, including Dr. Scott Hahn, Fr. Peter M. J. Stravinskas, Marcus Grodi, Patrick Madrid, Steve Ray, Tim Staples, Devin Rose, Mike Aquilina, Al Kresta, Karl Keating, Fr. Dwight Longenecker, Brandon Vogt, Marcellino D'Ambrosio, and Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave has been happily married to his wife Judy since October 1984. They have three sons and a daughter, and reside in southeast Michigan (metro Detroit).\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dave.armstrong.798\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@LuxVeritatisApologetics\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/author\/davearmstrong\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Seidensticker Folly #61: Catholic Censorship: Justified? Unique? Seidensticker Folly #61: Catholic Censorship: Justified? Unique?","description":"Guest Post by Paul Hoffer Atheist and anti-theist\u00a0Bob Seidensticker,\u00a0who was\u00a0\u201craised Presbyterian\u201d,\u00a0runs the influential\u00a0Cross Examined\u00a0blog. 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Formerly a campus missionary, as a Protestant, Dave was received into the Catholic Church in February 1991, by the late, well-known catechist and theologian, Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave\u2019s articles have appeared in many influential Catholic periodicals, including \"This Rock\" (now called \"Catholic Answers Magazine\"), \"Envoy Magazine\" (Patrick Madrid), \"The Catholic Answer,\" \"The Coming Home Journal,\" \"Gilbert Magazine\" (American Chesterton Society), and \"The Latin Mass.\" He also writes a featured column for every issue of \"The Michigan Catholic\": published by the archdiocese of Detroit, and was editor for most of the apologetics tracts published by the St. Paul Street Evangelization apostolate. Dave\u2019s apologetics and writing apostolate was the subject of a feature article in the May 2002 issue of \"Envoy Magazine.\" He served as the staff moderator at the Internet discussion forum for The Coming Home Network, from 2007-2010. Dave has been interviewed on many nationally syndicated Catholic radio shows, including \"Catholic Answers Live\" (twice), \"Faith and Family Live\" (Steve Wood), \"Kresta in the Afternoon,\" \"Son Rise Morning Show,\" \"Catholic Connection\" (Teresa Tomeo), and \"The Catholics Next Door.\" His large and popular website, \"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism,\" was online from March 1997 to March 2007, and received the 1998 Catholic Website of the Year award from \"Envoy Magazine.\" His blog of the same name (now transferred to Patheos), begun in February 2004, contains more than 1,500 papers, at least 500 debates or dialogues, and over 50 distinct \"index\" web pages. Unsolicited correspondence has indicated many hundreds of conversions (or returns) to the Catholic faith as a result, by God's grace, of these writings. Dave's conversion story was published in the bestselling book \"Surprised by Truth\" (edited by Patrick Madrid; San Diego: Basilica Press, 1994). Sophia Institute Press has published six of his books: \"A Biblical Defense of Catholicism\" (Foreword by Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J., 1996 \/ 2003), \"The Catholic Verses\" (2004), \"The One-Minute Apologist\" (2007), \"Bible Proofs for Catholic Truths\" (2009), \"The Quotable Newman\" (editor: 2012), and \"Proving the Catholic Faith is Biblical\" (2015). He is co-author (with Dr. Paul Thigpen) of the inserts for \"The New Catholic Answer Bible\" (Our Sunday Visitor: 2005), and editor for \"The Wisdom of Mr. Chesterton: The Very Best Quotes, Quips, and Cracks from the Pen of G. K. Chesterton\" (Saint Benedict Press \/ TAN Books: 2009). \"100 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura\" was published by Catholic Answers in May 2012. His \"Quotable Wesley\" compilation was published by (Protestant \/ Wesleyan publisher) Beacon Hill Press in April 2014. Several of his 49 books are bestsellers in their field. Dave maintains a popular personal Facebook page, a Facebook author page, and has a Twitter account as well. He offers almost all of his books in e-book form on his own Biblical Catholicism site (http:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/), at a permanent deep discount: only $2.99 for ePub, mobi, and AZW, and $1.99 for PDF. His writing has been enthusiastically endorsed or recommended by many leading Catholic apologists, authors, and priests, including Dr. Scott Hahn, Fr. Peter M. J. Stravinskas, Marcus Grodi, Patrick Madrid, Steve Ray, Tim Staples, Devin Rose, Mike Aquilina, Al Kresta, Karl Keating, Fr. Dwight Longenecker, Brandon Vogt, Marcellino D'Ambrosio, and Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave has been happily married to his wife Judy since October 1984. 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