[WikiEN-l] Catholic Encyclopedia

Mon Jan 26 17:30:29 UTC 2004

Sascha Noyes wrote:

>A good example of why it is a bad idea to use the CE as a starting-point for a 
>wikipedia entry: (found on [[Witchhunt]] and quickly removed)
>
>"The question of the reality of witchcraft is one upon which it is not easy to 
>pass a confident judgment. In the face of Holy Scripture and the teaching of 
>the Fathers and theologians the abstract possibility of a pact with the Devil 
>and of a diabolical interference in human affairs can hardly be denied"
>
>;-)
>
Further to my previous post, the incomplete quotation is more POV than 
the full sentence in the CE.  Here's the rest of it:

> but no one can read the literature of the subject without realizing 
> the awful cruelties to which this belief and without being convinced 
> that in 99 cases out of 100 the allegations rest upon nothing better 
> than pure delusion.

One should at least give credit to the editors of the CE for recognizing 
that the topic was problematic.

Ec