Review of "The Politically Incorrect Guide to Catholicism" by John Zmirak
The Politically Incorrect Guide to Catholicism, written by a Yale graduate (who was accepted into the university, as the book says, on the basis of conviction in his faith), attempts (and generally succeeds) at reconciling Catholic teaching with U.S. Republican Party priorities. What it does not do well is defending traditional Catholic teaching. The book does a vastly better job at countering the anti-Catechism self-described Catholic Left than it does defending the Catholic right.
A good and intriguing feature of the book is that the author explains what would make him leave the Catholic church, which he views as a necessary moderating influence on the literal text of the Bible (e.g., Jesus’s claim it is better to cut out one’s eye than allowing it to cause one to sin in Matthew 18:9). A revision of ex cathedra Papal statements, as well as Catholic church commandments which, if followed, would lead to human extinction, Zmirak claims, would make him go Eastern Orthodox.
Although the book does not conform to the common right-wing atheist witticism “every Catholic is a gay liberal” (the book is not pro-gay agenda in the least), the book is, to me rather inexplicably, very much in favor of freedom of religion (which contradicts a great deal of Catholic policymaking with church approval from Theodosius I to the Age of Discovery). Though legal freedom to choose one’s religion is a conclusion of Vatican II, it seems difficult for me to see this as anything but a strategic retreat to conserve resources to more easily hold whatever ground has not been lost, on the basis of the fact united Protestant-Catholic fights against secularists would be more difficult if one of them desired to dominate the other. Remember, monocultures exude strength. Fortunately, the book holds a harsh view of German bishops who attempt to change traditional Catholic doctrine, being placated primarily because of the large amount of revenue the Church derives from German tax dollars. The book makes clear the recklessness many nuns and Catholic School teachers committed between Vatican II and the publication of the Catechism in 1993.
The book’s immigration section (p. 158 -the author is not pro-immigration) actually resulted in making me more pro-immigration than I was before -after all, what better way is there to help the global poor than in allowing them to work in the Global North? The Catholic catechism makes clear that some of the views which I had held between 2014, when I started reading Steve Sailer, and 2023, when I was baptized into the Catholic church, are not conducive to a godlike society.
The book bravely (and correctly) condemns homosexual activists and self-described Catholic intellectuals who raise large families by robbing from the poor by their abuse of the welfare state. The “Benedict Option” is examined and rejected on the basis it would lead to the extinction of American Christianity as Christianity went extinct in parts of Asia during the middle ages. The author boldly and correctly states that Catholicism does not have any “third way” economic doctrine distinct from socialism and capitalism -and that, as on the cover, “No Catholic could subscribe even to moderate socialism -Pope John XXIII”. He also defends the appropriateness of lying (e.g., to Planned Parenthood) in order to save lives (an idea which some Catholics inexplicably oppose).
A grave defect of the book is its complete neglect of any Catholic history before Vatican-German relations in the 1930s. Such a history would be extremely useful in explaining how Catholicism developed in the way that it did in the rich countries (and even the third world).
Rating: four out of five stars