TCDE-Team: Created page with "''Spiritualism Debate'' is an article published in The Times on 12 march 1920. == Spiritualism Debate == [[The Times (12 march 1920, p. 14)]] '''SIR A. CONAN DOYLE ON GOOD AND BAD MEDIUMS.''' There was a large audience at the Queen's Hall last night, when a debate on Spiritualism took place between Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Mr. Joseph McCabe, of the Rationalist Press Association. Sir..."

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Created page with "''Spiritualism Debate'' is an article published in The Times on 12 march 1920. == Spiritualism Debate == thumb|250px|right|[[The Times (12 march 1920, p. 14)]] '''SIR A. CONAN DOYLE ON GOOD AND BAD MEDIUMS.''' There was a large audience at the Queen's Hall last night, when a debate on Spiritualism took place between Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Mr. Joseph McCabe, of the Rationalist Press Association. Sir..."

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''Spiritualism Debate'' is an article published in [[The Times]] on 12 march 1920.

== Spiritualism Debate ==
[[File:the-times-1920-03-12-p14-spiritualism-debate.jpg|thumb|250px|right|[[The Times]] (12 march 1920, p. 14)]]

'''SIR A. CONAN DOYLE ON GOOD AND BAD MEDIUMS.'''

There was a large audience at the Queen's Hall last night, when a debate on Spiritualism took place between [[Sir Arthur Conan Doyle]] and Mr. Joseph McCabe, of the Rationalist Press Association. Sir E. MARSHALL-HALL, K.C., presided. The debaters began with speeches of 10 minutes each, followed by two more speeches each of 15 minutes' duration.

Mr. MCCABE, who spoke first, said that this new movement had arrived at a dramatic moment, when the authority of creeds was tottering, and when the speculation of philosophers was less convincing than 300 years ago. This new religion was born in fraud, cradled in fraud, nurtured in fraud, and it was based to-day to an alarming extent all over the world on fraudulent performances. He controverted the assertion of [[Sir Arthur Conan Doyle]] that men of science were on his side. Ile dealt at length with the famous care of Home, who was alleged to have been waited from window to window. He contended that on the facts put before the public it was one of the greatest pieces of trickery to be found in the whole spiritualistic movement. Passing to the incident where [[Sir Arthur Conan Doyle|Sir A. Conan Doyle]] received a communication as to the Italian retreat to the Piave, Mr. McCabe pointed out that an article appeared in The Times the previous day dealing with the military situation. and every student knew that the Austrians would try to drive them back in that direction.

[[Sir Arthur Conan Doyle|SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE]] said that the same force which brought him from orthodoxy into materialism had driven him out of materialism into spiritualism. To Mr. McCabe's challenge for 10 university professors within the last 30 years who were advocates of spiritualism, lie offered a list of 160 people of high distinction, including 40 professors. He could not divide all mediums into jet-black ones or snow-white ones. The jet-black ones were hyenas, and no one denounced them in stronger terms than he did. But there were snow-white ones, and he claimed that their hands were clean. They had done all they could to suppress the horrible traffic. He defended Home, and said that he called him a puro white medium. Ile admitted that there were some mediums with the real power who, when that power failed and it was an intermittent, force-were immoral enough to fill up the gap by fraud.

[[Sir Arthur Conan Doyle|Sir Arthur]] went on to deal with a number of cases within his own knowledge. It was impossible to ignore the cumulative evidence of these and similar experiences. Out of 72 cases of parents who had lost suns and whom he had sent to the same medium six were failures, six were "half and half," and 60 were complete successes. There was nothing vague about the messages received, and names were given. [[Sir Arthur Conan Doyle|Sir Arthur]] gave an instance of how his own son came to him, put his heavy hand upon him, and told him that he was happy. He had talked with his own brother, who told him three words in a tongue he did not understand when talking about his wife. Those words were found to be the name of a medium In Denmark, and, exclaimed [[Sir Arthur Conan Doyle|Sir Arthur]], "I swear to you that I did not know there was a spiritualist society in the whole of Denmark"

Mr. MCCABE, in his second speech, persisted in his challenge, and said that in the names given there were not 10 professors who would declare themselves convinced of the truth of spiritualism. He criticized the characters of several well-known mediums, and contended that it was impossible to answer cases given verbally.

[[Sir Arthur Conan Doyle|SIR ARTHUR]] said that no one was more keen than he on exposing anything that was not absolutely trustworthy. Only last week he heard of a case of crystal phenomena. He invited the editor of the Morning Post to see the crystal in London, and Mr. Gwynne had written that he saw two or three visions succeed each other and that there was no trickery, although he declined to draw any deductions.

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