Editing Antoinism (section)

===Growth and criticism===
[[File:Rene-guenon-1925.jpg|thumb|150px|right|[[René Guénon]] was critical of Antoinist doctrines in his 1923 book, ''The Spiritist Fallacy''.]]
When Antoine died in 1912, there were fewer than a thousand followers and thousands of supporters;<ref name="Deric2002"/> in the 1920s, the number of followers rose to 700,000,<ref>{{cite journal |title=Les Dieux en marge |journal=Le Petit Parisien |first=André |last=Arnyvelde |author-link = André Arnyvelde|date=6 November 1922 |place=Paris |number=16687 |language=fr}}</ref> including 300,000 in Belgium.<ref name="Soir"/> During its first decades, Antoinism spread so fast that even [[United States|American]] newspapers published articles about the religion,<ref>{{cite journal| title=New Belgian Religion |journal=[[The Sun (New York)|The Sun]] |date=11 December 1910 |volume=LXXVIII |number=102 |place=New York}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal| title=Cult of Antoinism Spreads in Europe |journal=[[The Brooklyn Daily Eagle]] |date=8 July 1928 |place=New York |page=7}}</ref> one of them stating that it "[was] attracting considerable attention in Europe".<ref>{{cite journal| title=Silent Healer Amazes Europe&nbsp;— Ex-Miner Antoine Has Following Numbering 160,000&nbsp;— Cures Without Payment |journal=The Oswego Daily Palladium |date=5 January 1911 |page=2}}</ref> Author [[Françoise d'Eaubonne]] considered that the physique of Antoine, which she found attractive, may have contributed to his success.<ref>{{cite book |title=Dossier S comme sectes&nbsp;— Voyage chez les marchands d'Absolu et d'Alternatives, Gourous et Gouroufiés |first=Françoise |last=d'Eaubonne |publisher=Alain Moreau |place=Paris |year=1982 |chapter=V: L'Antoinisme |language=fr |pages=149–51 |isbn=2-85209-002-3}}</ref> According to Bégot, the success of Antoinist healing in the early 20th century can be explained by the fact that "it offered an alternative to the legitimate institutions of control of body and soul", i.e. the [[Catholic Church]] and medicine. She added: "Carrier of a social protest, it is nevertheless a way of socioeconomic integration".<ref>[[#Masse|Massé, 2002]], p. 64.</ref> French historian and sociologist [[Émile Poulat]] stated that the religion "has always appeared calm and beneficient".<ref>{{cite book |title=Notre laïcité publique – "La France est une République laïque" (Constitutions de 1946 et 1958) |first=Émile |last=Poulat |author-link=Émile Poulat |publisher=Berg International |year=2003 |language=fr |page=81 |isbn=2-911289-65-X}}</ref>

As it disapproved that the group of Antoine turned away from Spiritism, journals from Spiritist circles criticized Antoinism in its beginnings,<ref name="Debouxhtay128"/> and the president of the Belgian Federation of Spiritist (Fédération spirite de Belgique) Chevalier Clement Saint-Marcq considered the religion as one of the "parasitic stems came on the healthy and strong tree of Spiritism".<ref>[[#Debouxhtay2|Debouxhtay, 1934]], p. 31</ref> From a philosophical standpoint, Antoinism was criticized by [[René Guénon]] in an entire chapter of his 1923 book ''The Spiritist Fallacy'' (''L'Erreur spirite''), noting, to his point of view, "the nullity of [Antoine's] "teachings" which are only a vague mixture of spiritualist theories and Protestant "moralism"".<ref>[[#Guenon|Guénon, 1977]], pp. 349–62.</ref> As for [[Theosophist]]s, they displayed a strong fellow feeling to Antoinism in their journals.<ref>{{cite book |title=Le théosophisme:histoire d'une pseudo-religion |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7gcOAQAAMAAJ&q=antoinisme |first=René |last=Guénon |author-link=René Guénon |publisher=Éditions Traditionnelles |place=Paris |year=1973 |page=261 |language=fr}}</ref>

The religion received little opposition from the Catholic Church, which has sometimes criticized it but only on doctrinal issues, considering it heretic.<ref>[[#Dericquebourg|Dericquebourg, 1993]], p. 144.</ref> For example, in 1918, Liège priest Hubert Bourguet published a 50-page brochure in which he expressed concerns on the doctrines, qualified the sacred texts of Antoinism as "gibberish" and concluded that Antoine would have suffered from [[paraphrenia]].<ref>[[#Bourguet|Bourguet, 1918]], p.48.</ref> In 1925, Father Lucien Roure considered Antoinism "a doctrine of anarchy and amorality", with "negative teachings", confused and incoherent writings, and "credulous and docile" followers.<ref>[[#Roure|Roure, 1925]], pp. 180,185,186.</ref> In 1949, author Jacques Michel blamed Antoine for having substituted himself for Jesus Christ and deemed Antoinism a "demonic" faith.<ref>[[#Michel|Michel, 1949]], pp. 24,25.</ref> Later, in 1953, Maurice Colinon, then in 1954, the Father Henri-Charles Chéry, published books which analyzed non-conformist groups, including Antoinism.<ref>[[#Colinon|Colinon, 1953]], pp. 112–22.</ref><ref>[[#Chery|Chéry, 1954]], pp. 251–66.</ref> According to Debouxhtay, [[Protestantism|Protestant]]s were concerned about the Antoinist expansion in the 1930s, and several pastors published writings on this subject (Giron-Galzin, 1910; Rumpf, 1917; Wyss, c.1924).<ref>[[#Debouxhtay2|Debouxhtay, 1934]], p. 285.</ref> More recently, the religion was studied from a Protestant perspective by pastor [[Gérard Dagon]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Petites Églises et grandes sectes en France aujourd'hui |first=Gérard |last=Dagon |author-link=Gérard Dagon |publisher=SCE |place=Paris |year=1961 |language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Les sectes à visage découvert&nbsp;– Tome II |first=Gérard |last=Dagon |author-link=Gérard Dagon |publisher=Editions Barnabas |year=1997 |language=fr |isbn=2-908582-17-1}}</ref>