“Enq: For what, and since when, do the Spiritualists hate you?
Theo: From the first day of the Society’s existence. No sooner the fact became known that, as a body, the T.S. did not believe in communications with the spirits of the dead, but regarded the so-called “spirits” as, for the most part, astral reflections of disembodied personalities, shells, etc., than the Spiritualists conceived a violent hatred to us and especially to the Founders.
This hatred found expression in every kind of slander, uncharitable personal remarks, and absurd misrepresentations of the Theosophical teachings in all the American Spiritualistic organs.
For years we were persecuted, denounced and abused. This began in 1875 and continues to the present day. In 1879, the headquarters of the T.S. were transferred from New York to Bombay, India, and then permanently to Madras.
When the first branch of our Society, the British T.S., was founded in London, the English Spiritualists came out in arms against us, as the Americans had done; and the French Spiritists followed suit.
Enq: But why should the clergy be hostile to you, when, after all, the main tendency of the Theosophical doctrines is opposed to Materialism, the great enemy of all forms of religion in our day?
Theo: The clergy opposed us on the general principle that “He who is not with me is against me.” Since Theosophy does not agree with any one Sect or Creed, it is considered the enemy of all alike, because it teaches that they are all, more or less, mistaken.
The missionaries in India hated and tried to crush us because they saw the flower of the educated Indian youth and the Brahmins, who are almost inaccessible to them, joining the Society in large numbers. And yet, apart from this general class hatred, the T.S. counts in its ranks many clergymen, and even one or two bishops.”
H. P. Blavatsky
The Mark Of God: Understanding Your "I AM Presence" 