“Comparative theology is a two-edged weapon, and has so proved itself. But the Christian advocates, unabashed by evidence, force comparison in the serenest way. Christian legends and dogmas, they say, do somewhat resemble the heathen, it is true; but see, while the one teaches us the existence, powers, and attributes of an all-wise, all-good Father God, Brahmanism gives us a multitude of minor gods, and Buddhism none whatever; one is fetishism and polytheism, the other bald atheism. Jehovah is the one true God, and the Pope and Martin Luther are His prophets!
This is one edge of the sword, and this the other: Despite missions, despite armies, despite enforced commercial intercourse, the “heathen” finds nothing in the teachings of Jesus, sublime though some are, that Christna and Gautama had not taught them before. And so, to gain over any new converts, and keep the few already won by centuries of cunning, the Christians give the “heathen” dogmas more absurd than their own, and cheat them by adopting the habit of their native priests and practicing the very “idolatry and fetishism which they so disparage in the “heathens”. Comparative theology works both ways.
In Siam and Burmah, Catholic missionaries have become perfect Talapoins to all external appearance, i.e., minus their virtues; and throughout India, especially in the south, they were denounced by their own colleague, the Abbe Dubois. This was afterward vehemently denied. But now we have living witnesses to the correctness of the charge. Among others, Captain O’Grady, already quoted, a native of Madras, writes the following on this systematic method of deception: “The hypocritical beggars profess total abstinence and horror of flesh to conciliate converts from Hinduism. …I got one father, or rather, he got himself gloriously drunk in my house, time and again, and the way he pitched into roast beef was a caution.” Further, the author has pretty stories to tell of “black-faced Christs”, “Virgins on wheels”, and of Catholic processions in general.
We have seen such solemn ceremonies accompanied by the most infernal cacophony of a Cingalese orchestra, tam-tam and gongs included, followed by a like Brahmanic procession, which, for, its picturesque coloring and mise en scene, looked far more solemn and imposing than the Christian saturnalias. Speaking of one of these, the same author remarks: “It was more devilish than religious. …The bishops walked off Romeward, with a mighty pile of Peter’s pence gathered in the minutest sums, with gold ornaments, nose-rings, anklets, elbow bangles, etc., etc., in profusion, recklessly thrown in heaps at the feet of the grotesque copper-colored image of the Saviour, with its Dutch metal halo and gaudily striped cummerbund and, shade of Raphael blue turban.” “As every one can see, such voluntary contributions make it quite profitable to mimic the native Brahmans and bonzes.”
H. P. Blavatsky
The Mark Of God: Understanding Your "I AM Presence" 