Thank you Gonzo.
To modern ears these replies are indeed extraordinarily blunt. But - as my own Mother can attest - the attacks on Catholicism in (say) the 1940’s were virulent in the extreme.
Why can my Mother attest to this? Because she was brought up to loathe - or at best despise - Catholicism. All that dropped away when she converted in ~ 1949.
Praise the Lord!
You know there has been some comment on these blunt replies, but I don't think such are always out of place. Along with the reason you gave there is also the type of mind that simply relates better to simple statements without a lot of extra talk in between the lines.