Posted on 09/15/2006 5:24:02 PM PDT by Mount Athos
This is the continent where some leading thinkers are talking about a "post-Christian Europe." And this is the country of philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who infamously quipped, "God is dead."
So some may be surprised at the receptivity in Germany this week to visiting Pope Benedict XVI's message: Europe needs to rethink the thesis that secularism and economic progress go hand in hand. Coincidentally, some of Europe's stalwart secularists are challenging the idea that religious reasoning inevitably retreats from the public sphere as countries modernize.
Germans themselves are modeling a growing acceptance of religion's role in shaping society:
• Head of state Angela Merkel - the daughter of a Protestant minister - this month renewed calls to include a specific reference in the EU constitution to Europe's Christian heritage.
• There are more theologians in the German parliament than in any other Western parliament, including the US Congress. And when the last government cabinet was sworn in, nearly every member - instead of the usual 50 percent - opted for the religious version of the inaugural oath, according to Karsten Voigt, coordinator of German-American relations at the foreign ministry.
• In a recent survey gauging the perceived credibility of different professions, pastors were ranked in the Top 5.
• German students must take either ethics or religion classes, though Berlin recently made ethics compulsory, and religion optional. Mr. Voigt reports that "more and more" high schoolers in the state of Brandenburg are opting for religion too.
• Church attendance is no longer declining, and in one state the number of young churchgoers is going up, says Voigt.
Approximately two thirds of the 82 million citizens are church members. About 26 million are Roman Catholics, and a similar number are Protestants.
(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...
Inspiring the almost as infamous graffiti rejoinder, "Nietzsche is dead--God."
Good news.
From this he predicted a 20th Century of psychopathic, murdering leaders who would cause tragedies not then dreamed of.
He was right and this differentiated him from the usual village atheist that has always existed but is seldom of influence. In a certain sense he was affirming Glaucon's assertion in Plato's Republic that one has difficulty proving a moral life is better than an immoral life; hence, the anything goes as long as we believe the outcome is more important than the means.
Germany, home also of Martin Luther.
Where millions of Lutherans could not practice their religion in East Germany for decades and churches were locked up.
Perhaps, but methinks the Germans have found religion only because they're faced with that Thin-skinned, perpetual-grievance Death Cult known as Islam.
Good all over in other words.
The biggest obstacle to going to services is the break neck pace of modern society. Come the weekend, all I can do is sleep and catch up work--with a few hours left over for the wife and kids if I'm luck. It's not that I don't want to be religious, its just that I'm so damn tired. I fully expect to get flamed as a result of this post, but its true.
Good news for western society, bad news for the radical Left.
And for all the good he did, he was one of the most disgusting and vile Jew haters the world has ever produced.
It is absolutely true that Martin Luther was a rabid anti-Semite in his later years; however, in all fairness, he was rabidly anti-anyone who opposed him or any of his beliefs at that point in his life. His hatred of Catholicism far exceeded his hatred of Judaism. What I'm trying to get at is, while he was anti-Semitic in particular, this was just one manifestation of his general xenophobia.
haters
I guess you have some of that too.
I grew up in an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood.
Have Jewish family line.
You can go to Holy Spirit Interactive and get the daily Mass readings. Take you just a few minutes to read, a little time for reflection, and you're ready to face the world!
Luther was a Benedictine. He wanted to clean up corruption in the Church, not rip it apart. But things took on a life of their own...
"To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth."
Rev 3:14-16
Attributed to Christ (in red-letter editions, this passage is red).
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