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Europe Returning to Pagan Roots
NewsMax ^
| May 30, 2003
| Fr. Mike Reilly
Posted on 05/30/2003 9:55:54 PM PDT by Hugenot
NewsMax.com's religion editor, Fr. Mike Reilly, sees a disturbing trend in the latest news from the European Union.
Zenit News is reporting on the new Constitution for the European Union and the news is not good.
"Drawing inspiration from the cultural, religious and humanist inheritance of Europe, which, nourished first by the civilizations of Greece and Rome, characterized by spiritual impulse always present in its heritage and later by the philosophical currents of the Enlightenment, has embedded within the life of society its perception of the central role of the human person and his inviolable and inalienable rights, and of respect for law. ..."
Do you get the sense that there's something missing from the preamble? What "spiritual impulse" are they referring to? Could it be the Irish druids, who worshipped trees? Or perhaps the Norse gods like Thor and Loki? Maybe they mean ancient German legends about Siegfried coming from Valhalla.
Are these the "spiritual impulses" that united Europe, or rather was it something called Christendom?
"It borders on the ridiculous that the Preamble should make nominal reference to the Hellenistic and Roman component and jump directly to the 'philosophers of the Enlightenment,' omitting the Christian reference without which the Enlightenment is incomprehensible," Josep Miro i Ardevol, president of the Convention of Christians for Europe, said in a statement.
In an interview on Vatican Radio, Cardinal Roberto Tucci, a member of the executive council of the radio, said that "It was not a question of adherence [to Christianity], but of recognizing the historical fact of the enormous influence that Christian culture has had on European culture."
"The most unifying factor of Europe, which has been Christian culture, is missing" in the Preamble, he said.
The draft continues, "Conscious that Europe is a continent that has brought forth civilization; that its inhabitants, arriving in successive waves since the first ages of mankind, have gradually developed the values underlying humanism: equality of persons, freedom, respect for reason. ..."
Where do they think these values come from? What other civilizations espouse these values? The fact is that it was Christian culture which civilized and united tribal barbarians into what was left of the declining Roman Empire, which would eventually become modern Europe. That is why every modern tyrant has seen the need to attack and suppress Christianity.
This does not bode well for Europeans who treasure freedom. If our rights come from men, then men can take them away. Our founding fathers were wise enough to acknowledge that "man was endowed by his Creator with certain inalienable rights. ..."
Sadly, the leaders of Europe lack that insight.
TOPICS: Breaking News; Constitution/Conservatism; Editorial; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Free Republic; Front Page News; Germany; Government; News/Current Events; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: christianity; constitution; eu; euconstitution; europe; europeanchristians; faithandphilosophy; idolatry; religion
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To: petuniasevan
The Islamic invasion of Europe will be complete in around 20 to 30 years. They will have conquered the continent.
To: Skywalk
The Phonecian Sailing exploits are Arab Esteem day fictions IMO. They went as far as they needed to get their slaves. That great hero (Hanna?) saw Elephants and Gorillas in .... Morocco and Senegal. Yep, that's where they are. Right by that Volcano he saw erupt.
The Phonecians also invented Prepaid Long Distance Calling Cards.
To: GaConfed
...and then only allowing the clergy to learn Latin. Latin was the common language of the learned in both Catholic and Protestant countries until the 18th Century. Most of the teachers and students at university were laymen. For instance, Thomas More, the "man for all seasons."
183
posted on
05/31/2003 11:53:26 AM PDT
by
RobbyS
To: Destro
The Eastern Christians actually had a seperation of church and state but they never called it that. I think the term the Orthodox use is a "symphonic relationship". The Byzantine and Russian emperors were not heads of the church but rather protectors. This is the model that later Protestant monarchs adopted.
You're out of your mind. The East is where the term Caesaropapism came from. The Emperor replaced patriarchs pretty much at will, and even Popes when his agents could reach them. Meanwhile, the Western model had the monarchs as protectors of the Church--especially the French kings. You've got it exactly backwards.
184
posted on
05/31/2003 12:01:26 PM PDT
by
Antoninus
(In hoc signo, vinces †)
To: rmvh
I think would have a hard time proving that. For instance, the religion of Abraham is now more than 4,000 years old and counting.
185
posted on
05/31/2003 12:08:26 PM PDT
by
RobbyS
To: Skywalk
The Greeks and Romans didn't throw innocents into a pit of fire! Nor did the majority of barbarian tribes. That isn't to say they couldn't be cruel, but it's not like barbarity, cruelty and torture STOPPED with the advent of Christian dominance in Europe.
Uh, to a large extent, it did. Much to the chagrin of the remaining pagans, the Christian emperors of the late Roman empire had an annoying habit of closing down arenas where thousands of innocent Christian martyrs had been butchered, savaged by wild animals, roasted on gridirons, and otherwise put to death for nothing other than practicing their religion. Yes, Christian dominance put a serious crimp barbarity, cruelty, and torture.
You would fault Christian Europe for not halting such practices all together for all time. But before you do, name for me one nation or civilization that existed for over 100 years where such things were totally absent.
186
posted on
05/31/2003 12:08:45 PM PDT
by
Antoninus
(In hoc signo, vinces †)
To: nightdriver
From Latin, but correct in the other respects.
187
posted on
05/31/2003 12:10:52 PM PDT
by
TheAngryClam
(Nil igitur mors est ad nos neque pertinet hilum/quandoquidem natura animi mortalis habetur)
To: Stefan Stackhouse
Except for the fact that slavery in Rome was more like indentured servitude. Many "slaves" had slaves of their own, owned property, worked as civil servants, were often released upon death of the master, were taught trades such as medicine and drafting, married freely among their own, were often eulogized upon their death, were sometimes adopted outright and even buried in family tombs. Many masters considered their slaves as friends and wept upon their death.
Plus the very fact that they were war prosioners- who were usually just killed anyway, and it was 2000 years ago, make recent slavery much, much, much worse.
188
posted on
05/31/2003 12:11:00 PM PDT
by
ffusco
(Maecilius Fuscus, Governor of Longovicium , Manchester, England. 238-244 AD)
To: Mr. Mojo
The Islamic invasion of Europe will be complete in around 20 to 30 years. They will have conquered the continent. The Germans, Russians and Spaniards will emerge from their coma and start 86ing riff raff. Ruthlessly. The Danes, Poles, Baltics and Eastern European nations will make Muslims "void where prohibited." The Scandihoovians like their homogenous lifestyle, they're not game.
London has always been a hub of Arab/Muslim commerce and community, and that's a good thing overall. A really vibrant community.
I'm hopeful that the patriots in European states will finally step up and save their countries. I saw big German Arayan poster boys averting the menacing and sneering gaze of young Arab men loitering in cafes, markets and beer gardens throughout Bonn and Munich. They abide those punks bad eyeing them. One day, they'll turn them inside out. They're the boys from Deustschland for God's sake ... they need to clean house. I don't care about the French, Swiss and Belgians, let them enjoy the cultural contributions of Islamist cigarette use.
To: Stefan Stackhouse
"We even had a general who conquered Gaul and then went on to become our head of government."
That's just beautiful.
190
posted on
05/31/2003 12:15:01 PM PDT
by
TheAngryClam
(Nil igitur mors est ad nos neque pertinet hilum/quandoquidem natura animi mortalis habetur)
To: Ciexyz
Exactly! What a wordy, incomprehensible mess. Like something written by a hack at a textbook company as part of the introduction to a world history book.
191
posted on
05/31/2003 12:15:25 PM PDT
by
RobbyS
To: GaConfed
Aristotle actually was mostly a member of the court of Alexander.
192
posted on
05/31/2003 12:15:52 PM PDT
by
TheAngryClam
(Nil igitur mors est ad nos neque pertinet hilum/quandoquidem natura animi mortalis habetur)
To: The Grammarian
Fine, then the true definition is the defintion of religio, religionis that I posted earlier.
193
posted on
05/31/2003 12:18:04 PM PDT
by
TheAngryClam
(Nil igitur mors est ad nos neque pertinet hilum/quandoquidem natura animi mortalis habetur)
To: RobbyS
The civil code that "survives" comes from Justinian who recorded a lot for posterity but didn't create it.
194
posted on
05/31/2003 12:25:50 PM PDT
by
ffusco
(Maecilius Fuscus, Governor of Longovicium , Manchester, England. 238-244 AD)
To: Antoninus
Culturally, the Goths that settled in Italy were more Roman than Belisarius. While the Eastern Empire had long forgotten many of the customs of Rome (always being more Greek), the Goths practiced them meticulously as best they were able.
You also conspicuously leave out the Arab copyists from your list of the saviors of civilization. However, that wouldn't fit your Christian agenda too well, would it?
Charles Martel at Tours was not fighting primarily a religious war, although later generations have portrayed it as such. It was simply a defense against an invading army. He would have fought just as much against Christian as Muslim.
195
posted on
05/31/2003 12:27:21 PM PDT
by
TheAngryClam
(Nil igitur mors est ad nos neque pertinet hilum/quandoquidem natura animi mortalis habetur)
To: Antoninus
Just like your last post, your claims to Christian greatness lie only in preserving the ancient world, not surpassing it.
The Code of Justinian took and ordered already existing Roman law from the masses of statutes and laws already in effect.
If you're familiar with the American legal world, the Code of Justinian was similar to a Restatement of the Law.
196
posted on
05/31/2003 12:29:09 PM PDT
by
TheAngryClam
(Nil igitur mors est ad nos neque pertinet hilum/quandoquidem natura animi mortalis habetur)
To: Skywalk
All the gods lose. In fact, only people win (two who go to sleep in an ash tree and get to remake the world after the battle).
197
posted on
05/31/2003 12:30:59 PM PDT
by
TheAngryClam
(Nil igitur mors est ad nos neque pertinet hilum/quandoquidem natura animi mortalis habetur)
To: DensaMensa
In any event, they were both pagans (just to continue the fight of pagan vs. Christian).
Someone drag out the Irish story real quick- there's a Christian version involving some saint, but it's just an adaptation of an older pagan story.
198
posted on
05/31/2003 12:33:21 PM PDT
by
TheAngryClam
(Nil igitur mors est ad nos neque pertinet hilum/quandoquidem natura animi mortalis habetur)
To: RobbyS
See #196
199
posted on
05/31/2003 12:34:09 PM PDT
by
TheAngryClam
(Nil igitur mors est ad nos neque pertinet hilum/quandoquidem natura animi mortalis habetur)
To: RobbyS
And you, and any Jew regardless of how orthodox, would recognize almost nothing in Abraham's religious beliefs.
For example, adopting one specific nature god to be his particular patron while not denying the existence of other gods.
The monotheism came later.
200
posted on
05/31/2003 12:36:14 PM PDT
by
TheAngryClam
(Nil igitur mors est ad nos neque pertinet hilum/quandoquidem natura animi mortalis habetur)
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