Posted on 09/25/2009 10:26:14 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
Pope Benedict XVI will not visit the Czech Republic's most atheist region
Only a large wooden cross resists the ravages of time in a church with a collapsed roof and walls overgrown by wild bushes in the small village of Zlovedice.
The neglected village and its dilapidated sanctuary lie in northern Bohemia, the most atheist region in the generally secular Czech Republic, where religion was crushed during World War II and under more than 40 years of Communist rule.
"When I came to Zlovedice for the first time, a woman told me: 'It's been 40 years since I last saw a priest'," said friar Josef Cermak.
During his visit to the Czech Republic Saturday to Monday, Pope Benedict XVI will stop in Prague, Brno and Stara Boleslav, but not in this borderland region formerly known as the "Sudetenland", once inhabited mostly by ethnic Germans who were forced to leave their homes after World War II.
"But it is not a God-forsaken region at all," Cermak insists.
"I am proof of this. I'm here, I live with the people," says the modest 57-year-old friar, who oversees 17 parishes from his seat in Kadan, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) north-west of Prague.
But he is quick to point out that some of the parishes exist only "on paper" since many of them were located in deserted villages that have long disappeared from the vast military area surrounding the region.
Religious belief found itself in steady decline in the region following the expulsion of German-born Catholics and then because of the policy of the 1948-89 Czechoslovak Communist regime, which labelled the Church the people's enemy.
Jana Michalkova, spokeswoman for the diocese in Litomerice - a town about 80 kilometres (50 miles) north of Prague - says about half of the 1,135 churches and
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Most of the students I spoke to in Prague felt that religion of any sort was an “outdated” practice. They have the most gorgeous cathedrals in Prague-filled only with tourists. It’s a shame.
That goes for all of Europe, Italy included.
Maybe it's time for a new religion.
Islam will fill the vacuum in a few years.
Hey, I said a new religion.
But, yeah, sadly it will be Islam that fills the gap.
“But, yeah, sadly it will be Islam that fills the gap. “
Nope. I read the back of the Book. We win.
Only a large wooden cross resists the ravages of time in a church with a collapsed roof and walls overgrown by wild bushes in the small village of Zlovedice.
One mans "ruins" is another mans miracle.
Is this why next to Hungary, Czech Republic is number one for porn girls?
..or so I’ve read somewhere...lol
Wherever true Christianity flourishes, prosperity follows behind. Some may say it is the blessing of God, some simply a byproduct of the freedom of thought and personal responsibility that Christianity emphasizes. I even heard a show on PBS that called Calvin the Father of modern democracy.
On the other hand, truely atheistic countries seem to go hand in hand with socialism - if others aren’t forced to prop you up, you collapse.
Atheists tend to sputter at this, but it’s sadly true that without faith in a higher power many people become very base and amoral indeed, and consequently their country and economy can suffer.
A quote from George Washington:
“Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”
Forget religion. Find out what it’s like to know God directly through Jesus Christ, His Son!
There is a bulge on Poland’s southern border pushing south into northern Bohemia. This is a beautiful mountainous area of spas called the Klodzko region. John Quincy Adams was there in the year 1800 and called it one of the most beautiful places in Europe.
I’ve been there twice and stayed in the spa town of Ladek Zdroj. Whatever the circumstances on the Czech side of the border, the churches on the Polish side are well-maintained and full on Sundays and holidays.
While it's true that most atheists lean left (in my experience, anyway), a significant fraction of them have a more Libertarian outlook.
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