Europe Returning to Pagan Roots

NewsMax ^ | May 30, 2003 | Fr. Mike Reilly

[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.

[Tribune7]

The idea that God didn't interfere with his divine creation was neccessary for men of science to do their work, but it was antithetical to The Church- that's why Galileo needed to recant!

Ironically, it may have been the Reformation politics that caused Galileo to get grief. Luther was condemning Copernicus -- which the Catholics never did -- and this may have caused the Catholics to try and shut up Galileo.

And in fairness, the resolution was by no means certain at the time. There were smart, open-minded people on the other side of the issue. I think Francis Bacon may have even been a geo-centric.

[ffusco]

So they were keeping up with the Jonses!

I need to do moe research about this- very interesting.

[RobbyS]

Goes back to the reign of Elizabeth I. When she became queen England was still a Catholic country, but during the next generation it became Protestant. The war with Spain capped the matter, and after the Catholic plot to blow up Parliament, Catholicism was regarded as unEnglish. The protesrant majority was suspecious of any move toward Catholicism. The struggle between Parlaiment and the Stuarts was caused in part by the fear that the monarch was about to become Catholic. Since the rule was that the ruler determined the religion of the country, this was big deal. James I was deposed because he seemed about to restore Catholicism. The Test Act barred Catholics from political life and the act of settlement in 1700, which is still in effect, bars a Catholic from the throne. The act of toleration allows freedom of worship for all Christians, except Catholics. The test Act was not repealed until 1829.
All this hostility toward Catholicism passed on to America.

[ffusco]

See 282!

[The Grammarian]

Of course, that is unsubstantiated, particularly considering I've already posted evidence that indicates that there is a dispute as to from what word the word "religion" is derived from. Two different sources claim two different etymologies.

[TheAngryClam]

No, I'm posting you the dictionary definition of the noun religio, which does, in classical Latin, include a binding component.

[Clemenza]

How about a return to Saturnalia on the streets of Rome?

[Clemenza]

Remember that Ben Hur was written by a non-believer, teh great former governor of New Mexico territory, Lew Wallace.

[Brian Allen]

<< ..... many European countries are voluntarily reliquishing their heritage and future to the tyrant Islam. >>

Dead and decadent Europe might not yet know it but as goes its former African colonies so, soon, go the Brussels' based Neo-Soviet's squalidly-socialist satellite states.

Once great britain might have half a chance if it could ever get a Conservative movement off the ground [And it never has!] and join with US and with Australia in a new Commonwealth of English-Speaking Peoples -- but I doubt it has the balls.

And unless the once-graet British and their continental cousins reverse themselves and learn to both fight and um ... procreate .... the EURO-peons are lost to Civilization.

[ffusco]

A minor technicality as far as Machina Rex is concerned.

..........Now about this Salazzo business.....Whomever set up the meeting is the traitor.

[ffusco]

Saturnalia was celebrated on December 25th- a minor scheduling problem remains.

[ffusco]

Timing of Saturnalia

varied during the course of Roman history.
began as feast days for Saturn (December 17) and Ops (December 19).
with Julian calendar, Saturnalia on December 17 & 18; Opalia on December 19 & 20.
during the empire, extended to a week (December 17-23); longer with other holidays.

Associated holiday festivals

Consualia, end of sowing season festival (December 15).
Dies Juvenalis, Coming of Age for Young Men (mid-December).
Feast of Sol Invicta, the Unconquered Sun, set in 274 A. D. (December 25).
Brumalia, Winter Solstice on pre-Julian calendar (December 25).
Christmas (December 25), Christians move Christ's birthday to this date in 336 A.D.
Janus Day and Beginning of Calendar Year (January 1), set in 153 B.C.; again in 45 B.C.
Compitalia, blessing of the fields rural festival (January 3-5).

Deities honored around Winter Solstice time

Saturn - God of Agriculture; merged with the Greek Cronos.
Ops - Goddes of Plenty; Mother Earth; partner to Saturn and Consus.
Sol Invicta - Sun God; connected with the Persian Mithra, honored by Roman soldiers.
Consus - God of Storebin of Harvested Grain.
Juventas - Goddess of Young Manhood; related to Greek Hebe of Youthful Beauty.
Janus - God of Beginnings and Gates; Solar God of Daybreak; Creator God.

Celebrations included

merry-making
rest and relaxation
connections with family and friends
celebrating beginning of Solar year
prayers for protection of Winter crops
honoring Deities

Legacies of Saturnalia in contemporary holiday celebrations

Religious Rituals -- joining in spiritual community to honor the Divine.
Honored Figures -- Santa and Father Time -- Saturn; Holy Mother -- Ops.
Sacred Flames -- candles lit and new fires kindled to represent new Solar year.
Greens -- Holly given with gifts, homes decorated with wreaths and garlands.
Time Off from Work -- government, schools, businesses closed; multiple days off.
Peace -- dispensing of punishments suspended and courts closed; wars ceased.
Relaxing with Family and Friends -- renewing bonds, sharing celebration.
Gift Giving -- dolls to children, candles to friends; fruit symbols representing increase.
Feasting -- sharing food with family and friends; on-going eating and drinking.
Helping Less Fortunate -- class distinctions suspended; food for all; masters waiting on servants.
Exhuberant Play -- masquerades, gaming, gambling, mock king, jokes, partying, letting loose.
Paper Hats -- soft hats (pilei) worn at Saturnalia banquets to signify informality.
Dancing in the New Solar Year -- music and dancing.

[Unknowing]

Public Law of Rome, Table IV: Rights of fathers

1. A dreadfully deformed child shall be quickly killed.

Yikes.

[zonan]

It's ironic that the pagan cultures trumpeted by many fat computer geeks would have killed them in childhood if they had been born into them. Porky was killed when he couldn't keep up.

[zonan]

Of course there were numerous factors that led to Romes fall including: Immigration, a lazy middle class, a foreign army, high taxes, massive public asistance, and the tyranny of corrupt military leaders

Most of which would not have occured had the Romans adhered to Christian principles. But it's much more fun to bash Christianity, so let's just stick to that.

[zonan]

From what I understand of the history of science, the persecution of Galileo was mostly because of church politics. If one acknowledged that the planets moved around the sun, then the next progression was that each star was like our sun and had its own planets. Who was pope there?

[ffusco]

I admire your faith, but your conclusion is ridiculous.

[RobbyS]

Gibbon rightly begans his story in the late 2nd Century, at ther end of the Pax Romana. The 3rd century found the empire on the point of collapse, largely because the barbarians who had been held at bay, were now pressing in. The Christians, who was now becoming numerous and prosperous, became scapegoats more or less for the same reasons that the Jews became scapegoats in Germany. Diocletian stopped the collapse, reformed the monarchy, and sought to end the Christian problem once and for all. Constantine completed Diocletian's revolution but instead of treating Christianity as an enemy decided that it should serve as a means of revitalizing a dying Roman society. The work of Diocletian and Constantine gave the Western Empire another hundred years of life, bit finally could not ward off the pressure caused by the movement of people that began as far away as China. But it should not be forgotten that the barbarians who collased the western Empire were peoples who were to a considerable extent being reshaped by Roman values,who when they forciblky entered the limits of the empire were already adopting Constantine's new imperial religion, and in the course of time, a German-Roman empire appeared that was to survive, at least as its shadow, to the time of Napoleon.
Is there any more remarkable, ironic picture than the portrait of Napoleon I garbed as a Roman emperor, the irony being complete in the uncanny physical resemblence of Napoleon to Augustus Caesar?

[ffusco]

Excellent synopsis. Though the top heavy, overtaxed Roman govermnebt collapsed but not Roman ideals which were recycled by every kingdom in Europe up till Napoleon then the ideals of the Roman Republic found a home in America. Even Russia thought herself the 3rd Rome ( imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but an absurd notion)

[ffusco]

Consider that they had only rudimentary medicine, no anti-biotics or incubators. Infant mortality rates were high and children weren't even named until they were 9 days old. This type of thing still occurs today, even our pioneers had to make these tough choices. An unwanted child was often adopted if healthy. A child born 10 months after a fathers death also had no claim to family property.

I find it somewhat more humane and practical. As oppossed to our culture which would let a vegetable survive on life support when no chance of recovery is possible or refuse to let a person die with dignity.