Posted on 03/16/2009 5:16:33 PM PDT by Alex Murphy
A group of Protestant Christians in the Netherlands is objecting to the emblem of the European Union being placed on car registration plates in their country, saying that the symbol conflicts with their religious convictions - writes Andreas Havinga.
The National Foundation for the Preservation of the Political Reformed Principles states that the EU emblem - a circle of 12 golden stars on a blue background - symbolises the veneration of Mary, the mother of Jesus, by the Roman Catholic Church.
"Most people don't think about it, but the EU symbol was thought up by a Roman Catholic in honour of Mary," P. H. op 't Hof, chairperson of the Reformed foundation, was quoted recently by the Nederlands Dagblad newspaper as saying. The newspaper reported that a court in the town of Leeuwarden had acknowledged that the issue concerns a matter of conscience.
This emboldened the Protestant group to repeat earlier requests to transport minister Camiel Eurlings, asking that the EU symbol be removed from the licence plates that have been in force since 2000.
The government minister responded, however, by saying that he saw no reason to do so since it is European Union policy to have licence plates with the symbol.
The emblem and flag were first used by another European body, the Council of Europe, before being adopted by the EU in 1985. Some observers say that the symbol bears a striking similarity to the 12-star halo of the Virgin Mary often seen in Catholic art.
In 1989, the Vatican newspaper l'Osservatore Romano, reported the emblem's designer, Arsène Heitz, had described the source of his inspiration as a series of reported apparitions by the Virgin Mary in 19th-century Paris. The date on which the Council of Europe adopted the flag, 8 December 1955, coincided with the Catholic Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Still, a Dutch member of the European Parliament, Toine Manders, has rejected as "outrageous" the statements by the Protestant group. "These 12 stars were already around in the period of Greek mythology, in other words long before Christianity,'' Manders stated on his website.
The Reformed foundation is a group of members of the Political Reformed Party (SGP), who judge the SGP to be insufficiently Calvinist. Founded in 1918, the SGP is the oldest political party in the Netherlands, and is known for its refusal to take part in any government Cabinet.
The Reformed foundation declared its was "disappointed" by the answer from the transport ministry.
Its chairperson, Op 't Hof, however, has come up with a provisional solution to the problem. The group sells adhesive stickers with the Dutch lion symbol to cover the EU emblem. Officially this is not allowed, but Op 't Hof says he has never encountered any problems.
Who is going to draw comparisons next? Clock-makers?
Some people have to look really, really hard to find something to be indignant about, but are usually successful if they try hard enough. Usually they are Muslims, but Dutch Protestants have about the same need to bitch quotient.
What?????
(I would object to having that symbol on my license plate, but that’s an objection to the EU...)
If there is some connection to the BVM, please eradicate it from that abortion of an entity...PLEASE...
What a bunch of idiots. But then again, what would you expect?
Not sure what all the fuss is about as it will be soon replaced with a scimitar and a crescent moon and the true Dutch will have to have stickers that read, “Dhimmi onboard”.
It appears that some of the Dutch are going early American on Europe again.
“History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government” (Thomas Jefferson, letter to Alexander von Humboldt, 1813).
“In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own” (Thomas Jefferson, letter to Horatio G. Spafford, 1814).
Muslims taking over the continent and they worry about this.
I guess it's like having a Confederate National on your front plate. (Some FReepers have mentioned that the casual observer of the single star thinks it means they're generals ...)
Anti-Catholic bigotry raised to the proportions of a paranoid pathology.
I seriously doubt any of these Dutch protestants are familiar with the teachings of Luther, Calvin and Zwingli, for starters, on the Blessed Virgin Mary.
This is not a Catholic symbol only:
Rev. 12:1-6 (1) A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of 12 stars on her head. (2) She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth.
I thought protestants would also accept the scriptures. Or do they only accept what they like?
You hit the nail on the head!
We are brothers of Jesus and God is our Father. Mary was picked by God Himself to be the mother of Jesus. And we are also her children. “We should honor thy mother and Father” We are born again.
“These 12 stars were already around in the period of Greek mythology, in other words long before Christianity,’’
I guess it’s better to have their sacred cow euro union associated with paganism, but not Christianity, right? Whatever...
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