Very enlightened points of observation, I would say.
Barua
>From: Santanu Roy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>CC: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Subject: Re: [Assam] NYTimes.com Article: An Oxymoron: Europe Without Christianity
>Date: Sat, 14 Jun 2003 15:01:40 -0400
>
>The author must have a fundamentalist bias. For otherwise, why would
>he fail to see that a secular political structure such as a modern
>state or supra-state as the EU does not need to invoke god or any
>faith - either as the source of political power or as a basis for
>the "cultural" unity of its people? The US constitution was drafted
>centuries back by a group of pretty orthodox protestants - and they
>did not deem it fit to use the word god or christianity anywhere in
>the preamble or the constitution (the first amendment on the pledge
>of allegience is a different matter). Why does the author want to
>turn the clock back on Europe.
>
>The contention that
>"Surely it was Christianity that made the human
>person, as a child of God, central to European values. And
>it was the canon law of the Catholic Church, the oldest
>legal system in the West, that nurtured respect for law
>long before the rise of Europe's nation-states."
>is a load of crap.
>
>The Roman empire which built "Europe" prior to the rise of nation
>states was neither christian in origin nor in dispensation - though
>the later Roman emperors did convert to christianity. The system of
>Roman jurispudence on which the continental law is still based,
>predates christainity. As do the ideas of justice and the rule of
>law. The catholic church itself borrowed from the existing concepts.
>
>If anything, the catholic church and the "barbarian" states, who
>formed the base of that church after the fall of the Roman empire in
>the middle ages, kept the western part of the continent in medievel
>darkness and would have almost snuffed out all civilization there
>had it not been for eastern europe - the Byzantine church - and the
>latter's enlightenment through contact with the east - conducted to
>them through the Arabs - and also the barabarian crusaders who
>learnt from their journeys east. Neither humanism nor justice nor
>rule of law is of Catholic origin (though christianity does include
>all of these). Also, the contribution of moorish Spain and the jews
>over the centuries to European learning and values - has been
>enormous. The very idea that it is possible for a king to govern &
>care for subjects of different faiths - the basis of liberalism -
>was probably first seen in Moorish Spain in all of Europe.
>
>Anyway, I hope someone more learned than me will write to the NYT
>about this.
>
>Santanu.
>
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>>This article from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by
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>>
>>Europe Without Christianity
>>
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>
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