> I think it would be more accurate to say that the Christian faith has had > the strongest *influence* on *Western* European architecture and culture. > If you move into Eastern Europe where Orthodox Christianity was the dominant > paradigm, the onion domes of the church architecture shows evidence of very > strong Moorish influence. I suspect this is also the case in at least some > parts of Southern Europe, but perhaps more in secular buildings than > churches.
The history of the dome appears to be quite complex. According to the Catholic Encyclopaedia, domes were developed in Rome and taken from there to Constantinople. See here: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05100b.htm Whatever the case, it seems the bottom line in most cases is that they were built as Christian Churches. > Furthermore, one of my conservative evangelical brother's major criticisms > of Catholic traditions in Spain (where he worked with a missionary > organisation for ten or so years) is that the celebration of many festivals > is pagan rather than Christian. These roots must be very strong indeed to > have survived so many centuries of determined Christian overlays. Yes, perhaps the same could be said of some views expressed on this list. See my reply to Charles. > If the criticism of the preamble to European constitution was that it > mentioned other faiths but not Christianity, then it is obviously valid. If > the criticism is that it omits mention of faith/religion and they want just > Christianity mentioned, I think they need to think a bit harder about what > religious acknowledgement there should be before they start pushing for it. I am wondering whether the real reason for any omission is the fact that there have been other "European Unions" in history in which the Christian Church was a strong partner. Namely, the Holy Roman Empire under Charlemagne. Perhaps the omission of a connection with the Christian Church is a deliberate thing to avoid the impression that Europe is preparing for another "Crusade". - Greg ------------------------------------------------------ - You are subscribed to the mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To unsubscribe, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the message body 'unsubscribe insights-l' (ell, not one (1)) See: http://nsw.uca.org.au/insights-l-information.htm ------------------------------------------------------
