Wrench in the Cogs
Stuff in Colmar is going well, even in spite of the 34° F weather with the "rainy mix":) We have imported quantities of "sunshine" from the Côtes du Rhône, as well as Dordougne.
Here is an article to throw a wrench in your cogs...or maybe it doesn't do that for you at all. But for me it's a very real principle. Why am I not a French citizen yet? Because of this. The Preamble of the 1946 Constitution, although well-intentioned, distorts and dillutes real liberty with its near-communist principles. France is nice, but I'm over here to tell you -- there ain't quite anything like American Liberty.
Attached is a picture in memory of better weather around here...St. Martin's Church in Colmar; a shining example of high Gothic architecture. If you look at the northeast corner, you can see that it is just oozing with the Sacred Feminine, further evidence of the literal truth of Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code. *
*for those of you that might not know me that well, or that believe that I've been caught up in some sort of European nihilism, the above remark regarding the Da Vinci Code is sarcastic in nature
Here is an article to throw a wrench in your cogs...or maybe it doesn't do that for you at all. But for me it's a very real principle. Why am I not a French citizen yet? Because of this. The Preamble of the 1946 Constitution, although well-intentioned, distorts and dillutes real liberty with its near-communist principles. France is nice, but I'm over here to tell you -- there ain't quite anything like American Liberty.
Attached is a picture in memory of better weather around here...St. Martin's Church in Colmar; a shining example of high Gothic architecture. If you look at the northeast corner, you can see that it is just oozing with the Sacred Feminine, further evidence of the literal truth of Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code. *
*for those of you that might not know me that well, or that believe that I've been caught up in some sort of European nihilism, the above remark regarding the Da Vinci Code is sarcastic in nature
posted by Franco-Walpolian @ 4:00 AM
3 Comments:
Does that really make you not want to be a French citizen?
I have to admit, if I were not born a citizen of the USA, I would have serious qualms about taking an oath of loyalty to this country (or any country), even if that makes me look like an Anabaptist.
As the Economist article applies to the French preamble, of course there is an expansion of rights (the "right to strike" or the right to be taken care of by the state is somehow comparable to the right to live?) beyond the American rights tradition, but is it really all that different? My problem is with the language of "rights" in general. How can they be "sacred" if they are explicitly secular? (I'm going off my continued experience of reading Hauerwas and his muse, Karl Barth.) The language of rights is usually unintelligible because it makes the claim that we somehow own reality and we are entitled to existence. There may be legitimate ways to use "rights" (and I think the Catholic Church makes use of such language often), but how can they signify anything if they are not given.
Oh, and nice observation about the Sacred Feminine. Maybe you should start digging under the church. Who knows what you'd find.
Yes, it repulses me utterly.
Hence my "déchirement" over being a Frenchman in all but Passport.
Ratzinger's _Europe, ses fondements, aujourd'hui et demain_ uses much of this rights-are-rooted-in-Europe's-Christian-heritage language.
Rights? The more general, the better.
As I've probably stolen from you, and Joe R, our reason, our rights, our political and moral discourse stand on nothing if we do not acknowledge their divine inspiration.
But I'm willing to admit that God is more about people knowing him than he is about everybody being created equally with certain unalienable rights.
Hey, in a world of pick-and-choose consumerism, I'll take "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" over the right to strike, and my right to expect Nanny State to guarantee me a job.
If only we all had the guts to be stateless citizens of the Kingdom of heaven...I suppose that's what Yoder was trying to get at...
Well, I'm not exactly sure what Yoder was getting at. I've only read him in the third person or something. But his ecclesial ancestors the Anabaptists--they were going for a stateless community, which is precisely why they were seen as such a threat by their princes (as well as ecclesial princes allied with them).
But I'm pretty sure that Yoder and others don't say that you have to be completely uninvolved. The difference (and, according to the new Catholic theologian here, Pascal says this as well) is that we have to be aware of our motives when we get involved in politics: we dare not convince ourselves that we are doing anything other than seeking Christ.
So I'm not telling you that you ought to bite the bullet and do the citizenship stuff, but maybe I am. I guess that as much as I dislike the constitution, I cannot qualify it as unredeemable. I don't think you're going to find a "pure" politics anywhere. Have you talked to your priest about it (assuming he is someone you would respect)?
Post a Comment
<< Home