This for all the non-Catholics out there who can't understand why Walt and others are making such a big fuss about the partial destructionby fire of the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris. In "Notre Dame in flames: part of the Great Chastisement?" (WWW 16/4/19) I saw the tragedy as evidence of God's displeasure with the modern Roman Catholic Church. A similar view was expressed by Michael Matt in "Notre Dame will rise again!" (WWW 17/4/19).
But Notre Dame was... still is... much more than a house of worship for Christians. The building itself embodies and symbolizes the history and culture of European civilization, for the history of Christianity is the history of Europe and the entire Western world. That stone truth is discussed in this video by Bill Whittle and the men of Right Angle. As far as I know, none of the 3 is Catholic is Catholic, and that's just the point.
Notre Dame is immensely important as a symbol of Western civilization. If it is not rebuilt, or if it is "modified" to make it "more modern" and "inclusive" -- say by putting an Islamic crescent at the top of a new spire -- that would represent the finality of the decline of the West. Now is the time to resurrect not just the cathedral but of the ideas and values that informed the building of the cathedral. God save Notre Dame... and God save us Christians!
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