Byzantine, Texas

  • Subscribe to our RSS feed.
  • Twitter
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • Facebook
  • Digg

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Slovaks told they can't mint religious coins

Posted on 4:58 PM by Unknown
BRATISLAVA (Times of India) - Stanislav Zvolensky, the Roman Catholic archbishop of the Slovak capital here, was thrilled when he was invited to Brussels three years ago to discuss the fight against poverty with the insistently secular bureaucracy of the European Union. "They let me in wearing my cross," the archbishop recalled.

It therefore came as a rude surprise when, late last year, the National Bank of Slovakia announced that the European Commission (EC), the union's executive arm, had ordered it to remove halos and crosses from special commemorative euro coins due to be minted this summer. The coins were intended to celebrate the 1,150th anniversary of Christianity's arrival in Slovak lands but have instead become tokens of the faith's retreat from contemporary Europe.

"There is a movement in the EU that wants total religious neutrality and can't accept our Christian traditions," said Zvolensky, bemoaning what he sees as rising a tide of militant secularism.

In a continent divided by many languages, vast differences of culture and economic gaps, the archbishop said that centuries of Christianity provide a rare element shared by all of the soon-to-be 28 members of the fractious union. Croatia, a mostly Catholic nation like Slovakia, joins next month.

Yet at a time when Europe needs solidarity and a unified sense of purpose to grapple with economic crisis, religion has instead become yet another a source of discord. It divides mostly secular Western Europe from profoundly religious nations in the east like Poland and those in between both in geography and in faith like Slovakia.

In nearly all of Europe, assertive secularists and beleaguered believers battle to make their voices heard. This leaves the EC under attack from all sides, denounced by atheists for even its timid engagement with religion and by nationalist Christian fundamentalists as an agent of Satan.
Email ThisBlogThis!Share to XShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest
Posted in | No comments
Newer Post Older Post Home

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Popular Posts

  • Bp. Vasilije of Tuzla and Zvornik and the sex scandal
    Bishop posing with Belgrade stripper Dejan Nestorovic Belgrade ( Radio Free Europe ) - The Serbian Orthodox Church has approved the resignat...
  • The Theophany of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
    Theophany of our Lord, Troparion, Tone 1 When Thou, O Lord, wast baptized in the Jordan,/ the worship of the Trinity was made manifest;/ for...
  • “Let us at least die like Christians!”
    From the Archangel Gabriel Orthodox Church's website , a rather stirring story on Christian death from the book Everyday Saints . I can ...
  • Pseudo-Cyril of Alexandria on the Eucharist and the Godhead
    From the blog Roger Pearse , a post on how a modern opinion gets conflated with a patristic source. A correspondent has written to me with a...
  • Of Copts and unicorns - μονοκερωτων
    From the blog On Coptic Nationalism, a post entitled Coptic Unicorn: It's Symbolism . The very prominent Coptologist, Alin Siciu, has re...
  • Palm Sunday in Ottowa
  • Harry Potter: an Orthodoxy story?
    ( Moscow News ) - Harry Potter, the world’s most famous child sorceror, is to become an Orthodox Christian figure, in a play written by a pr...
  • Egyptian police abet rioting Muslims vs. mourning Christians
    Cairo ( AINA ) - A media representative for Egypt's Catholic bishops echoed concerns that police sided with Islamic extremists who attac...
  • OCN responds to sacrilegious SNL skit
    ( OCN ) - The Orthodox Christian Network has asked for a public apology from NBC for airing an offensive skit which depicted Jesus as a reve...
  • UK Copts want to accept Chalcedonians by confession
    ( British Orthodox ) - The Synod of the British Orthodox Church has submitted a recommendation to the Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Patr...

Categories

  • books (2)

Blog Archive

  • ▼  2013 (500)
    • ►  August (47)
    • ►  July (73)
    • ▼  June (51)
      • First Orthodox church in Pakistan under construction
      • The Holy Spirit in the form of a dove
      • How Christians in America view Christians in the M...
      • Delegation from Constantinople meets with Pope Fra...
      • Rumors of beheadings just that claim multiple sources
      • Notes from first synodal meeting of Pat. John X of...
      • Many years to Abp. Elisey of Sourozh!
      • Orthodoxy in Oxford
      • Fire destroys chandlery and skete at Holy Cross Mo...
      • Orthodoxy in London
      • Blessing of a ship performed for first time in Taiwan
      • Fr. Joseph Huneycutt and Steve Robinson work on a ...
      • Slovaks told they can't mint religious coins
      • Google moves to wipe child pornography off the Int...
      • Church "membership" ≠ participation or understanding
      • The priesthood in a jurisdictional world
      • Belgium considers letting children choose to kill ...
      • Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, you righteous!
      • Greek Orthodox, Catholics partner on Internet chil...
      • Before the hate
      • A prayer before the wedding
      • The Star Wars mass...
      • St. Vlad's continues international relationship ex...
      • American Orthodoxy in "Progressive Captivity"
      • Chaldean Church updates: the Christian presence in...
      • Anglican-Oriental Orthodox International Dialogue ...
      • Atheist blames faith for sexual abuse, resigns ove...
      • Met. Nektarios of HK: Russian Taipei church is "sc...
      • Copts fleeing to Georgia in record numbers
      • The rise of the "abortion doula"
      • Bulgarian Met. Simeon of Western Europe resigns
      • Archbishop Seraphim (Storheim) trial beginning
      • The Americanization of Orthodoxy
      • Nailed it.
      • N.A. Orthodox–Catholic Theological Consultation meets
      • Belgium... Belgistan?
      • Pat. Kirill: Monks, get off the Internet.
      • Sacred Sandwich: T.J.Monx
      • Metropolitan of HK not happy with Russians opening...
      • Survey on Orthodox homeschooling
      • Paradise and Utopia - a history of Christendom
      • The Tantur Ecumenical Institute
      • Pat. Kirill at Athonite Russian Monastery of St. P...
      • Melkite hierarch decries Arab Spring "bloodbath"
      • On "Modest is Hottest"
      • Saint Peter in West Syriac liturgical tradition
      • Tomb of St. Gregory Palamas
      • On the new Certificate in Byzantine Music at Holy ...
      • The Texas Bible, where you all is y'all
      • Patriarch Kirill of Moscow in Athens this week
      • Parisian people take to streets for kidnapped Syri...
    • ►  May (95)
    • ►  April (71)
    • ►  March (63)
    • ►  February (56)
    • ►  January (44)
Powered by Blogger.

About Me

Unknown
View my complete profile