Why religious freedom?
April 27, 2012, 3:09 pm
Posted by Joseph A. Komonchak
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,830203,00.html
Der Spiegel online today has a story about the excavation of a mass grave of soldiers killed during the Battle of Lützen (1632), an event of the Thirty Years War remembered most for the death of King Gustav II Adolf of Sweden. Some 20,000 men fought in the battle, and between 6,000 and 9,000 of them are thought to have died. There was no clear victor. Among the items excavated is this bullet etched with a cross. Symbolic enough of why the old regime of Cuius regio eius
Der Spiegel online today has a story and photos about the excavation of a mass grave of soldiers killed during the Battle of Lützen (1632), an event of the Thirty Years War remembered most for the death of King Gustav II Adolf of Sweden. Some 20,000 men fought in the battle, and between 6,000 and 9,000 of them are thought to have died. There was no clear victor. Among the items excavated is this bullet etched with a cross. Symbolic enough of why the old regime of Cuius regio eius religio would eventually (after how many more deaths?) yield to regimes of religious freedom.
Did not the German Army wear somethng in WWII that echoed the Crusader “God will it” or is that a myth I’ve picked up somewhere? And we know how George Bush had to back down from calling our response to 9/11 a “crusade.” And then there’s the religious dimensions of wars in Africa… We have come a ways, but the wonderful insights of Fr. Lorenzo Albacete after 9/11 about religion and war are so insightful.. religion contains that power and “freedom” is always being redefined.
Yes, the old European regimes of “Cuius regio eius religio” did in time eventually give way to regimes of freedom of religion. JAK asks, “Why religious freedom?”
A number of factors contributed to the historical emergence of regimes of religious freedom. At the very minimum, I would say that the old regimes of “Cuius regio eius religio” had served their purposes and were no longer serving a widespread sense of purpose. The old regimes were corporatist and tribal in spirit. By contrast, the new regimes were more inwardly in spirit and more individuating in spirit.
Thanks for this chilling post, and equally chilling photograph.
The “God on our side” impulse remains with us today. “Coded references to New Testament Bible passages about Jesus Christ are inscribed on high-powered rifle sights provided to the U.S. military by a Michigan company…” is the opening of this 2010 ABC news story. http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/us-military-weapons-inscribed-secret-jesus-bible-codes/story?id=9575794
David Pasinski — according to Wikipedia, regular German troops in WWII wore “Gott mit uns,” God with us, on their belt buckles (the SS wore another motto), but the term goes back centuries before that. It seems to have been particularly a Protestant slogan, but as we all know the idea, if not the actual words, have been appropriated by many, not excluding Americans.
Thank you, Nicholas. I suppose there’s a thread back to “In hoc signo, vinces” legend.
Those bullets were quite persuasive. Today’s threats of excommunication are not.
C.V. Wedgwood, “The Thirty Years War” is one of the best works of history written in the last 80 years (yes, it’s really that good). After all these years it is still definitive and it is as good an introduction into the socio-economic disaster that gave birth to the modern European era as any. Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz were all of the generation that came of age by and large after the end of the war.
Jimmy Mac, just saw your comment. Those bullets were not persuasive. That’s why so many were fired.
“I suppose there’s a thread back to “In hoc signo, vinces” legend”
I watched a video today that pointed out that what Constantine saw was Έν τούτω νίκα (En touto nike). The Latinists got at it afterwards.
In their visualization what he saw was the Chi-Rho, not the Latin cross.
Barbara: those hit by those bullets were VERY persuaded.
As horror movie and video game fans know, vampires and witches are immune to normal bullets but vulnerable to bullets with a cross etched onto the point.
Used on humans in real life, bullets (the pointy ones) with a cross also have another advantage: apparently it helps the bullet make a bigger hole (by causing it to mushroom when it strikes a soft target) and causes more damage to the internal organs of a body. But that’s forbidden by the La Hague convention. (So the convention seems to forbid etching a cross on a bullet: isn’t that an violation of liberty of religion?)
But on round bullets like the one on the photo, I don’t think the cross makes it any more effective.
There is a difference between being convinced and being dead.
Early in the Old Evangelization of Europe, when Charlemagne was baptizing persuaded Saxons and killing the rest, a man’s lethal reach was limited by the length of his arm. By the time of the 30 Years War, use of advanced technology like muskets and the bullet shown above allowed killing to reach distances and numbers of people that had been unimaginable in centuries past. In the face of such progress, could it be that the rise of religious freedom reflected difficulty in finding enough new targets for continuing the religious wars?
” — could it be that the rise of religious freedom reflected difficulty in finding enough new targets for continuing the religious wars?”
Not really —–
http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/bishop-morlino-warns-dissenters-to-stop-or-else/article_7b4c5820-9187-11e1-bd38-001a4bcf887a.html
Jimmy, I wondered if that article is not exaggerating. What reasons does it have to claim that Bp Morlino is making all those threats? An addendum [to the letter] cites many church laws, including one in which anyone who publicly incites animosities or hatred toward church authorities “is to be punished by an interdict or other just penalties.”
At least, that’s what I was wondering. So I looked at the bishop’s letter itself.
http://stmaryplatteville.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/St-Mary-Platteville-School-Letter-from-Bishop-4-25-12.pdf
This is what I found inside the letter: I do this now in sincere hopes of avoiding the issuance of Canonical warnings in the days ahead. Attached to this communication, is a list of texts upon which I would ask you to reflect prayerfully. I have a responsibility to do what I can to foster stability, understanding, and healing [...]. Where there are women and men of good will ready to renew their efforts in this regard, [...]. Where there are individuals who do not truly seek the good, and who even work actively against it, where there are those who work to incite hatred, there may need to be more formal warning and action.” The letter is followed by two pages of quotes from Lumen Gentium, from the catechism, and from canon law.
I confirm that the article you linked to accurately reflects the tone of the bishop’s message. I cannot further comment on it right now. Only expletives come to mind.
Forgot to close italics after …action”
I was born and raised 9 miles south of Platteville. The Catholics in that part of Wisconsin – Grant County is heavily Catholc – are far from rabid radicals who take to the streets and burn down buildings. “Occupy Anything” they ain’t. They are, however, proud of their history and what they have accomplished personally and within and for their church.
There was a history of relatively benign bishops of the Diocese of Madison ever since it was carved out of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee in 1946. Morlino has caused more sturm und drang since his ordination in 2011 than all of the rest put together.
In his October 2012 letter to the parishioners of St. Mary’s and St. Augustine’s churches, he gave this example of how he views the rights of the laity to petition their grievances:
“Furthermore, activities such as protest-letter-writing seminars, leafleting of motor vehicles, door-to-door canvassing for signatures on a petition, etc (that is, exerting organized political pressure on people, where the end justifies any means) is an appropriate tactic in a political campaign, but not in the communion of faith which is the Catholic Church. Groups such as “Call to Action” and “Voice of the Faithful” regularly employ such tactics against legitimate authority in the Church. Because these groups dissent from basic tenets of Catholic Doctrine and Discipline, they are not recognized as Catholic in the Diocese of Madison, much less are they able to exercise legitimate authority. It is my hope that these clarifications will prove helpful.” http://www.madisondiocese.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=tg_cSAXqkrg%3d&tabid=81&mid=551
It seems that the unhappy parishioners should just recognize defeat, abandon their parish to the winning faction, and go to support and be supported by some other nearby parish. It’s not that hard and it gives people a vote: with their feet. Parishioners can’t choose their pastor, but people can choose their parish: that’s at least one freedom we have. This rewards popular pastors with numerical and financial affluence, and helps put a bit of balance in a system gone out of whack.
That was an Oct 2010 letter from Morlino, not 2012.
Thanks Jimmy. You know, you can as much as you want accumulate stories of behaviors that make our church hierarchy look bad, but as far as I am concerned, since the sexual abuse scandals the episcopacy and the Vatican have no credibility left to lose, so I am not quite sure what point you’re trying to make. Positive stories (of honest, transparent, respectful, tolerant, and beloved bishops) would be more newsworthy.
The war on religious freedom that never was: http://bit.ly/J61KOf
Bad news. Bishop Morlino is not so subtly threatening parishioners with interdiction, according to the Wisconsin State Journal.
http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/bishop-morlino-warns-dissenters-to-stop-or-else/article_7b4c5820-9187-11e1-bd38-001a4bcf887a.html