No faith in Catholicism

The opponents of the European Court of Human Rights' crucifix ruling are using contradictory arguments, writes Fernanda Câncio in the daily Diário de Notícias: "The Vatican, using [the Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio] Bertone as a vehicle, complains that the Europe of the third millennium uses pumpkins to celebrate Halloween yet wants to remove its most cherished symbols. … Without commenting on the comparison between crucifixes and a vegetable used as a decoration … these arguments reveal profound contradictions. … It's very unserious … to maintain at the same time [as making this comparison] that removing the crucifixes is an attack on religious freedom. All the more so given that those who defend the presence of the crosses in state schools cannot be unaware … that they were placed there for a very clear reason, namely to bind the state to a religion. … And this is the very reason why the defenders of this situation want them there: because they lack confidence in their religion's power to attract followers and therefore want to impose it on others."

» full article (external link, Portuguese)
More from the press review on the subject » Religion, » Weltanschauung, » Italy, » Europe
All available articles from » Fernanda Câncio

» To the complete press review of Friday, November 6, 2009