COTG #55

The 55^th edition of the Carnival of the Godless is up at Kingdom of Heathen. It appears that Aeger, the host, may have missed that Jeff G's post was arguing against the veracity of the "argument from religious experiences" -- "Indeed, I will conclude that by taking such religious experiences seriously, by not degrading them, the skeptic has a powerful argument against such an argument for God."

The pope said yesterday,

"Today there is talk of secular thought, secular morality, secular science, secular politics." A concept that must be rejected because it is based on "an unreligious vision of life, thought and morality: in other words a vision in which there is no room for God, for a Mystery that transcends pure reason, for a moral law of absolute value that is in effect all the time and in every situation."

He's sweating a bit, methinks, because of the accelerating trend to split church from state in the EU, and the increasing reality of "a post-Christian Europe":

Many of the new EU states were among the strongest voices in the unsuccessful effort to add a mention of God or Christianity in the EU constitution, which was effectively mothballed after rejection last year by voters in France and the Netherlands. The EU hopes to restart the ratification process, with some officials setting a target of 2008...

In Greece, the head of the powerful Greek Orthodox Church, Archbishop Christodoulos, said he would not object to a "velvet separation" between church and state, which would allow the church to retain its tax breaks and other privileges but would eliminate clergy from presiding at official events such as the swearing-in of political leaders...

Anglican clergy in Britain — where the crown is the nominal head of the Church of England — have been steadily dropping the practice of including prayers for the monarch in another small but noticeable crack in the church-state structure, which could come under further strains if Prince Charles takes the throne because of disputes over his divorce and remarriage...

Norway, which is not an EU member but has close economic ties with the bloc, opened hearings in April on whether to separate church and state after 469 years of Lutheranism as its official religion. A government panel recommended the split in January, but it could not happen until at least 2014 because of rules on changing the constitution. Neighboring Sweden ended its "official" Lutheran church in 2000...

"We are witnessing post-Christian Europe taking shape," said Jonathan Bartley, co-director of Ekklesia, a London-based group that examines religious and social trends. "The remaining alliances of religion and governments don't make sense anymore, in many people's eyes, and they are coming apart"...What may emerge in coming decades, experts say, is a greater presence of religious-oriented groups seeking to shape public policies as Europe becomes more culturally and religiously diverse.

Ah, don't sweat it, Pontiff, we don't blame you. Well, at least some of us don't.
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