Strasbourg Can Go to Hell

In an effort to show the world how bad an idea pan-nationalism has become, the European Court of Human Rights decided it had the right to alter the culture and history of a European country by ordering the Italian government to remove all crucifixes from public schools in name of (what else?) that much-abused and highly misunderstood concept: religious freedom.

Somehow, this has lit a fire under an increasingly complacent Italian society. The fact that mayors all over Italy are passing resolutions to defy the ruling, and that the Italian government has taken the the Jacksonian approach to stupid court rulings ("You've made your ruling. Now let's see you enforce them."), is an encouraging sign that all is not yet dead in Italy.



The very materials of which the ordinary, everyday crucifix is made are meant to fade into the bacground: not ivory or silver or gold, but dark wood and darker metal. It is just there in the background, so unnoticed that we do not think of it; that we blaspheme, cheat and fight in its presence; that we do not realize it is there - until.