Wow, I’m not going to lie, I’m surprised I have to explain this particular element of this. So, the thing is, people can say something and mean something different.
I picked social Darwinsism as an example both because it was “secular,” was proliferated through the US largely through Christian proselytization, and happened to legitimise preexisting settler-colonial notions of race and class. When people say it isn’t Christian, they are doing so to salvage those settler values (inextricably linked to Christianity both ideogically and historically), not actually transition away from them. In the same way liberals today will often speak of anti-racism and anti-transphobia, but never about how those movements are fundamentally opposed to a liberal system.
Also, this may be a result of the difference in Christian architecture through much of the US today, but the painting of Washington in the clouds with angels on the inside of a dome is nearly triggering for me in its familiarity as someone who has been subjected to Christian and Catholic churches for much of my life. Even if that wasn’t so, and this was meant to evoke some vague sense of divinity, I’m afraid that would still be religious, and the fact that it is in a neoclassical building further demonstrates the attempted continuity between ancient Roman and Greek imperialism through the evocation of their religious iconography, which is where much of the Christian imagery in Euro-imperialist countries developed from.
You know why JFK used Winthrop? Anxiety over his identity as a Catholic in a majority Protestant country.
If you don’t actually analyze what people say, and only take them at face value, you are going to be taken advantage of very often. Now, before you respond, you worded this comment as though you think youre some authority on the topic (stating your views as fact), so I hope you can at least stop and reconsider how you know what you think in light of this.
I’m sorry, it appears that you’ve confused angels with “Greek Gods”, like Dionysus, Poseidon, Hermes, etc., and their entourage.
Ouch, very embarrassing for you. Clouds and sun are not any more “Christian” than Apollo and Icarus and Mount Olympus.
You may want to research remedial Greek Mythology and look again; the architecture is also classical Greek, about as Christian as the Great Pyramids.
Also, you might want to refresh your internal definition of “apotheosis”, educate yourself so that you don’t humiliate your family any further.
So, in closing, learn about the Greek Mythos and then use that new knowledge to identify the “angels”, and then come back to apologize humbly. Now, go forth and SIN NO MORE.
Wow, I’m not going to lie, I’m surprised I have to explain this particular element of this. So, the thing is, people can say something and mean something different.
I picked social Darwinsism as an example both because it was “secular,” was proliferated through the US largely through Christian proselytization, and happened to legitimise preexisting settler-colonial notions of race and class. When people say it isn’t Christian, they are doing so to salvage those settler values (inextricably linked to Christianity both ideogically and historically), not actually transition away from them. In the same way liberals today will often speak of anti-racism and anti-transphobia, but never about how those movements are fundamentally opposed to a liberal system.
Also, this may be a result of the difference in Christian architecture through much of the US today, but the painting of Washington in the clouds with angels on the inside of a dome is nearly triggering for me in its familiarity as someone who has been subjected to Christian and Catholic churches for much of my life. Even if that wasn’t so, and this was meant to evoke some vague sense of divinity, I’m afraid that would still be religious, and the fact that it is in a neoclassical building further demonstrates the attempted continuity between ancient Roman and Greek imperialism through the evocation of their religious iconography, which is where much of the Christian imagery in Euro-imperialist countries developed from.
You know why JFK used Winthrop? Anxiety over his identity as a Catholic in a majority Protestant country.
If you don’t actually analyze what people say, and only take them at face value, you are going to be taken advantage of very often. Now, before you respond, you worded this comment as though you think youre some authority on the topic (stating your views as fact), so I hope you can at least stop and reconsider how you know what you think in light of this.
Edit: oh, also, look up what Apotheosis means.
I’m sorry, it appears that you’ve confused angels with “Greek Gods”, like Dionysus, Poseidon, Hermes, etc., and their entourage.
Ouch, very embarrassing for you. Clouds and sun are not any more “Christian” than Apollo and Icarus and Mount Olympus.
You may want to research remedial Greek Mythology and look again; the architecture is also classical Greek, about as Christian as the Great Pyramids.
Also, you might want to refresh your internal definition of “apotheosis”, educate yourself so that you don’t humiliate your family any further.
So, in closing, learn about the Greek Mythos and then use that new knowledge to identify the “angels”, and then come back to apologize humbly. Now, go forth and SIN NO MORE.