Oddly Enough
The decision by the national authorities to choose Mazzoli's Baptism of Christ as a Maltese Euro coin design, has made the Reuters 'Oddly Enough' section:
Malta puts Jesus on coin; No ACLU in MaltaAn image of Christ's immersion in water by John the Baptist will be shown on Maltese euro coins, reflecting the cultural heritage of the deeply religious Mediterranean island, officials said Thursday...The image of the baptism of Jesus Christ is a reproduction of a marble sculpture at Valletta's St John Cathedral. Images of Malta's coat of arms and Stone Age temples of Mnajdra will also be included on coins.
A priest had spearheaded an e-mail campaign to include the baptism scene, selected through a public vote. "This image, apart from its artistic merit, can also serve as a reminder to Europe which seems to want to forget its Christian heritage," Brandon Gatt said in his e-mail, a reference to the EU's decision not to refer to its Christian heritage in its draft constitution.
posted by Robert Micallef at 2/03/2006 11:45:00 PM
I see no problem if what the Maltese want to put on their coins is a piece of art that happens to depict Jesus. That's fair enough. But no one should then say or intimate that this is because of the "deep religiosity" of the Maltese. Yeah it is true, Churches and medieval quaint practices are part of the local "culture". But this is in no way an expression of some deep religiosity. What one sees and hears more is blasphemy coming out from most people's mouths. On balance the Maltese are as religous as anyone else anywhere!!
On the contrary my friend, the choice of Christ's baptism is precisely that. It is a conscious decision that part (and I mean it) of the Maltese people are profoundly Christians (more exactly Roman Catholic Christians) I find it very defficult to call anyone one who blasphemes intentionally "a catholic". No one ever said Malta was 100% Catholic. The West's culture is taking care of that.
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