[Vision2020] Destruction of religious symbols

[Ralph Nielsen]

Thank you, Nick, for your item on the destruction of the Buddhas in  
Afghanistan. Isn't it weird that some religions encourage this kind  
of vandalism? No art, no music! How sad.

In the Calvinist parts of the Netherlands we can visit beautiful old  
churches built by the Catholics, but there is only plain glass in the  
windows. All the stained glass windows were destroyed by enthusiastic  
followers of John Calvin, like little boys with pocketsfull of  
stones. But they didn't destroy the beautiful old organs. Instead,  
they were put to use playing secular music to amuse the public before  
the hellfire was preached.

In old Lutheran churches in Denmark and north Germany we can now see  
fascinating old murals painted in the early years of Christianity in  
those countries. The followers of Luther were not quite as  
iconoclastic as the Calvinists. They just whitewashed them and left  
them that way for centuries. But this did not destroy them; instead,  
it preserved them. So today the good Lutherans are carefully chipping  
off the old whitewash to reveal the vigorous half-Viking, half- 
Christian art in its original colors.

Luther, unlike Calvin, enjoyed music in church services, so the  
organs continued to be used for their original purpose. Luther also  
borrowed a lot of popular music for his hymns with the quip, "Why  
should the devil have all the best tunes?"

Ralph