“… I don’t adopt a religious approach to any of this. … Why should I? I fight these battles because of secular common sense. … I want answers to these questions that are credible.” – Giorgia Meloni
Meloni gave a great and now famous 13-minute speech to the World Congress of Families on 30 March 2019 in Verona Italy. It ended famously with her quote from Chesterton – “Fires will be kindled to testify that two and two make four. Swords will be drawn to prove that leaves are green in summer.” (from Heretics, 1905) to which in conclusion she added, “That time has arrived. We are ready. Thank you.”
But something the Christian-based Congress needed to hear was this, around eight minutes into her speech:
“… I don’t adopt a religious approach to any of this. I believe in God, but I don’t adopt a religious approach. Why should I? I fight these battles because of secular common sense. I am a person who asks myself uncomfortable and profound questions. And I want answers to these questions that are credible. And all too often the high priests of one-track thinking are incapable of giving answers that make sense.”
I wish all of our religious conservative allies were that sensible.
By the way, I made a full transcript of the speech from the subtitles provided by YouTube host and translator Cassius in this video…
Yes, I also wish our religious allies would take her approach of fighting these battles out of common sense, rather than religion, which just hinders the debate by giving the left fodder to attack us as “Christian Nationalists”, aka Nazis.
That’s also one of Trump’s good qualities, yet they attack him, and Maloni, as Nazis anyway.
It would be a very good thing if a Meloni government could last for a few years. I hope it will. But Italian governments habitually come and go with bewildering rapidity.
“… I don’t adopt a religious approach to any of this. … Why should I? I fight these battles because of secular common sense. … I want answers to these questions that are credible.” – Giorgia Meloni
This is something I’ve been advocating to the religious conservatives I know. Only those who accept the scriptures and interpretive traditions peculiar to a particular denomination or cult are in any way intellectually bound by them. All others can reject them out-of-hand.
I wish all of our religious conservatives allies were that sensible.
Not only that, but anybody can say things like “I have God-given rights” – to health care, food and housing, etc. … or say that something or other is against God’s law, etc. Basically it all comes down to a groundless claim of divine justification. “I get my morality and political principles from God! Where do you get yours?” And if you disagree with the believer and his or her morality or politics, then you disagree with God almighty.
