Although there are of course cultural differences, I sometimes wonder if sometimes culutural differences are assumed because of confusion over cultural cues. I once read something I am probably mangling in my memory about an American who was shocked at the deferential terms used by an employee to an employer & vice versa in the UK. The response was that the American employer/employee might phrase things differently – ‘Would you mind doing X?’ ‘Sure, John!’ but in both places everyone involved knows what the power relationships are and what’s an order and what’s really just a polite request. I think that’s true. Some North American workplaces can be very informal, everyone on a first name basis, no “sir” and “Smith”, but it’s probably not more equal than the UK example – people always know who is making a request and who is giving an order regardless of whether the order-givers carry their own luggage or not.

Orthodoxy is somewhat less hierarchical than Catholicism. No notion of infalibility. A synod of bishops who vote. Parish priests who advise parishoners very individually. The idea is that “the church is right, but individuals may not be,” including the patriarchs. So if the bishops vote for, I dunno, pews in churches and after a generation or two parishoners are still standing, everyone comes to the conclusion that “the church” (ie all the Orthodox people in the world) doesn’t want pews. Okay, it’s mumbo jumbo (leaves habit out of the equation), but the idea is basically democratic.

On the other hand, historically the church and state have been intertwined. My human rights friends in Russia are being driven mad by the church’s emphasis on “patience” these days. They believe it is profoundly anti-democratic and encourages people to be “patient” with whatever economic or social crisis the powers that be are causing. Real opiate of the masses stuff.

Thanks for reminding me of it Robert.

Yet while many of the Euros have ditched Chrsitianity, their respect for authority and their belief in the wisdom and and benevolence of those above them would often do credit to a subject of the Sun King.

If you want to find people who have no use for their “betters” and don’t confuse riches and power with wisdom and goodness, you want that Smokey Mountain congregation–or their urban equivalents. Even the Euros–even a Guardian writer, if you gave one long enough–can eventually figure out that religion and a deep suspicion of government are usually found together.

Read Poul Anderson’s “No Truce with Kings.” Anderson lived and died a devout Lutheran. And read “The Scouring of the Shire” (LOTR Book 6, Chaper 8) before you think of Tolkien as a monarchist again–yet Tolkien paid a considerable price for his Catholicism.

Some of us, you see, watch some philosopher or politician rewriting morality by whim and fashion, and we know that the idiot is sitting in God’s seat.

There can only be one Captain for the good reason that there should only be one person giving commands in an emergency. Two commanders leads to conflicting orders and confusion

I’m afaid I tend to take a lot of imagery as rather optional. The Christ the King imagery doesn’t bother me a bit, in fact, I enjoy it; but there are some things that, well, I have to grit my teeth and tell myself that I can’t have it all my way all the time. I’d *expect* people to have some imagery make sense and some not, and I suppose many people reject ideas that are expressed in ways that baffle them. Others just pick a different symbol. (And yet others, are baffled by all the symbols and accept the underlying premises, like me and the little flags and bunting and fireworks on national holidays).

What sometimes surprises me is the number of people who don’t seem to operate with symbolism at all, and aren’t interested in learning about them. I’m thinking here of Christians who regularly attend a church with a quite traditional structure – and have no idea about the symbolism built into the very bones of the building; who don’t see how various bits are where they are and set up the way they are to direct the people’s attention in certain ways. Some of them aren’t interested, either. For them, a church keeps the rain and snow off, and the architecture is only important to the extent that it has room for people to move around, or looks good in the wedding pictures. That seems like such an impoverished view.