Rosina Lila's Posting this morning

[Evelyn Rodriguez]

Great points you made. Unfortunately I think the impact of your posting is
affected by the obviousness of your own edge around tolerance of religious
people (I don't think "tolerance" of others is quite enough, but that's an
aside). It showed through in statements such as "...those who believe in
the fairy tales of one particular religious cult or another."

I certainly don't proclaim to be perfect practitioner myself.  Hopefully
the Camino will help me practice with the edge of my own patience, love,
compassion and understanding.

Evelyn

Quoting "E. O. Pederson" <eldorpaHOTMAIL.COM>:

> Dear Ms. Lila,
> While your contributions to GoCamino are often useful and interesting
> ones, including part of your posting today, I must take serious exception
> to your comment:
> "I've often been mystified by the repeated efforts of some pilgrims to
> deChristianize the Camino  (whyever (sic) do they go?); perhaps I'll find
> some explenations (sic) to that puzzlement in this book." (italics
> added)
> I find that statement profoundly offensive and illustrative of a deep
> ignorance of human motivation, of European cultural history, and indeed
> of the religious cult you profess. A great many (I would venture to say a
> majority based on the people I have come in contact with) of those who
> walk the Camino do not have a particular religious belief as their
> primary motivation or even as a motivation. Many, like myself, are
> confirmed atheists and agnostics who walk the route because of its links
> with European, and by extension world, culture and history, because of
> the (admittedly tiny) glimpses it gives of the ways in which our
> ancestors lived and because of the wonderful people, landscape,
> architecture and art along the route. Some go for the solitude and the
> opportunity to think that walking great distances can provide. Others go
> simply because they are fond of long-distance walking in an interesting
> region. All of those motivations are valid and important ones, and to
> impugn!
>   them is to offend those who do not share your belief in one particular
> codified set of myths. Perhaps you are unaware that the route has been
> officially declared a European Cultural Itinerary and part of the
> patrimony of humankind, and thus it is the common property of all,
> regardless of religion or absence of same.
> If I professed christianity and it were my only motivation for making a
> pilgrimage, I would not follow the Camino. Indeed I would be thoroughly
> ashamed that my religion had any association with it. Quite aside from
> the fantastical tales that led to the christian pilgrimage in the first
> place (though the road to Fisterra was undoubtedly a pilgrimage route
> long before the stone boat floated in and, indeed, long before
> christianity was cobbled together by the Romans for political and
> military purposes), the Camino and the saint it honors have been
> associated with some of the most hideous and despicable acts in European
> history, beginning with the expulsion of the Moors and recently
> concluding (or one hopes it concluded) with the atrocities committed by
> Franco and his cronies in the falange under the blessings of the church
> and the banner of Santiago. Santiago peregrino is a "santa claus" figure
> and rather lovable as such, but pride of place inside the cathedral in
> Santiago i!
>  s given to a statue of Santiago matamoros. Santiago matamoros stood for,
> and in the minds of many continues to stand for, limpieza de sangre, the
> purity of blood and thus of religion that was, among other things, the
> foundation of the inquisition and its well-known horrors. If I were a
> christian and adhered to all the values that religion claims now to hold,
> Santiago matamoros would be to me a figure of revulsion and contempt, a
> religious symbol used to justify mass murder first in Spain itself and
> later in the various places it colonized. If christians make the
> pilgrimage, perhaps it should be made to expiate the sins committed in
> the name of Santiago.
> The Camino is part of the cultural patrimony of humankind, and it is
> rightfully open to all who wish to make the trek. It is not the exclusive
> property of those who believe in the fairy tales of one particular
> religious cult or another. If one goes with religious motivation, so be
> it, but pilgrims must remember that many make the trek for quite valid
> reasons that have little or nothing to do with professed religious
> belief, and especially with the professions of any one particular cult.
> Those who go even though they do not profess a particular religion are
> not trying to "de-christianize" the Camino, for it was never strictly a
> christian place.  The Camino as it has reemerged in the past generation
> is now overtly inclusive, and if there is any value that should be
> associated with it, that value is tolerance. All of the motivations
> leading to a pilgrimage should be tolerated and honored in order that the
> Camino not become a place exclusively fo!
>  r the followers of Santiago matamoros.
> E. O. Pederson
> Seattle, WA
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