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Letters from 10 July to 16 July 2006

Like all letters to the editor everywhere, these letters are the opinions of the writers and not Anglicans Online. We publish letters that we think will be of interest to our readers, whether we agree with them or not. If you'd like to write a letter of your own, click here.

Letter to the editor

Not long ago I stood in the British Museum, feeling almost lost in the vastness of the chamber in which the Elgin Marbles are displayed, thinking about the issue of museums holding artifacts whose former owners consider them to have been looted. In the center of that room was a small display offering brochures that explain the conflict. The brochure said:

The British Museum's Trustees argue that the Parthenon sculptures are integral to the Museum's purpose as a world museum telling the story of human cultural achievement. Here Greece's cultural links with the other great civilizations of the ancient world, especially Egypt, Assyria, Persia and Lycia, can be clearly seen, and the vital contribution of ancient Greece to the development of later cultural achievements in Europe, Asia, and Africa can be followed and understood.

Somehow I am able to understand this point of view when the artifacts in question are cultural rather than religious. But when religious symbols are involved, holding them elsewhere feels to me like an attempt to turn someone else's faith into a quaint foreign culture.

I am glad that Anglicans Online commented on this issue. Since it doesn't involve sex, it hasn't been discussed much in recent years.

Julian Windsor
Between parishes
Dayton, Ohio, USA
16 July 2006

Earlier letters

We launched our 'Letters to AO' section on 11 May 2003. All published letters are in our archives.