S. M. King Albert I is remembered best as the "Soldier King" but the Cross of Laeken weblog shows The Piety of King Albert I, he was a sincere Christian. I was baptized and I go to church on occasion, I admit then I am not an extremely religious person. I believe in God and all, I think my church is the right one and all but I am just not the very religious type I suppose. I have to say also that I think religion is a good thing, I admire those people who excel at it and King Albert I seems all the more admirable to me for that. Religion used to be one of the things that united all Belgians. Regardless of region or language, everyone was a Catholic and always had been. That was very important I think to the national identity. Now that is not much the case anymore and I will confess that my generation and people like me are probably in part to blame for being more casual about it. I may not be very zealous but I would hate to see the religious identity of the country disappear and reading that posting about King Albert I, this makes me question, what would the great Soldier-King think about the state of religion in Belgium today and more pointedly what would such a strong Catholic man think about the number of Muslims in Belgium today? The more I read the more I think he would not be very happy in fact for a man who was such a strong Catholic and wanted and fought for a strong, Christian, united and independent Belgium I think he would be heartbroken to see what the country he passed on has come to. My apologizes for seeming so negative today, I really try to look for good views but sometimes...
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
The 'Christian' Soldier-King
S. M. King Albert I is remembered best as the "Soldier King" but the Cross of Laeken weblog shows The Piety of King Albert I, he was a sincere Christian. I was baptized and I go to church on occasion, I admit then I am not an extremely religious person. I believe in God and all, I think my church is the right one and all but I am just not the very religious type I suppose. I have to say also that I think religion is a good thing, I admire those people who excel at it and King Albert I seems all the more admirable to me for that. Religion used to be one of the things that united all Belgians. Regardless of region or language, everyone was a Catholic and always had been. That was very important I think to the national identity. Now that is not much the case anymore and I will confess that my generation and people like me are probably in part to blame for being more casual about it. I may not be very zealous but I would hate to see the religious identity of the country disappear and reading that posting about King Albert I, this makes me question, what would the great Soldier-King think about the state of religion in Belgium today and more pointedly what would such a strong Catholic man think about the number of Muslims in Belgium today? The more I read the more I think he would not be very happy in fact for a man who was such a strong Catholic and wanted and fought for a strong, Christian, united and independent Belgium I think he would be heartbroken to see what the country he passed on has come to. My apologizes for seeming so negative today, I really try to look for good views but sometimes...
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Frankly, I think (sadly) that he would be appalled at the present condition of Belgium.
ReplyDeleteI do try to emphasize the role of religion in the lives of Albert I (and others) especially as I think it tends to be forgotten. Some seem to think only of Baudouin as the religious one in the dynasty.
King Baudouin was very religious I think (didn't he really want to be a priest?) but also that image of him probably comes from the fact that he wasn't MORE religious than past kings but that the people were LESS religious than the past generations had been. What I mean, the things King Baudouin was noteworthy for would not in the past have been much remarkable. He opposed abortion, most know that, and he seems very zealous religious for opposing something that is just ordinary accepted today but for past kings the public would never have considered such a thing, everyone would have been against it. So, King Baudouin probably looks more religious just because people today are less religious than in the past.
ReplyDeleteWell, the Church itself has been in so much trouble, since Vatican II especially.
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