I Fought the Church and The Church Won.

This time of year is always a pain in the arse. My essays are due in on the 27th and everyone else has the books that I need. It hasn't been too bad though, Im slowly getting through my essays and they're proving to be quite interesting, i just wish that i started them earlier. The one that i am currently writing is about Christianity and Europe:can European Identity be based on the Christian faith? At first my immediate answer would be 'no, of course not' but looking at it historically its hard not to disagree. This essay has been quite a struggle in all, not because of the difficulty of the essay but because of the way in which i want to tackle the theme. Saying that, its made me read a lot about the history of Europe and how we've come this far. This, in turn made me think about the history lessons I had at school. To be fair Im sure the history teachers haven't got that much choice, but in a nutshell what they teach is absolute balls: England beat the Nazi's, it was a gloomy time, we all had to pull our socks up and sing dodgy songs. Hurrah! Then I think of all the war comedies that England have produced, Allo Allo, it ain't half hot mum, Dads Army, and my favourite Black Adder Goes Forth (hello darling!). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4TKTRV4HM0&NR=1
Ive lost my trail of thought, but anyway, Englands perspective of Europe is always us and them.

Christianity has arguably given Europe (and the new world through colonisation) fundamental principles such as equality, democracy, free speech however this doesn't necessarily mean that European identity has to still be based on the faith of such doctrines. My lecturer, Kathryn is convinced that the removal of religion in Europe would solve a lot of problems for most of its member states and the reason (she argues) that they do not remove Christianity is that it would cause more problems than what its worth. This is true. But for me, once it is done, then its done. It just needs one big push and thats it. i can vision it in true Monty python style: 'errr yeah, we dont believe in God anymore, hmm.. thats right, it was all just a big joke.'...'hahaha...' Although there has been talk (a new liberal pope, Europe at 50 and a left wing/conservative/green German president ) its just not going to happen. So were all forced to to listen to Christianity for the next 50 years. Great.

So back to this essay, I dont know where i am going with it. its like a big wobbly piece of dough, expanding all over the place, sticking to other objects and sucking them in. Islam: thats another part. Englands favourite topic: Muslims. Theres absolutely loads of them. There all going to vote for someone, surely they wont vote for Cameroon or Brown/Milliband/That drummer from Blur. And theyre certainly not going to vote for sarkozy or le pen in France. So whats going to happen? Are the EU institutions going to continue to stick there index fingers in their ears and sing blah blah blah? Who knows. Maybe this Jesus chap is going to come back and sort it all out.

Today I went to see my friend Felix's new flat by the Quays. It was a really nice place. We cooked chicken and mushroom pasta and everything was rosy. For afters we had strawberry ice cream and then spoke about carpets in English houses. Tomorrow I will hopefully finish this essay and move onto a new one. 11 days left!