Questions

I am beginning to get a glimpse of the religious climate in Spain. My classes, interesting lunchtime discussions with my host family, conversations with the Clemson RUF campus minister, and visiting the cathedral are combining to teach me how the people here view God. To be honest, the more I learn the more I realize how little I understand. Wikipedia says "Spain has been seen as a graveyard for foreign missionaries among Evangelical Protestants." Supposedly there are only 25 or so Protestant churches in all of Spain. Why is this? Is it that the nominal Catholicism is seen as a ploy of the government? (And it was, because the initial unification of Spain was dependent on getting rid of everyone but the Catholics.) Is it the post World War abandonment of God that reigns in all of Europe? Is it something else, or a combination of countless variables?

 

In every church, you can pay to light candles at the little chapels. I don't understand the purpose of this.

Everywhere you look the decorations are incredibly and overwhelmingly ornate. Each time I walk into a cathedral I can't help but ask "Lord, are you here?" I don't know the answer. I know that God is glorified through art, even if it's not religious. But I have no way of knowing the motives of the people who created it. Often it feels oppressive, and not worshipful.

Above is an arm of some saint in the Salamanca cathedral. 

All in all, I'm left with lots of questions, and am wishing I remembered my history a little bit better.