On Burning Churches

The poet W.H. Auden regained his Christian faith after reflecting on the burning of churches during the Spanish Civil War. He’d gone to the war an idealistic Marxist-materialist-atheist, but the burning of churches disturbed him. In trying to discover reasons for his distress, he returned to his Christian belief.

            Atheism presents itself as a wise reasonable alternative to the fires of faith. This is neither new nor reasonable. Revolutionary France turned Notre Dame Cathedral into a Temple of Reason. It doesn’t last. Icons and churches once burned in Orthodox Russia.

            Treasures of art and music may burn with the church. Churches hold the reverence of our ancestors, so burning churches may symbolise obliteration of ancient civilisations.          

            Churches burn for many reasons: if someone lights the hedge on fire and it spreads to the church, is it accidental? Deliberately firing a building is arson, a crime. In 1936, Gaudi’s plans and models for the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona burned when the church was set on fire by revolutionaries: the models are being reconstructed as work on this mighty basilica continues.

            When churches burn, the faith of the congregation continues to flow like fire. A church stands a holy island amid the waves of worldly space. When any church burns, the most important question will be: who has the photographs, drawings, and plans?