Rainbows, traffic lights, and the New Civil Religion<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Here's a picture from our walk around Munich yesterday. Yes, that's a Gay Pride crosswalk -- also available in Amsterdam and elsewhere in Europe. Also all\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/07\/rainbows-traffic-lights-and-the-new-civil-religion.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rainbows, traffic lights, and the New Civil Religion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here's a picture from our walk around Munich yesterday. Yes, that's a Gay Pride crosswalk -- also available in Amsterdam and elsewhere in Europe. 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{"id":4792,"date":"2016-07-13T13:21:25","date_gmt":"2016-07-13T19:21:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?p=4792"},"modified":"2016-07-13T13:30:20","modified_gmt":"2016-07-13T19:30:20","slug":"rainbows-traffic-lights-and-the-new-civil-religion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/07\/rainbows-traffic-lights-and-the-new-civil-religion.html","title":{"rendered":"Rainbows, traffic lights, and the New Civil Religion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Here\u2019s a picture from our walk around Munich yesterday.<\/p>\n

$\"IMG_1524\"$ <\/p>\n

Yes, that\u2019s a Gay Pride crosswalk \u2014 also available in Amsterdam and elsewhere in Europe.<\/p>\n

Also all over Europe? \u00a0Rainbows.<\/p>\n

No, I don\u2019t have any pictures to share. \u00a0But: \u00a0rainbow \u201czebra stripes\u201d at the crosswalk in Antwerp. \u00a0Rainbow flags everywhere you turn around in London, including government buildings (including, among others, the Canadian consulate flying the Canadian and a rainbow flag) and office buildings, and, when I went into the office one morning, the company was giving away rainbow lanyards for Pride Week. \u00a0Same in Amsterdam, and I imagine elsewhere too.<\/p>\n

At the same time \u2014 well, in Augsburg, as I described earlier, it was the end of the Ulrichswoche<\/a>, or \u201cSt. Ulrich\u2019s week,\u201d a celebration of the patron saint of Augsburg<\/a>. \u00a0And Catholic (and Lutheran) traditions are still a part of the city, especially with the Christkindlmarkt at Christmastime, and continuing integration of religion into the schools, with end-of-school church services. \u00a0True, there isn\u2019t much church-going among Augsburgers themselves, but nonetheless, Christianity seems to still continue as a civil religion, as a part of a common heritage fostering connectedness along with other traditions.<\/p>\n

In London? \u00a0Well, I\u2019m not sure what binds London together, actually, except for perhaps an ideology of Londonness, that is, a superiority to the rest of the country, and a quasi-religious pride, at least officially, in the diversity of the city \u2014 and Gay Pride celebrations seem to be the high point.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, when religious traditions, when heritage can\u2019t be celebrated, not officially at least, due to the exclusionary nature of the those celebrations, Pride celebrations seem the natural replacement.<\/p>\n

And, like any good State Religion, Gay Pride-ism becomes compulsory.<\/p>\n

So what next? \u00a0I don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"