"One experience especially demonstrated the force of Catholicism in Spain. I had taken a long walk out into the country on a narrow road that led to Oliveza, and on the way back I stopped to inspect a group of clean, good-looking buildings called the Maternity Hospital of the Virgin of Solitude, and as I stood at the gate a man came out whose wife had just been admitted and we spoke of the good work such hospitals did.
'Who runs them?' I asked.
'The Church. Who else?'
'Are there any public hospitals?'
'I don't know what you mean. The Church gives us our hospitals and schools. Don't they give you hospitals and schools in your country?'
'We provide such things with taxation.'
He pondered this for some moments, then asked, 'You mean the government taxes you for what the Church gives us? You have to pay for them out your own pocket?'
I tried to explain that in many countries, England and Germany for instance, taxes provided schools, but he interrupted, grabbing me by the arm. 'Tell me, would sensible men trust politicians to run a hospital? The Church you can trust.' He was unable to imagine a society which operated on a system of taxation, and his final question was, 'You mean to say you allow politicians to teach your children?' "Yes, I guess we do let them educate our children. The teachers hands are tied by the curriculum/agenda that the politicians set. Most of us can't afford private school, even if there is a decent one in the area.
Do you have a nightly debriefing at your house, and re-enforce your beliefs as opposed to the state's curriculum/agenda? All too often it seems that there is more of that and much less of teaching the 3 R's.
Since I first read this 15 years ago I still ask myself, "You mean to say the you allow politicians to teach your children?"
Today I ask, "Tell me, would sensible men trust politicians to run a hospital?"
