More Sell The Vatican Feed the Poor Babble

It seems that when I post links to Morning Minion at Vox Nova it is usually because I am disagreeing with him. So its nice to post a link where I am mostly in agreement with him (THOUGH I AM NOT ENDORSING HIS ISRAEL RANT). See Sarah Silverman and the Pope. He has a very good link to an article in America (indeed hell is freezing over :) ) that should be read too on this issue.

I find this whole talking point tiresome. Let me say I am a conservative and a Republican that feels the Government has a role in the arts and such.

But let us focus more on the secular world. First people are under a very sad illusion of they think the Vatican has a "lot of money". Each year more times than not the Vatican is in a deficit. I actually talked to someone that thought the Vatican was making countless hundreds of millions because it charge admission to the Museums.

But there is another issue here. That is somehow art and Christianity do not go together. That is a pretty radical and new thought. Beauty and Christianity are linked and indeed are part of the voice of God.

When I hear this argument I rarely hear these same voices say. WHY DO WE HAVE THIS PRICELESS STUFF IN THE SMITHSONIAN MUSEUMS. Sell it all from the Ole Glory Flag to the art in the National Gallery!! How many people could have Health Care for Life if we sold the moon rocks!! You can also use this example on a much more local level. However there are reasons we don't have the ole glory flag in the personal collection of Madonna or the precious art of our Christian heritage in the private collection of Bill Gates.

Because both are a form of common patrimony that means something and is important. It is too important to just be in the hands of the rich. It needs to be gathered and it needs to be seen.

So while I am sure we could feed a lot of people if we sold the Declaration of Independence but perhaps that would be shortsighted.