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Seville

ATOP this city’s vast Gothic cathedral—built in a century-long surge of pious enthusiasm following the Christian Reconquista of Moorish Andalusia—stands the figure of Faith. The irony of making Faith a weathervane has often been noted; but it does not seem a wholly inapposite comment on a post- Christian Spain and a post-Christian Europe as they face a Muslim world increasingly radicalized by Osama bin Laden. Neglected and ignored, Faith has been whirling pointlessly in the last few decades. Buffeted now by this hot reviving wind from the East, however, will Faith swing back into fashion, either in her original religious intensity or diluted into a sort of cultural loyalty?

About the Author

John O’Sullivan

John O’Sullivan is a senior fellow at National Review Institute and a contributing editor of National Review.

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Seville

ATOP this city’s vast Gothic cathedral—built in a century-long surge of pious enthusiasm following the Christian Reconquista of Moorish Andalusia—stands the figure of Faith. The irony of making Faith a weathervane has often been noted; but it does not seem a wholly inapposite comment on a post- Christian Spain and a post-Christian Europe as they face a Muslim world increasingly radicalized by Osama bin Laden. Neglected and ignored, Faith has been whirling pointlessly in the last few decades. Buffeted now by this hot reviving wind from the East, however, will Faith swing back into fashion, either in her original religious intensity or diluted into a sort of cultural loyalty?