If you google "Oskari Juurikkala" you quickly get to an Opus Dei "interview with Oskari Juurikkala, from Finland, who is studying Law at the London School of Economics."
From the interview with recently converted 25 year old Oskari Juurikkala:
"What can Opus Dei contribute to European society in the 21st Century?"
Big question... Let's think what Europe needs. It certainly needs hope. Europe has been disillusioned by decades if not centuries of ideologies founded on hope in man alone without reference to God. Not surprisingly, such hopes have never quite lived up to their promises. In a sense we're still in a period of false hopes: hope in the almost salvific nature of material progress, economic growth etc. I don't think anyone deep down believes these things will make them happy, but they are clinging on to them because they have nothing else, and no one can live without hope.
Thanks for spotting that, and welcome on ET, by the way! *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
Why do you laugh? Those are plentiful in the European People's Party. "It's the statue, man, The Statue."
Depends on how you view conservatism, and whether or not one sees the religious aspect as instrumental (not necessarily consciously so). Traditional nineteenth century conservatism was anti free market liberalism, but a lot of that had to do with defending existing elites whose wealth, power, and status was based on land ownership and blood. Those elites are long gone, long live the new elites - whose wealth, power, and status depends on a different set of social values and rules. Of course plenty of Catholic fundies retain the old view, at least in part, but I don't see the new one as necessarily that outlandish.
Hahahahahahahaha!
Do you want a chastity belt with that? "It's the statue, man, The Statue."
