Ask Nathan Anything: Quarantine Edition

[Alcibiades]

The one time I went to Boston, I found it a very pleasant city, with a great ‘European’ ambience, refreshingly different from the typical North American downtown.

That was more of a general comment you can feel free to respond to, and as for an actual question, what is your opinion of the German-speaking (and I guess Low Countries is fairly similar) Catholic political tradition?

[Alcibiades]

Have you ever been to the UK? If so, where did you go and how did you find it, and if not, where you like to visit?

Also, sticking on the British theme, what are your thoughts on Evelyn Waugh (one of my favourite writers, not least because he was a comedic genius)?

[Alcibiades]

What is your view on religious education in schools? From what I gather, it is considered a violation of the First Amendment in the US, so it is banned in public schools, but in the UK (where of course there is no separation of church and state) it is a compulsory subject in all schools. At my CofE primary school, from what I can remember, lessons were largely focussed on Christianity, but I quite enjoyed the subject at my nonreligious secondary school, where I took it for the first three years and it was titled ‘Religion and Philosophy’; there were standard religious studies topics examining the beliefs and practices of Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism and Hinduism, but there were also units on the philosophy of religion, including arguments for and against the existence of God and the Ancient Greek influence on Christian philosophy, as well as covering ethics from a more secular perspective. How does this sound to you, and would you, if it were possible, like to see something like this in US public schools? As I said, I enjoyed it and it was delivered in a fair, balanced way, but I can imagine that at Catholic or CofE schools the focus might lead to non-Christians feeling excluded.

[Alcibiades]

What are your favourite Greek tragedies? Do you have a preference between any of the three Athenian tragic poets?