Notre Dame reminds us how the Bible stories have shaped our civilisation | John Barton
Great cathedrals and the gospels stand for so much more than religion – evoking human endurance and a quest for beauty
Cathedrals belong to everyone. In vox pop interviews in secular France after the Notre Dame fire we heard so often: “I’m an atheist, but Notre Dame is part of me.” Reactions in Britain would be the same: a great cathedral stands for so much more than religion, narrowly conceived. It represents human skill, the quest for beauty and the continuity of communities over a length of time far greater than even many lifetimes. Attendance at cathedral services now bucks the national downward trend in the Church of England, but does not necessarily signal a widespread conversion to Christianity.
At Easter, it seems natural to commentators to
