Rome, Italy, Nov 11, 2004 / 22:00 pm
The re-election of George Bush in part because of moral issues, and the rejection of Italian politician Rocco Butiglione for a post on the European Commission because of his Catholic beliefs, have led two Italian intellectuals of opposite political persuasions to interesting conclusions about the relationship between faith and politics.
Massimo Cacciari, a left-wing philosopher and former mayor of Venice, said, “Bush mobilized grassroots supporters more consistently than Kerry, overcoming the contradiction between materialistic and moral interests by a call to strong values.”
In an interview with the Italian newspaper “Il Manifesto,” Cacciari argued, “The mobilization of Evangelical groups has been evidently formidable. It was carried out based on a vast appeal to ethics.”
“The left has convinced itself too quickly perhaps that politics are now separated from the values of heaven and hell,” Cacciari said.