The Sunflower
The Sunflower
Welcome to the Sunflower. This website is meant to be an oasis of Christian civilization in the middle of pagan land. Its symbol is the sunflower, which, no matter where is planted, remains oriented to the One who gives it light.
With these webpages I would like to write down my thoughts about a number of topics of interest for everybody, and to give a witness of a voice inspired by Christian faith on them.
The purpose is neither to defend, nor to attack. Crusades are over, thanks God.
Another purpose of these pages is to provide a simple, yet complete and correct exposition of the reasons of Christianity for those who don't know it. I am impressed by the deep ignorance about the basics of Christianity that is so widespread in the society I live in. This is reflected in the misconceptions about Christian doctrine on various topics relevant to society. Most often, the teachings of Christianity are distorted, reduced to a purely human point of view, and discarded as old-fashioned, inapplicable, hypocritical or all of the above.
I would like to stress at this point that I am by no means an authority on philosophy or theology. I am just a normal lay follower of the Roman Catholic Church, who tries to give himself (and hopefully to others) some clarity on the sense of life (for a more direct presentation of myself and my direct environment, please see Mami and Federico's Homepage). I beg therefore those who are more knowledgeable than me to correct the doctrinal errors or imprecisions that I may introduce in my writings.
One more word about what I mean by Christianity. I will try here, as much as possible, to refer to concepts that are common to all Christians of all denominations. It is obvious that, as a Catholic, what I know better is the Roman Catholic teaching, and therefore I take that as a reference. The spirit of this website, however, is to stress the 90% of things we Christians have in common, rather than the 10% on which we disagree.
In conclusion, you'll find here examples of good Christian common sense, as well as specimens of Christian folly.
If you find this website interesting, be sure to come back frequently, as new articles are added and old ones are constantly updated.
My purpose is not either to convert anyone, in a sense. I believe it is not a man who converts another man. It is God who does that. If anything, a man can give his own example, and his own account (what you'll find here) of a Christian life, and this may help triggering conversion.
Rather, my own reflection on my faith led me to feel with urgency the exortation by St. Peter that Christians should always be ready to give the reasons of their faith. These pages are written to make clear to myself these reasons, and to provide to others a plain, open, smiling Christian view of the world. Everybody is welcome to read these pages and to use them as a starting point for their own path of reflection about society, man, God and the world, or to bring up their own vision of the world in a frank and respectful spirit of discussion.
Yet, Christianity is made of simple and accessible concepts. A 5-year old child can grasp its main points and act consequently.
Besides, a lot of what Christianity teaches can be reached by the human mind without the need of invoking divine intervention, and therefore can be understood and accepted by all men. This implies that, in principle, a rational, undistorted explanation of these teachings and how they reflect on our everyday life should be sufficient to all people of good will to see Christianity in its proper light. It is precisely this rational exposition that I'll strive to provide.
On the other hand, I am not trying to rewite the Cathechism here (if you are a Catholic faithful, and even if you aren't, you can refer to the official text). On a number of topics where faith is compatible with free choice of opinion, I will give my own ideas. I will do my utmost to avoid the trap of proposing my own ideas as articles of faith of Christianity or as the official advice of the Church. In these cases I'll try therefore to stress that what you are reading are Federico Canzian's opinion, and that you can be an excellent Christian and be in perfect disagreement!
It follows also that, when I speak of Church, what I have before my eyes is the Catholic Church, of which I take pride of being a faithful, but what I have in my mind is the truly universal Church of Christ.
I hope you will appreciate my sincere efforts to understand better my own faith. I hope as well that no one will be offended by what is written here. Please take it as the externations of somebody who has been charmed by something bigger and better than anything a human mind can conceive, and would like to share this beauty with the others.
Hate-mail here, please.
This page was created by
Federico Canzian
Free Thinker
Molecular Geneticist
This page hosted by
Get your own Free Home Page
Last updated 18 January 2004
