Vacuums, not mantras

The holy of holies in your living room

The interior of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. I love more-is-more, but come on.

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The first time I visited St. Peter's in Rome, I was overcome with disgust. The largesse and opulence betrayed the message of Christ as badly as the inappropriate luxury of the (if not artistically splendorous) cathedral in Assisi betrays the humility of St. Francis. Luckily, I went to Rome on a subsequent trip and was able to enjoy the aesthetic and architectural marvel that is the basilica while my husband (his first time) seethed and grumbled about the obscenity of it all. Just to make sure we're not Catholic-bashing alone, the same can be said of the Mormon temple in Salt Lake, the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, the Sikh Golden Temple in Amritsar, or any of the monuments to power visited by millions around the world. Each is a compensation for our misgivings about the institutions' false virtue.