What's a god to a nonbeliever?

Based off the Kanye quote in the title, I'm going to add a sort of atheist reflection at the end of this post. But first let's jump right in to today's visits. 

The first church we went to was the church of St. Clemente. In the style of Rome, the current church is built over a fourth century church, which was built over a first century neighborhood. The reason the church is in its location is that it is believed that St. Clemente once ran a house church in that neighborhood. The old neighborhood was recently excavated, so we got to go down there and walk around. One thing that confused me is that the dimensions of the rooms were not what they were in the first century. The archeologists built brick walls to keep the churches supported while they were digging, so that was much of what we saw. Professor White showed us the distinctive tiling that meant it was an original wall, but it was still harder to picture what life would have really been like. 

Next we went up into the fourth century church. It was interesting to learn that they had to fill in most of the archways to provide support after a massive earthquake. They then painted the walls with murals depicting events after the martyrdom of St. Clemente, which have survived to the present. 

In the actual church, I learned that a bishop named Mercury was the first man to change his name when he became pope (to John). He did that because Mercury was a pagan god, and it would not be okay for the pope to have that name. 

The outside of St. Clemente Church

The second church we went to was SS Quatro Coronati. This church was interesting because there was a community of cloistered nuns living in the connecting building. We got to see the grate they had to interact to people through, and the turnstile where they received things from the outside world. The artwork inside was really beautiful, and it was nice to sit in silence for a few minutes and gaze upon the paintings and statues. 

Exterior shot of SS Quatro Coronati

The Apse of SS Quatro Coronati

After this tour, I went with some friends to the Spanish Steps. I hadn't heard of them before this trip, but everyone said we had to go see them. Honestly they were a little underwhelming, but it was such a nice day that it didn't really matter. Here's a nice selfie in which I tried to face the sun AND keep my eyes open. 

A clear fail. 

There was a well dressed couple having a photoshoot on the steps which was fun to see. Maybe we'll see them in a magazine ad in the next few months!

And finally, the view from the bottom of the steps:

After the steps, we wandered around the area, because it was filled with high end shops (Chanel, Prada, Hugo Boss etc.). My favorite thing was that we found this gelato in one of the cafés:

The lady behind the counter assured us it was a joke.... 

Other than that we've just had more class, went to grab dinner, and have been blogging. I got to FaceTime with Jeff which was nice. Maybe he'll actually read this blog and see this shout out (I think that makes this a test).

After I posted on Facebook about seeing the Pope mosaic, someone commented and said "I thought you were an atheist?" I don't really think that matters for this context. Even though I'm not British, I would love to see the Queen of England. In the same vein, I'm not Catholic, but I'm super excited to see the Pope. Not only is he a major world leader, but he is a super good Pope for the times. The church (in my opinion) needed someone to turn back to the biblical roots of helping the poor, turning away from wealth, and accepting everyone for who they are. He even likes the atheists! (Even though I've read recently that the quote where he said atheists can go to heaven if they're good people was mistranslated.) Additionally, as a history major, I learn a lot about religion. The two have been interlinked for the last two thousand years, so it would be silly to not want to learn about Catholicism but still try to study history. Finally, I have no problem educating myself on the things I claim to reject. I've actually found more reasons to affirm my atheism during this course than reasons to convert. Hopefully this trip will give me a greater ability to express my own beliefs, which is always a beneficial tool. 

Ok rant over. Time for bed, because we're getting up early to visit Pompeii on our day off tomorrow! Goodnight!!