The religious cultural heritage Marcel Chappin. Pontifica Universit Gregoriana. As religious cultural heritage will be considered that part of the general cultural heritage which has developed or still develops or is acquired for religious reasons, by individuals and communities, that recognize themselves in or identify with certain religious convictions and traditions. Since speaking of religion is a delicate matter, easily leading to even unwittingly offending the feelings of people, believers and non-believers, the following observations seem due. To justify the treatment of the religious cultural heritage several reasons may be adduced.
Religion is culture.
Culture as opposed to nature is about what human beings call to mind and is therefore about interpretation of reality. But religion is also all about the interpretation of reality - and on a very explicit level. The religious cultural heritage constitutes a conspicuous part of the entire cultural heritage, in terms of quantity as well as quality. The religious cultural heritage has a number of characteristics that can help to refine our concept of cultural heritage in general, partly because there are similarities, partly because there are differences. The list is not exhaustive and the order of characteristics is open to discussion.