Why I Love Chesterton: Part 1

"There is only one thing in the modern world that has been face to face with Paganism; there is only one thing in the modern world which in that sense knows anything about Paganism: and that is Christianity.  That fact is really the weak point in the whole of that hedonistic neo-Paganism of which I have spoken.  All that genuinely remains of the ancient hymns of the ancient dances of Europe, all that has honestly come to us from the festivals of Phoebus or Pan, is to be found in the festivals of the Christian Church.  If anyone wants to hold the end of a chain which really goes back to the heathen mysteries, he had better take hold of a festoon of flowers at Easter or a string of sausages at Christmas.  Everything else in the modern world is of Christian origin, even everything that seems most anti-Christian.  The French Revolution is of Christian origin.  The newspaper is of Christian origin.  The anarchists are of Christian origin.  Physical science is of Christian origin.  The attack on Christianity is of Christian origin.  There is one thing, and one thing only, in existence at the present day which can in any sense accurately be said to be of pagan origin, and that is Christianity."

--Heretics by G.K. Chesterton