The city of God in Andropoli. - The temple of Hope. - The church of the Evangelists. - The temple of the Unknown God.
In the year 3000, no state religion had existed for several centuries, in Rome there was no pope and Buddhist temples and mosques had all collapsed, no longer having priests or believers.
The most educated part in every country does not profess any cult, but the great majority of men and almost all women believe in the immortality of the soul and in God.
The need for the ideal, instead of disappearing from the face of the earth, has been growing ever more, refining and rising at every step of civilization, which makes the struggle for existence less painful, leaving much time for the satisfaction of the highest needs .
Everyone is free to believe or not to believe in God or in eternal life, but all those who have a common faith feel the need to huddle together, to get on well, to build a temple and to invent a cult, which unites them under the vôlte of the same church to pray, to hope, to worship.
In Andropoli, a few kilometers from the capital city, a wide and verdant valley of forests is destined for the dominant religions and therefore that valley is called the City of God .
The most beautiful, largest temple, which has the greatest number of faithful, is that of Hope raised by believers all over the world to an imaginary God, that is, to a symbol, which closes within itself all the fears of death and all the aspirations to another eternal and better life than ours.
Our travelers, visiting the City of God, entered this church, all the more because the cult of Hope was the religion of Mary. As for Paolo, he had never felt the need for any kind of cult, and when his partner wanted to convert him to his faith, he always shielded himself with a joke or a smile, which said nothing.
The Temple of Hope is immense in its proportions, magnificent in marble, gold and bronze and its architecture recalls ancient Gothic, but is less complicated and cumbersome.
The same word is written on the pronaos of the temple, which Paolo and Maria had read in the large cemetery of Andropoli: Sperate ; and this word is seen reproduced the hundred and a thousand times, painted, engraved; carved for everyone.
In the center of the church stands a statue of solid gold, with eyes of diamonds and representing Hope. It is a much richer and more gigantic reproduction than the one already seen by our travelers in the City of the Dead.
On the pedestal of the statue one reads these words, which are the daily prayer of all believers in the religion of hope:
O superb man, how and why would you dare to deny life beyond the grave?
Oh ignorant man, how would you dare to affirm a second life?
Always suspended between two abysses of ignorance and arrogance, collect your thoughts and feelings in the religion of hope.
Believing what your ancient fathers believed is foolishness.
Denying God and second life is pride.
The wise man must neither believe nor deny. He must hope.
Many carpets are lying around that statue and the faithful are seen collapsed or kneeling. Who prays with joined hands, who seems in the act of meditating and who reads a prayer book.
Others are seen depositing at the feet of the Goddess flower crowns, while others in certain incensors burn delicate aromas, which spread their blue clouds in the air, which seem to wrap the statue like a perfumed cloud.
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The Year 3000 | ✔️
Ciencia FicciónThe Year 3000, first published in 1897 by the Italian neurologist, physiologist, and anthropologist Paolo Mantegazza, and defined by him as a dream, instead of a novel, was considered by many to be the forerunner of many science fiction books. It de...
