To rave in the nave or not to rave in the nave? The disturbances about what should or should not happen in a cathedral have divided Christian opinion in the UK.
This is perhaps partly because the differences between the Protestant and the Catholic minds run deep. It’s not driven only by differences in the content of belief but by diverging mind-sets: what one might call opposing landscapes of the mind.
Protestant Anglicanism was born in the culture of the Enlightenment. Hence perhaps it ought to be no surprise that the current Anglican custodians of medieval cathedrals in England see them primarily as large buildings that are of use to the mission of their church. Those cathedrals might coincidentally be beautiful, but purpose becomes their primary feature. They are quintessentially useful. Things are to be done to them and in them.
