The battle among European Christians to restore God's place in the new European constitution has continued to rage on. Currently secularists have seemed to have gained the upper-hand, however a backlash is expected by Euro experts.
A schism appeared as the new European constitution was being drafted and written up. Eight of the twenty-five member nations of the EU protested, along with support from the Vatican, however, their pleas were ignored and Europe's Christian roots got no place in the newly written document. A general statement referring to the "cultural religious, and humanistic inheritance" was all that appeared.
The 'New Europe' has seen many victories for the secular supporters, and a vast contrast can now been seen between the routes taken by the seemingly more and more secularised Europe, and the recent American Republican victory of President George Bush, where religious and moral values were seen to play a vital role in the final outcome.
Michael Mertes, a former editor of the liberal Catholic Rhineland newspaper said, "Given the different national traditions in the EU, rigid secularism has become a lowest common denominator."
Across Europe a new secularist movement seems to be rising. In Spain, Jose Luis Zapatero’s Socialist government has been seen to have pushed back greatly the influence of the Catholic Church.
In Holland, a new populist and militant secularism has emerged with intolerant views being projected regarding Islam and immigration.
In Poland, a traditionally Catholic country, fear has spread speedily that EU membership will bring about Godless bureaucrats from Brussels who they fear will want to liberalise the Polish policies on abortion, which are the most restrictive in the whole of the European Union.
In Austria more than 90% of the population are Catholic, however, fewer than 12% regularly attend mass, and the influence of God in the country seems to be continually diminishing. The government party, the Christian Democrats requested that a preamble be added which stresses for Christianity to be central to the constitution. However, the reference was scaled down greatly to include simply a reference to "the Creation", and the Social Democrats and Greens want this to be scrapped altogether.
