Secularisation Sparks a Countering Religious-Political Movement in Europe

As the new European Union Constitution was signed on 29 October, the 25 European countries are being bound together under a new covenant. While many people in the world are anticipating a bright economical future of Europe, the Vatican is worried about the secularisation that is sweeping across the continent. One of the very obvious signs are that the new European Union Constitution has made no reference to its very strong Christian roots.

Compared to problems such as poverty, AIDS and terrorism, secularisation has come to the Vatican as a more immediate concern, especially after the devoted Catholic EU Commission nominee Rocco Buttiglione was rejected by the European Parliament because of his Catholic views on homosexuality recently.

According to Pope John Paul, “Taking into account the Christian roots of the European continent remains fundamental for the future development of the union.”

The Pope is seriously concerned about the declining ethics in the society as the European politicians have accelerated the movement of secularisation through their legislations and policies that are against Christian teachings.

There is a serious chaos in aspects such as marriage, homosexuality, abortion, human cloning etc... Abortion and divorce are readily available in many European nations. Gay marriage is legal in Belgium and the Netherlands. In traditionally Roman Catholic Spain, a new socialist government is aggressively promoting legislation that will permit gay marriage, facilitate abortion and speed up divorce. In historically Catholic France, Christian symbols such as crucifixes have been outlawed, and Britain is making huge strides in the field of embryonic stem cell research.

Marco Politi, the Vatican correspondent for Italy’s La Repubblica newspaper, “There’s a real feeling that the Church is under an attack, an aggression, and that it must defend itself against this wave of de-Christianisation.”

Archbishop John Foley, head of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications said, “It’s not just a question of Christianity or even Catholicism...There’s this militant secularism, a denial of spirituality, of the destiny of the human person, and it’s a great concern.”

The Vatican encourages the churches in Europe to protest against their government’s legislation. Even though the voice of Catholics and Christians are considered only as a minority view, churches have to try their best to protest.

At the same time, Rocco Buttiglione, the withdrawn EU Justice Commissioner nominee, plans to form a religious lobby group to “battle for the freedom of Christians” in Europe. Many religious people, especially the Catholics are sorry for his “sacrifice” for being removed from the European Commissioner Team because of his frank confession for Christian beliefs.

Buttiglione even said that he had received thousands of letters of support from sympathisers across Europe and from Muslim and Jewish leaders in Italy.

Looking at the success of the US President, George Bush, who is being commented as the most religious president ever in America and is supported by most Christians to keep his position, Buttiglione is encouraged to take an initiative to make a change in Europe politics though he may find Europe not as ripe as the US for a return to traditional religious values.

Senior aides to the Italian minister told the Sunday Telegraph that the new Christian network would not take the form of a political party, but would be a kind of “movement or association” committed to a greater role for Christian principles in public life.

Buttiglione said last Friday, in a widely publicised interview with the European press, “What I am thinking of is a group to battle for the freedom of Christians, which is the freedom of everyone. A group to fight against the kind of creeping totalitarianism, which has emerged recently regarding my personal situation.”

Buttiglione commented what happened to him in the EU was “a gift from God”, just as some commentators say they hope that it will prompt more people to take an interest in European Union politics.

“It is much easier for regular people to care about religion and values than technical economic questions,” said Luca Diotallevi, a sociologist at the University of Rome who has studied the role of social values and religion in Europe. “It’s possible that it will generate more interest in the EU.”

“It’s positive,” Diotallevi said. “We will begin to discuss things that have long been taken for granted. Religion was an issue we could not touch- now we’re starting. We’re not very good at it, but we’re just getting started.”