Christian Media Says a New Moral Covenant for Europe Needed

The Assembly of the European Region of the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC) was held last week in Strasbourg, France. In the gathering involving 50 Christian communicators from 15 European countries drawn from both church and secular media, all delegates declared the new challenge of defining a new social and moral covenant for Europe.

In recent years, there has been a widespread secularisation and rising tension between different faiths across Europe. As the voice representing Christians, the Christian communicators from both Christian and secular media have been struggling to project an appropriate viewpoint in response to all the controversial issues.

In the Assembly, participants discussed issues such as the headscarf as religious attire in France; the crucifix in public spaces in Italy; the growing use of religious imagery in popular art and culture in Germany; and the changing attitude towards religious tolerance in the Netherlands, after the murder of film director, Theo van Gogh.

The keynote speaker Rev. Dr Hans Ucko, from the Interreligious Relations and Dialogue Team of the World Council of Churches (WCC) challenged communicators to critically assess how they construct and represent others.

"The self and others are interdependent", he said. "Others are often our own construction and projection".

Under the theme "Communicating identities and valuing differences in a changing Europe", all the participants acknowledged that "identities" could lead to both unity and division. They said, "Valuing differences is not enough. It also requires people to overcome hostility and to work towards the reconfiguration of the cultural landscape. This will only happen if we learn to see as others see and to listen attentively to each other’s stories."

The WACC Europe Assembly was hosted by the Church of the Augsburg Confession and the Reformed Church of Alsace and Lorraine. Participants also visited the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe.

WACC Europe is part of a global NGO which supports communication projects mainly for people in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The international headquarters of WACC are in London.

The Assembly have also elected a 12-member steering committee: Piet Halma (the Netherlands, President), Juha Rajamäki (Finland, vice-president), Luca Negro (Switzerland/Italy, secretary), Karin Achtelstetter (Switzerland/Germany, treasurer), Oddbjörg Aasen Bjöordal (Norway), Séverine Boudier (France), Nicolae Dascalu (Romania), Chris Doude van Troostwijk (France/the Netherlands), Claudia Padovani (Italy), Milja Radovic (Serbia), Meelis Süld (Estonia), and Karsten Visarius (Germany).