Union growing out of Christian roots

Date: 18/09/1997

WHEN the Polish people voted this spring on whether to bring their constitution into the modern era, one issue stood above all others.

That was the question of whether the worship of God should be placed in the document's opening paragraphs, or whether it should instead allow a more flexible interpretation of spirituality.

The debate was deemed so urgent, in fact, that some religious radio stations told listeners that a wrong decision would consign them to hell.

The passion and, to western eyes, anachronistic nature of the debate rang warning bells in Brussels. Did the European Union, some asked, really want to allow such a country into its club, opening the door to Church involvement in the single market?

As it happened, there was little comment. Perhaps that was because, under the circumstances, the referendum debate was understandable.

During Poland's long years under the Communist yoke, Christianity was often its only beacon of hope, and the Polish Pope John Paul II was for years a key symbol of the country's desire for independence.

But there is another reason why people chose not to comment. The simple fact is that, although western Europe may hide it better, Christianity still lies at the heart of all its politics.

Despite 500 years of secularist attack - the Reformation, the Renaissance when humanity reclaimed its place at the centre of the universe, the Enlightenment when reason replaced religion as the ultimate truth, and the birth of modern economics - Christian philosophers not only designed, but to a large extent still run the continent as it is today.

Although few would suggest that the Church directly determines what happens in Brussels, the strength of Christian Democracy in the European Parliament, the European Commission and the Council of Ministers is a lasting testament to the marriage of religion and state.

When German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and other Christian Democrats suggested this spring that Turkey would never join the EU, it was hard to dismiss the criticism that Europe was still acting as a Christian fraternity.

Even Diana's death - at first glance nothing to do with religion - was branded by Libya's Colonel Gadaffi as a Franco-British plot to stop the Princess of Wales marrying a Muslim.

Whatever the supporters of secularism and multi-ethnicity say, 'Europe' as a concept was forged in the fires of Christian struggle against 'godlessness'. That legacy is hard to shake off.

According to Nelson González from the London School of Economics, “at most, the European Union is essentially a Christian Democratic project. At least, Christian Democracy has been in the vanguard of European integration since World War II.”

Robert Schuman, Konrad Adenauer and Alcide de Gasperi were all Christian Democrats, and were guided strongly by the Church's concept of internationalism.

Their passion has been vigorously upheld ever since by the Christian Democratic movement throughout Europe, only becoming diluted as the European Community enlarged and brought with it new and different approaches to its politics.

Now, as Europe enters an age of peaceful trade, the question is whether those Christian ideals still have currency.

Declining Church attendance figures would seem to indicate that the days of faith in a higher power are over. But that is certainly not the whole story.

In the UK, judicial oaths are sworn on the Bible, while in Scandinavia - undergoing a process of secularisation - baptism was only recently removed as a pre-condition for citizenship.

Greece is embroiled in a long drawn-out battle to change its constitution, which declares Christian Orthodoxy as the only state religion. And even in France, the vast crowds that gathered to see the Pope during his August visit suggest that the country's radical secularism is far from universally shared.

EU leaders at Amsterdam took an unprecedented step when they included a declaration on churches and non-confessional organisations in the new Union treaty.

Responding to German fears that its church tithe system (Kirchensteuer) was under threat from Europe integration, leaders decided that “the Union will respect and does not prejudice the status under national law of churches and religious associations or communities in the member states.

“The Union will equally respect the status of philosophical and non-confessional organisations,” they added, almost as an afterthought.

And as central and eastern European countries - some of whose politicians really put the Christian back into Christian Democracy - prepare to join the EU, Europe can look forward to a new generation of spiritual politicians in its midst.

Christianity also offers some important philosophical bases for Europe's future well-being.

Subsidiarity, for example, was a concept created by the Protestant thinker Althusius. He argued as early as 1604 that man's most important authority was himself, followed by his family, community and, only at the end of the line, his state.

Catholicism jumped on to the bandwagon 300 years later, when Pope Pius XII said in 1931, in his Quadragesimo Anno that “one should not withdraw from individuals and commit to the community what they can accomplish by their own enterprise and industry”.

But it is also clear that Europe, with its strong Islamic and Jewish communities, is no longer (if it was ever) the haven of Christianity the Churches might pretend.

As in the United States, there is increasing evidence in Europe that the younger generation does seek some form of spirituality, but not necessarily as traditionally practised.

Jacques Delors, European Commission President from 1985-95, went some way to recognising this. Following a series of meetings with representatives of all the major religions in the early 1990s, he famously called for 'a soul for Europe', stressing that the Union should avoid being merely an economic and bureaucratic entity.

The Commission's forward planning unit is now constantly in contact with religious and humanitarian groups to sound them out on where they feel the continent is heading.

Europe's strength, liberals stress time and time again, lies in its diversity. Only by embracing differences of approach will it advance harmoniously and prosperously. The horrors of the last European war made it clear that any efforts to deny that will go terribly wrong.

The challenge that Europe integrationists now face is to find some way of bringing all its citizens' higher hopes on board the juggernaut of ever-closer Union. As Delors said, people will never love the common market unless it proves itself to have a greater aim.

The European Ecumenical Commission for Church and Society is currently administrating the 'Soul for Europe' programme, supporting projects which “promote reflection on the spiritual and ethical meaning of building a new Europe”.

But, for the vast majority of Europeans, their work is swamped by the everyday business of managing an essentially business-minded organisation. If integrationists really want to convince their continent of the Union's merits, they might do well to take a step back and find out what its people really want.