Huge population movements from south to north along with the inevitable accompanying globalisation of our planet have not spared continental Europe. They have triggered enormous change in what is now a multicultural and multireligious society -- even our Christian identity is being challenged. In this context, it does seem legitimate to ask ourselves what stand Europe should take against the various challenges in today's world and what attitude it should assume apropos other religions. How should we go about reclaiming our Christian heritage for tomorrow's Europe? Should we approach it with tolerance or take a firmer stand?
We should start
by looking at Italy: more than any other country (historically and geographically),
Italy is rooted in Christianity. The “Case of the Crucifix"
is an excellent example of an episode which involves politics, religion,
sociology, history and culture both in Italy and in Europe. We need
to look at this case in order to understand better the problems which
we face.
Europe is being
consumed by a slowly devouring canker. Fortunately this malevolent influence
has not prevailed against those great intellectual spirits who fight
in defence of our cultural patrimony and who are still today an example
and inspiration to us all, just as they were in the past in the founding
of modern Europe. Oriana Fallaci, better than anyone else, has
described a dangerous anti-Christian sentiment -- not religious but
cultural -- which is creeping round the world (but especially in Europe)
and threatens to undermine European democracy. It is our duty, therefore,
to defend our Christian heritage not only for our own country but for
Europe as a whole. It is a duty not only for those who believe, but
for those who would defend our cultural identity which has its roots
in the soil Christian faith. A latent anti-Christian feeling has been
smouldering for some time in certain European intellectual circles;
this largely entails persecuting Christians who preach the gospel (and
the symbols which represent their faith) using the force of law. Massimo
Introvigne, director of CESNUR, said “ that with the sentence in the
case of Lautsi v Italia on the 3rd of November 2009
in the European Court of Human Rights, anti-Christian feeling emerged
into the daylight. Not content with attacking Christians over "New
Rights" (which by imparting their traditional moral teaching, the
Church and Christian Communities must be careful not to violate), they
attacked the symbol at its heart, the Cross of Christ. The judges of
Strasburg, sentencing in favour of an Italian woman of Finnish origin,
argued that the display of a crucifix in Italian schoolrooms violated
the rights of Mrs Lautsi’s two sons (11 and 13 years), and that it
"disturbed them emotionally" and was against the principle
of state schools which should "inculcate in their pupils the process
of critical thought". Should she ever returned to Finland, Mrs
Lautsi should ask the land of her birth to change its national flag
-- which is characterised by a cross -- or who knows what emotional
damage might be done to her sons!"
It is clear
then that we are not simply talking about a religious symbol but a centuries
old cultural identity which, to the delight of some and the chagrin
of others, has no meaning without Christianity. We need to think not
only about the judgement itself but about the underlying influence of
this on European judges animated by secular legal fundamentalism. It
seems certain that they will continue in their persecution of religious
symbols and in their persecution of our heritage.
To deny the
Christian church its role in the birth and nurture of modern Europe
is like pulling civilisation out by its roots. And you need to remember
that if you pull a tree up by its roots, sooner or later it will wither
and die. If a large part of Europe wants to pull up the roots, the risk
is that the whole continent could get involved in a march of cultural
self-destruction with disastrous consequences for the future. Oriana
Fallaci, who, as you know, never championed the Catholic cause -- indeed
was one of its sternest critics, understood this and denounced it with
intellectual argument which had worldwide reverberations. The massive
attack against the United States of America on 11 September 2001 by
Islamic fundamentalists, was intended to destroy the West, its culture
and its symbols. At stake was not only the church, religion and the
national security of America and Europe, no, much more than that - the
roots of Western civilisation. Oriana Fallaci had a vision of
the terrible things which were to occur a few years after these tragic
events and indeed after her own death. My own spiritual values are different
from those of Fallaci, being a Believer and different as well from those
of the Catholic church because I am a Pentecostal evangelist; but I
am absolutely convinced that the defence of Western Christian culture
involves all of us, all Europeans: Roman Catholics, Evangelists and
all those indeed who love freedom of religion, of expression and thought
and who do not deny the Christian roots of our civilisation. To
defend the cross is not simply to protect the Catholic faith in our
country -- which nevertheless must be respected -- but also to protect
the memory of all those men and women who, inspired by Christianity,
gave their thoughts, their actions and in many cases their lives in
the birth of Europe as we know it today. The crucifix is evidently
a religious symbol which is specific to one religion but it must be
made clear that for Believers, the Cross is there to lead the hearts
and minds of men to contemplate the sacrifice of Christ, who in dying
upon the Cross, gave up His life for all those believing in Him. Jesus
was physically nailed to the cross and, with him, our sins, that we
might be saved by the grace of God: "For God so loved the world,
that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish but have eternal life." (John chapter 3: verse
16).
To insist upon
the removal of the crucifix from classrooms is an attack on religious
freedom, robbing us of an opportunity to evangelise -- which in our
multi ethnic society is something that we should pursue with even more
determination whilst respecting and protecting the religious beliefs
of others. Benedetto Croce, who was one of the greatest nonreligious
thinkers of the last century, in 1942 in his well-known essay “Why
we should not call ourselves Christians" he wrote: "Christianity
is one of the greatest changes that mankind has ever known: so great.................
that it appeared or possibly still appears to be a miracle, in which
God intervened in all things human giving us new laws and direction.
All the other changes, all the major discoveries which mark the centuries
of human history appear limited in comparison. All, not excluding the
contributions which Greece made to poetry, arts, philosophy and political
liberty and which Rome made to the Law: and not to forget more remote
contributions in Scripture, mathematics, astronomy, medicine and many
other things which came from Egypt and the Orient......... and the changes
and discoveries which followed on in more modern times which may have
been specific and limited in themselves, were born of man, involved
the soul of man and it is difficult to imagine this happening without
the Christian revolution....... Christianity seems to have worked on
the very soul of man imbuing him with a moral conscience, giving him
a new spiritual quality which up till that point seems to
have been lacking in the world. Those men, those heroes, who lived
before Christ accomplished great actions and good works and left us
an infinite treasure of riches; but it was Christianity which has allowed
us to evaluate and use them properly”
Croce has put
Christianity into its rightful position in the story of mankind. Without
detracting in any way from the contribution that those men of the ancient
world made to the progress of mankind – the Egypt of the Pharaohs,
Ancient Greece and Imperial Rome, -- none of them has had such a strong
and central role nor one which has lasted so well over time as that
of Christianity over the course of the last several centuries. As well
as dusting down the writings of Oriana Fillaci and Benedetto Croce
it might be helpful to consider others, who, whilst not being Christian
themselves, recognise the role of Christianity in the economic development
of Europe. Looking at religious movements as means of emancipation,
we can't ignore the contribution made by Max Weber. He taught us a great deal because he wrote an important book on
the relationship between the Calvinist world and European capitalism.
In The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, even though
it paints a very secular picture of the Protestant world from which
we should distance ourselves, Weber showed that the Calvinist attitude
to spending and saving produced that first accumulation of wealth which
was necessary for the industrialisation of Europe to develop. To put
it another way, Christian savings in the six, seventh and eighth centuries
financed the Industrial Revolution. That is because the nature of Christianity
is redemption. Spiritual redemption produces a transformation, a renewal
of the mind and of the spirit and historically this has produced a liberation,
an emancipation. Christianity therefore is also emancipation. Emancipation
doesn't necessarily equate with economic wealth but rather, through
spiritual exercise, with a longing to better oneself. Simon, a simple
fisherman, after his meeting with Christ glorified became Cephas
(Peter) and one of Christ's apostles in the world. In the first century,
most believers were to be found amongst the ordinary people but by the
third century A.D., many Christians were to be found in the upper strata
of society. At that time and due to a notable increase in the numbers
of Christians, the idea took form of an established Roman Catholic Church.
We could argue whether this was for the good or bad of society but we
cannot rewrite history. Europe has been impregnated with Christianity
for about 2000 years and it has touched in no uncertain way and not
without problem, culture, social science, philosophy, economics, medicine,
arts -- in truth the whole history of our Continent.
The presence of the Crucifix in our state schools should not be laid at the door of the Catholic Church alone and treated as a strictly religious matter; it is a link to our cultural roots and a symbol which we must defend at all costs. Finally, in answer to the vexed question of secular extremism versus religion, to all of those who insist on putting faith before reason and put religious obscurantism before science, it only remains to quote those wonderfully balanced words of Christ: "Render under Caesar that which is Caesar’s and to God that which is God's" (Matthew chapter 22: verse 21)
