Christianity has no place in EU constitution
Complaining about the proposed new European constitution he has the following: “The current preamble, written by Giscard himself, refers to cultural, religious and humanist inheritance of Europe which (was) nourished first by the civilisations of Greece and Rome and later by philosophical currents of the Enlightenment. Spot the gap?”
I don’t spot any gap. He is, of course, referring to the failure to mention Christianity as a positive contribution to European civilisation.
But a constitutional preamble is not a historical summary; it is a statement of foundational inspirations that everyone involved can agree on.
A great many Europeans (including myself) believe that the single most important development that Christianity “nourished” in Europe was what is now most often referred to as the ‘Dark Ages’.
The draft rightly mentions only contributions acceptable to the vast majority of Europeans (or would Mr Mullen’s band refuse to recognise our debt both to classical civilisation and the Enlightenment for Europe’s development?).
Mr Mullen, it is quite simple: a constitutional preamble should only include what everyone agrees on; what cannot be agreed on must be left out.
That is very often what inclusiveness is all about.
He describes M Giscard as “hostile to Christianity”. There is no evidence that he did any more on this issue than attempt to satisfy all parties (or at least those who understand the concept of inclusiveness).
Whatever about that, Mr Mullen should get used to the fact that in an inclusive Europe a less than positive view of Christianity is every bit as legitimate as his own withering views on ‘secularism’. All this cant about “ideological impositions” is really to hide what Mr Mullen and those who agree with him are about, which is to try to legitimise the statement that Europe is a ‘Christian’ continent, in order to defend a pre-eminent social position for that religion in the future.
When will they face the fact that Europe has long ceased to be exclusively (and perhaps even predominantly) Christian?
Jaime Hyland,
Heinrich-Mann-Str 26,
13156 Berlin,
Germany.
