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http://www.sweenytod.com/rno/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=869]Religious News Online
After two years of heated controversy over the omission of any mention of Christianity in the proposed new constitution for the European Union, the final text adopted in Brussels on June 18 was the secularized version. Since the text was unveiled in 2002, the governments of Portugal, Spain, Ireland, Poland, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Slovakia, Italy and Malta, together with the Vatican, have argued that the constitutions preamble carry an explicit reference to Christianity.
In May of this year, the foreign ministers of seven of the countries wrote to the EU presidency requesting that the document be amended. "The amendment we ask for is aimed to recognize an historical truth," they said, urging that "the Christian roots of Europe" be acknowledged in the constitution. Their pleas were rebuffed.
The proposed text affirms only that the EU draws its inspiration from "the cultural, religious and humanist inheritance of Europe." France, Germany and Belgium, along with the Scandinavian countries, have been the strongest advocates of militant secularism in the constitutional debate. They have argued that Muslims, Jews, Hindus, atheists and other non-Christians might feel unwelcome if Christianity is mentioned in any way.
"The European project is secular," said French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin in a May 26 statement on French radio. "Our future is a European society which should include secularism as a founding value." The supposedly conservative government of Raffarin and President Jacques Chirac has worked closely with the socialists in the EU to expunge Europes Christian heritage along with the independence and national sovereignty of the member states, which now number 25. The constitution will now be submitted to the individual countries for ratification over the next two years.
Read the rest of the story here.
After two years of heated controversy over the omission of any mention of Christianity in the proposed new constitution for the European Union, the final text adopted in Brussels on June 18 was the secularized version. Since the text was unveiled in 2002, the governments of Portugal, Spain, Ireland, Poland, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Slovakia, Italy and Malta, together with the Vatican, have argued that the constitutions preamble carry an explicit reference to Christianity.
In May of this year, the foreign ministers of seven of the countries wrote to the EU presidency requesting that the document be amended. "The amendment we ask for is aimed to recognize an historical truth," they said, urging that "the Christian roots of Europe" be acknowledged in the constitution. Their pleas were rebuffed.
The proposed text affirms only that the EU draws its inspiration from "the cultural, religious and humanist inheritance of Europe." France, Germany and Belgium, along with the Scandinavian countries, have been the strongest advocates of militant secularism in the constitutional debate. They have argued that Muslims, Jews, Hindus, atheists and other non-Christians might feel unwelcome if Christianity is mentioned in any way.
"The European project is secular," said French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin in a May 26 statement on French radio. "Our future is a European society which should include secularism as a founding value." The supposedly conservative government of Raffarin and President Jacques Chirac has worked closely with the socialists in the EU to expunge Europes Christian heritage along with the independence and national sovereignty of the member states, which now number 25. The constitution will now be submitted to the individual countries for ratification over the next two years.
Read the rest of the story here.