Do God and Christianity hold a place in the EU constitution?

Overview:

The European Union is preparing its first constitution. Terrence Murray of the Christian Science Monitor wrote: "How the question of religion is handled could have serious legal implications once the EU's constitutional text comes into force, officials say, possibly influencing the outcome of future court rulings on such issues as euthanasia, abortion rights, and human cloning. 'This debate is not just an academic one,' says EU spokesman Jonathan Faull. 'In 10 years', 15 or 100 years' time, it could have important implications in interpreting the text'."

The debate:

Pro God: Germany, Italy, Poland and Slovenia and others.

Anti God: France, Spain and the Netherlands and other secular states.

There has been strong pressure from religious conservatives and the Vatican to recognize God and Christianity. They speculated that these references were left out because of sensitivity to the wishes of Islamic immigrant populations.

All current members of the EU have either a majority of its citizens, or a significant minority, who identify themselves with a Christian denomination. Most have implemented the principle of separation of church and state. Most do not refer to their Christian heritage in their own constitutions. However, many of the countries which are expected to join in 2004 want "Christian values" to appear somewhere in the EU constitution. This is particularly true of Poland, which has a large Roman Catholic majority.

Other countries with a growing secularist tradition, led by France, assert that pluralist modern Europe is beyond the need to reference religion in the EU constitution. Some political leaders feel that a reference to "Christian values" would make it more difficult to expand the EU in the future to include mostly Muslim countries such as Turkey.

Some comments favoring the inclusion of God and Christianity:

	Polish bishop, Cardinal Jozef Glemp, has said he supports EU entry "but only with God."
	Hungary bishop, Monsignor Peter Erdoe,: "Without Christianity, the heart of Europe would be missing."
	Bishop Joseph Duffy of Clogher, Ireland, referring to a meeting with the European Commission president, Romano Prodi: "Religion is part of our identity. You can't understand the history of Europe without acknowledging the impact of religion, which has made an enormous contribution to the identity of Europe. Prodi was trying to impress on us that we are at a very, very significant juncture, which means a new Europe. He is sympathetic to the Churches and sees that they have a contribution to make on the question of EU identity. The question of God would be a matter for the preamble, rather than the text of the constitution. We would be looking for an invocatio Dei (Reference to god in a legal text, but we would not be looking for a reference to Christ because we respect those who are not Christians."
	Pope John Paul II lobbies: "a clear reference to God and the Christian faith to be formulated in the European constitution."
	Former Irish Prime Minister, John Bruton: "a greater reference should be made to the fact that many Europeans derive something beyond humanity - this would apply to those who believe in all the major religions."
	The Catholic Bishops’ Conference in England and some Jewish, Muslim and Protestant faith groups have also advocated inclusion of Christianity and God.
	Elmar Brok, a European deputy from Germany, chairs the caucus of the conservative European People's Party (PPE) at the convention. He believes that reference to a Christian God would strengthen European identity. He said: "Europe as a whole is based on a Christian heritage." Some comments opposing the inclusion of God and Christianity:

	In an editorial, Scandinavia's largest daily newspaper, the Swedish Aftonbladet, said referring to Christian values in the constitution and placing them above other values would be a 'huge mistake' because it would 'exclude groups and raise new walls'."
	Terry Sanderson, vice president of the UK's National Secular Society: "We are very glad a reference to God has been left out, it would have created unnecessary barriers in Europe...Europe has to be secular for it to be really unified."
	A British gay-positive group, the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA) stated that because of "increased secularization of morality and public life," they consider it pointless to include God in the new charter. Spokesperson Terry Sanderson said: "We are not opposed to a clause that would establish the freedom to practice religion. "What we don’t want to see is religion moving out of the area of freedom and becoming predominant right there in the beginning." He alleges that: "religion is dying throughout Europe." He blamed "the church" for the suffering of gays and lesbians "over the last millennium." GALHA wrote: "To include references to God or 'our Christian heritage' would be to start turning back on our 500-year journey from the Enlightenment. Instead, we should be proud of our progress, and growing humanity."
	Socialist French deputy Olivier Duhamel suggested that mention of Christianity and God is "absurd," because it would exclude Muslims and others of non-Christian faiths, as well as citizens who do not believe in God.
	Linda McAvan, a British Labour MEP, argued that a specific mention of Christianity "would offend those many millions of people of different faiths or no faith at all."
	A Humanist Convention member from Ireland, Dublin MEP Proinsias De Rossa, suggested that the inclusion of God would be divisive: "It would be a mistake; it's a serious mistake."

Some suggest an inclusive approach:

	Louis Michel, the Belgian Foreign Minister, said the EU should be inclusive. He said. "Europe is not mono-religious"
	Jean-Luc Dehaene, vice-president of the Conventionand a former Belgium prime minister, said the any religious reference would have to be general and pluralist, like that of the EU's Charter of Fundamental Rights which states that "the Union shall respect cultural, religious, and linguistic diversity".
	Les Semaines Sociales de France, a French Christian policy group, and some Christian lay groups from Germany and Poland suggested an inclusive statement based on Poland's post-communist constitution, which had to accommodate communists as well as Catholics. The proposal says: "The [European] Union values include the values of those who believe in God as the source of truth, justice, good, and beauty, as well as those who do not share such a belief but respect these universal values arising from other sources."