Madam, - The Irish electorate's rejection of the Lisbon Treaty has led to a lively debate about the the impact of EU membership on Irish identity and values. Cardinal Seán Brady, in contributing to that debate at the Humbert Summer School, argued that the No to Lisbon could be attributed in part to a profound sense of angst in Ireland at the direction the EU has taken over the past decade.
This analysis is breathtakingly wide of the mark. In particular, his identification of a "prevailing culture and social agenda" within the EU as secularist and anti-Christian does not stand up to scrutiny.
The Lisbon Treaty was negotiated by 27 sovereign governments, all of them directly elected in their national political contexts, and not by some mythical "Euro-élite" bent on emptying Europe of spiritual meaning and traditional values. Many of those governments have their roots in a distinctive European Christian Democratic political tradition.
Far from "being denied the right to intervene in public debates", Christian Democratic representatives (including former Taoiseach John Bruton) played a full and active part in the Convention on the Future of Europe which helped to draw up the EU Constitution in 2004. Indeed,there was a very spirited debate about whether or not the preamble to the Constitution should include a reference to God and to Europe's Christian heritage.
Cardinal Brady's analysis of EU decision-making processes is equally confused. He seems to think that the European Union has been responsible for the introduction of abortion, divorce and many other public policy measures which he deems socially regressive. Yet the EU enjoys no significant competence in social policy. In Ireland, as in all 27 member-states, decisions on such issues as abortion and divorce are taken exclusively by national political actors within bounded constitutional and legislative contexts.
Finally, the cardinal's contention that unease about the alleged secularist and anti-Christian stance of the EU contributed to the rejection of the Lisbon Treaty is simply not borne out by the data presented in the post-referendum Eurobarometer survey. Only 2 per cent of respondents cited as their main reason for rejecting the treaty the possibility that it "would allow the introduction of European legislation in Ireland such as gay marriage, abortion and euthanasia". - Yours, etc,
Dr JOHN O'BRENNAN,
Lecturer,
European Politics and Society,
NUI Maynooth, Co Kildare.
A Chara, - Much of the comment on this debate seems to reveal not only the "spiritual amnesia" commented upon by Pope Benedict and his predecessor, John Paul II, but a failure to view in a positive light the fact that European civilisation survived upon the reality of the Catholic Church and other faiths. One has not to look to far anywhere in Europe to see this realised by the countless cathedrals, churches and shrines.
As Pope John Paul II said in 1985, "The Church is called to give soul to Europe".
Cardinal Brady is quite correct in stating that many ordinary people, believers and non-believers, worry in what direction Europe is heading when it fails to aspire to the ideals of the founding fathers of the European ideal, who mostly were men of faith. Is Europe afraid to identify with its Christian roots because they makes a demand that we are not only destined for this world, but for the world to come? - Is mise,
Fr JOHN McCALLION,
Clonoe,
Co Tyrone.
Madam, - Senator Ronan Mullen asserts (August 29th) that the central element in the rejection of Rocco Buttiglione as European Commissioner was the right to adhere to traditional Christian teaching in one's private capacity. However, Mr Buttiglione's record in public office made it clear that, despite his claims to the contrary, he was not willing to separate his private views from his public functions.
In seeking to placate the European Parliament, Mr Buttiglione claimed he did not believe discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation should be permitted; but, as a member of the body charged with drawing up the Union's Charter on Fundamental Rights, he had submitted an amendment seeking to remove sexual orientation as a grounds to be covered by the anti-discrimination article.
In relation to the Tadao Maruko case and the recognition of same-sex relationships, the European Court of Justice merely held that once a member-state had itself chosen to treat same-sex partnerships as equivalent to marriage, this equivalence must be reflected in arrangements relating to employment pensions. Member-states which do not wish to introduce legislation providing for such equivalence remain free not to do so.
The broader issue is not that the Union has always legislated in a manner which has had the approval of the Catholic Church, but Cardinal Brady's assertion that the Union's approach to religion, in so far as it involves questioning the privileges held by religious groups and the subjecting of religious views to the critical assessment to which all other viewpoints are subjected, involves the exclusion of religion from public life. Rather than signs of exclusion, questioning and critical assessment are in fact hallmarks of inclusion in a public sphere in which all viewpoints and world-views can compete on equal terms. - Yours, etc,
RONAN McCREA,
London School of Economics,
London WC2.
Madam, - Most of the comment on Cardinal Brady's Humbert Summer School lecture misses a crucial point - that everyone has a set of beliefs which influences their attitudes and behaviour. The idea that it is only religious people who have beliefs is nonsense.
The person who argues that religious beliefs are a private matter to be excluded from the arena of public debate does so because of their own beliefs. Why pick on religious beliefs for special treatment?
Cardinal Brady is right to argue that very often secular and relativist viewpoints win out in Europe. He is on weaker ground when he argues that Europe must have respect for its "Christian memory and soul". The underlying fear among those who argue for restricting faith to the private realm is that Christian churches might once again seek to impose their values on society through political power structures. That too is part of Europe's "Christian memory."
It is not through appeals for "respect" that Christian communities will influence the shaping of European society. It is rather through a recovery of their own memory.
The challenge facing those who believe the Christian good news is not that secular people no longer acknowledge or respect society's Christian roots.
It is that most professing Christians no longer see apprenticeship to Jesus of Nazareth as a viable way of living in contemporary society. Much of Jesus' teaching is seen by believers as little more than pious idealism, worth an airing at christenings, weddings and funerals but otherwise completely irrelevant to what is smugly called the "real world."
If those who profess belief no longer see the relevance of Jesus and his message to everyday life, then how can they expect "secular" society to see it?- Yours, etc,
SEÁN MULLAN,
Evangelical Alliance Ireland,
Foley Street, Dublin 1.