Seperating Church from State

international | eu | other press Saturday December 11, 2004 12:48 by iosaf

across Europe the issue of maintaining secular constitutions has arisen again...

The majority of Europe's constitutions specify the seperation of Ecclesiastic or Theocratic authority from that of the Judiciary, Executive and other State elements.

In France the legal seperation is based on "Loi 1905"
In Spain it is based on the accord signed between the Vatican and post dictatorship regime in 1979.
In Ireland (under the Eire constitution a special place is mentioned for the RC church) in Northern Ireland religious ministers look in the XXI century for photographic evidence of conflict resolution.

The Church with the most adherents, property and social influence in Europe is without a doubt the Roman Catholic communion.

It's funding is now mostly legislated trhoughout the Union, and the RC church is seen as being "self-reliant".

It carries responsibility for the due care and protection of European cultural and architectural heritage in the form of no less than twenty world heritage sites, and in europe you are never more than 5 km on average from a listed building owned and cared for by the RC church.

In addition the RC church plays a pivotal role in primary education, special needs education, and secondary education. In europe you are never more than 5km on average from someone who was punished by a nun.

As you will know the fine minds who have been putting together the EU constitution have for along time had to mull and moot the question of "religious" basis for the libertarian concepts our occidental rights are based upon and how to enshrine those in a way acceptable to the needs of globalised capitalism and efficient exploitation of the former colonial hinterland.

To some the juedo-christian roots of the European project can never be put aside and require special mention, for others the history of the Enlightenment, Materialist Philosophy and the invention of Photoshop with a handy 800,000 pixel self focussing camara with internet connection has put the formerly central rôle played by authoritarian figures in the varying religious cults and fundamentalist groups in Europe to rest.

However, the debate is not over yet.

France will see Loi 1905 become a talking point again in the slow run-up to the presidential elections to replace Chirac, as Sarkozy's record on secularisation (the building of synangogues mosques and the banning of religious symbols from state secular schools) is criticised from within his own party.
http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3224,36-390373,0.html

Spain has seen the council of RC bishops call for a concerted campaign to undermine the Zapatero government because of it's support for a national debate on euthanasia, (which thanks to modern medical care has become an issue in Europe and north america), abortion, stem cell research and gay marriage.
http://www.euroresidentes.com/Blogs/rodriguez_zapatero/2004/11/los-obispos-contra-el-gobierno.html

Ireland has seen an octagenerian preacher of a small yet wealthy fundamentalist creationist calvanist supremacist sect, call for an end to poisoning of public figures and photographic evidence of weapons commision.

The world seems to some to move.

To others, an Amish-esque farmer who has long enjoyed electriticity, internet, driving round in big cars, calls for swords to be alchemically converted into plough-shards and the evidence on quality printing paper.

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To many the role played by the representatives of religious belief systems ought not be undermined.
The cost of maintaining the cathedrals, abbeys and so of Europe would be too high and we'd never get a pension. Also we ought not undermine the work done by many thousands of religious in health care, education and let's be honest getting that slap off a nun might have sorted you out.
And no-one wants to jump from the frying pan of listening with rapt attention to the old men of moral authority to the fire of Eugenic euthanasic brave new world order.

Surely there can be some "middle way"?

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Here is the "common ground" of European jurisprudence on religion-

* the right to believe or not believe whatever pleases the individual

* the right to follow whatever cult the individual wishes to follow

* the right to exercice this cult freely and publicly, as long as certain fundamental requirements of social life are not infringed

* the right to change one's religion and adherence to any religious body

* the right to form religious bodies and so exercise the freedom of religion in community with others

* the right to exercise one's religion freely not only as a cult, but also in terms of social behaviour : for instance running hospitals, homes for the elderly, kindergartens, etc

* increasingly : the right that state subsidies are given of make religious life in fact possible ; at least not to treat religious needs worse than any other social needs.

Numerous international treaties include special protection of religious freedom : art. 9 European Convention on human rights, ECHR, Art. 18, International Treaty on Civil and Political Rights, Art. 18, Universal Declaration of Human Rights.