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Orthodox, Anglicans and Catholics seek dialogue with European Union
2003-104-4
5/13/2003
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[Episcopal News Service]
Orthodox, Anglican and Roman Catholic leaders, meeting in Athens, have urged the European Union to begin a 'regular dialogue' with churches, and said that a projected EU constitution should contain a clear reference to Europe's 'Christian roots.'
The three-day meeting May 4-6, organized by the (Orthodox) Church of Greece, came as a European Convention chaired by French ex-president Valery Giscard d'Estaing was finalizing a Constitutional Treaty for the EU.
The issue of whether the document should include a reference to God or to Europe's Christian heritage has been highly controversial. A statement issued after the Athens meeting said it would be 'inconceivable for the European Convention not to make a clear and specific reference to Europe's Christian roots in the Constitution that is to shape the European Union's future in the years to come.'
Orthodox Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens told the conference that Christianity should be mentioned in the EU Constitution 'not only as the creative power of our civilization, but also as that power which reassures us precisely that the Union will be European,' according to a text of his speech issued by the Church of Greece. 'The formulation should be such as not to infringe upon religious tolerance, not to be binding upon the state, not to come into conflict with the rights of man, not to constitute a threat or hindrance to advancement of the non-Christians who are citizens of Europe,' stressed Christodoulos.
In remarks, however, interpreted as rejecting Turkey's possible EU membership, Christodoulos warned that the integration of 'totally foreign cultures' out of 'temporary geopolitical considerations' would turn the EU into 'a defective copy of the former Soviet Union.'
Participants at the Athens meeting included Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomeos I of Constantinople, Roman Catholic Cardinal Roger Etchegaray and Anglican Bishop Richard Chartres of London.
The Athens statement said that the establishment of a 'regular dialogue' between the EU and Christian churches was needed 'to foster the principle of equality, which excludes all forms of discrimination on the basis of sex, race, national descent, physical handicap, religion or convictions.'
The meeting took place as the 15-member EU prepares an enlargement to include another 10 member states, most of them from Eastern Europe.
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