NewsAnalysis
New chancefor God's name
By Uwe Siemon-Netto,
UPI Religion Correspondent
WASHINGTON, (UPI) -- The name of God mayturn out to be one major beneficiary of Sunday's conservativelandslide in France. God's name might yet find its way into theEuropean Constitution, churchmen in Paris told United Press Internationalon Monday.
Former Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin,a self-declared "Protestant atheist," had resolutelyopposed the mention of God in the Constitution that is being draftedby the European Convention under former French President ValéryGiscard d'Estaing.
But now the left, with its ideological insistenceon a rigidly secularized state, is out of power in the countrythat once proudly called itself the first daughter of the church.President Jacques Chirac, a neo-Gaullist and a regular churchgoer,has an overwhelming majority in parliament. He is no longer boundto heed the Socialists' and Communists' anti-religious bias.
"Quite understandably, there has notbeen much of a discussion about God and Europe so soon after thevote, but expect a lively political debate about this issue inthe months to come," predicted the Rev. Jean Joncheray, vicerector of the prestigious Catholic Institute (university) in Paris.
"This debate will be primarily onebetween Germany and France," he went on, "though I expectit to be a very friendly conflict."
Unlike its French counterpart, the GermanBasic Law (constitution) of 1949 has God in the very first sentenceof its preamble. It reads,
"Conscious of their responsibilitybefore God and me, animated by the resolve to serve world peaceas an equal partner in a united Europe, the German people haveadopted, by virtue of their constituent power, this Basic Law."
The preamble to the European Constitutionshould begin in a similar vein, demanded the two highest-rankingprelates of the state-affiliated Catholic and Protestant Churchesin Germany last week.
Cardinal Karl Lehmann, head of the GermanConference of Catholic Bishops, and Manfred Kock, president ofthe Council of the Evangelical (Protestant) Church in Germany,also insisted that in the preamble the European Union also acknowledgeits religious -- and especially Christian -- roots.
This followed similar demands by the Geneva-basedConference of European Churches representing 127 Anglican, EasternOrthodox, Protestant and Old Catholic denominations. This bodyalso stated that "the religious and spiritual heritage ofEurope and its contribution to the formation of European values(be recognized) in any preamble to a constitutional text or anew treaty."
"The French bishops have written tothe Conference of European Churches supporting this request,"Joncheray told UPI.
"For France, this might well proveto be an overture of a national debate that will accelerate aswe approach the 2005, the centenary of the revocation of France'sconcordat with the churches," he went on.
This treaty of 1802, under which the Frenchstate paid bishops and pastors of the officially recognized churchessuitable salaries, lasted until 1905. It ended when France adopteda "Separation Law" sundering church and state.
The Jospin government referred to this lawwhen it insisted that France could not be party to any constitutionmentioning God. Jospin's domestic critics held that this positionseemed somewhat hypocritical, given that France tolerated exceptionsto the principle of separation on its own territory.
In Alsace and Lorraine, the French governmentstill pays clerics and funds the divinity school of the Universityof Strasbourg -- because in 1905 these territories were German.
In France's overseas departments, FrenchGuyana in South America for example, priests also receive theirsalaries from the state because 100 years ago they were possessions,but not integral parts of the Republic.
Thus the argument runs: If you can makeexceptions in your own land why be so tetchy when it comes tomentioning God on a supranational level?
To be sure, France is Western Europe's mostsecularized nation. Although Americans consider Europeans muchless religious than themselves, 90 percent of the 374 millioncitizens of the 15 EU states are members of churches.
According to Idea, a German Protestant newsservice, 58.4 percent are Roman Catholic, 18.4 percent Protestant,11 percent Anglican, 2.7 percent Orthodox, and 2 percent Islamic.
They may not attend Sunday services thatoften. Nevertheless in Germany, for example, 27 million Catholicsand an equal number of Protestants faithfully pay their "churchtax," although they are free to go before a public registrarand declare that they no longer wish to be members.
That would exempt them of the church tax,which usually amounts to around 8 percent on top of one's incometax.
While the United Kingdom, Scandinavia andGreece also accord special privileges to their churches, Germanyis really the principal exponent of a relationship between churchand state that stands in stark contrast to France's view.
Yet apart from the result of the Frenchelections and the possible shift in favor of including God's namein the European Constitutions that might possibly result fromthis, subtle changes in attitude have become visible and audibleeven in the land of the "laicité," or total secularization.
Recent surveys have shown that the shareof French citizens declaring themselves atheists is merely 14percent and thus not that much higher than the European averageof 8 percent.
More importantly, there has been a dramaticchange in attitude even among leftists concerning Christianity.Former revolutionary Regis Debray, once Ché Guévara'sand Fidel Castro's companion, recently stated in his book "God,an itinerary" (Dieu, un itineraire,"), "God isplaying a lead role in contemporary history."
Though still a self-declared Marxist andatheist, Debray astounded fellow intellectuals by pleading forthe instruction of religion at public schools.
This statement coincided with the news thathundreds of thousands of copies of a very expensive volume ofa new Bible translation have been sold in France and that thecountry's national theater, the Comédie Francaise, hadfull houses at Scripture readings.
With undisguised delight, Joncheray, theCatholic academic, remarked, "Even here religion seems tohave returned to the public square."