14 February 2012
A recent legal ruling in the UK has prevented a local council from saying prayers before the opening of council business. Apart from displaying a lack of cultural sensitivity, the ruling has also been widely viewed as being intolerant of the rights of Christians to pray.
This legal decision is only the latest in a number of high-profile court cases in the UK and Europe which have put the rights of certain minorities – for example gays, abortionists or secularists before Christians or people of faith. The European Parliament and European Liberals have been at the forefront of making the EU a secular, ‘rights-based’ community, with many actively seeking to push religion out of the public square and into the realm of the private space. As a consequence, the rights of faith communities have been afforded less weight than other groups in society.
For some time now Christians have offered little concerted resistance – in part due to the unwillingness to be seen as out of step with society at large and in part reflecting dwindling numbers. However, as the erosion of Christianity – at least in Europe – shows little sign of abating, there now seems little option but for Christians to begin to resist and defend themselves. The question is, how best to do it?
The spiritual head of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI has confronted the problem in a number of ways, an indication perhaps of the complexity of the crisis. At the outset, he has called on Catholics and people of other faiths to examine and assess the weaknesses in the ‘secularist’ assault. He has pointed to fissures arising from the ethical and moral implications of issues such as relativism and the nature of truth, the role of natural law, the implications of a weakening of the family in terms of social cohesion and the decoupling of rights from responsibilities. In all of these areas, Christianity and other faiths have something to say but it is also fertile ground for questioning secular assumptions and making a valued stand.
Pope Benedict has also rightly reinforced some central tenets of his faith regarding the protection of life and dignity and the important role this will have in trying to recalibrate society. The Catholic Church is at the forefront of trying to protect the life of the unborn child. It leads the way in resisting assisted suicide for the terminally ill or elderly. It has always been the most proactive in offering charity and support to the poor and destitute, the homeless and the sick. It has not, like most people today, sub-contracted their caring for the less fortunate to charities and NGOs. European society, in its search for materialism and progress, has nothing to say on such efforts.
Finally, Pope Benedict has recognised that Europe itself is sick and regularly reinforces his point that contrary to what the liberal would have you believe, Christianity has been the defining cultural strand that reflects Europe’s heritage and might have some remedies to society’s ills. It is no coincidence that some of the continents worst calamities has been generated by godless societies, such as Communism and Nazism.
Can Christianity, with Catholicism in the vanguard, begin to tackle the consequences of broken societies, rampant materialism and moral drift? Undoubtedly, it will not be easy. Abuse scandals of the past are regularly raised today to denigrate any initiatives launched by the Vatican – a sort of guilt by association. Likewise, secular legislation seeks to maintain its drive to marginalise religion. However, these same laws can be modified through judicious lobbying and positive action. They can be changed by Catholic or religious voting – the recent victory of Fidesz in Hungary is a case in point. These laws can also be contested by the individual. Rebuttal and clarification of misleading media is also possible, in part through the judicious use of social media networks.
However, for this resistance to succeed requires a clear vision of why religion is important and establishing a meta-narrative of how to live one’s life. This is were Pope Benedict’s latest drive to improve catechism comes in – evangelisation based on Christian values is attractive but it is even more attractive if it is presented by apologists with a clear understanding of faith-based living means and critically, what it does not mean. It also acknowledges that the neo-evangelisation must be linked to education and truth.
The financial crisis in Europe is already shaking the foundations of our societies and calling into question the so-called rationalism of enlightened and scientific progress. For many, this is now become a hollow claim and one the Catholic Church and other faiths should begin to expose as a fallacy in parts and only partially successful in others. There is another way forward and Catholics and Christians need to signpost it. A more muscular Christianity in the face of persecution might be part of the solution.