Towards a new consensus” “

“Serious and honest stocktaking must be undertaken. This is not a matter of cheerleading adulation (of the European Union). Rather it requires civic education of the measured success of an historic project which can be undone through ignorance and a lack of political responsibility, whether on the part of political leaders or citizens”, says NOËL TREANOR , general secretary of the Commission of the episcopates of the European Community and director of “Europe infos”, monthly of COMECE and the Catholic Office of Information and Initiative (OCIPE). In his editorial to the September number of the review, Treanor notes that “EU leaders declared a period of reflection after the ‘no’ votes in the French and Dutch referenda on the EU Constitutional Treaty”. That period of reflection needs to be profited from. The failure of the Constitution is due to various reasons, but a new consensus needs to be found to respond to it. We present some passages from Treanor’s analysis, followed by passages from a reflection on religious instruction in European schools. FOSTERING TRUST. It is clear – says Treanor – that “our political leaders have failed to engage and foster the trust of citizens. The European Council and the EU institutions forged ahead with enlargement, the constitutional process itself, and many necessary policy initiatives in various fields without adequately informing the citizens”. “We failed – in other words – to explain the aims and new political method of the European Union to a younger generation. We have failed to promote an appreciation of its political, economic and social objectives in public opinion, even though all our countries have reaped the fruits of EU membership”. A SHARED DESTINY. Hence, “a new and revitalised consensus on the EU project, its objectives and institutional processes is needed”. In Treanor’s view, “the EU’s achievements in its areas of competence and its contribution to the member states’ efforts to promote growth and employment need to be honestly explained to citizens by political leaders. Our leaders must make it clear that our economic, social and political future at the national level is inextricably linked to that of our fellow Europeans. For better or worse, interdependence and a shared destiny is our future”. By their rejection of the Constitutional Treaty, “a reasonable, if not perfect compromise”, the French and Dutch electorates “have provoked a crisis in EU affairs”. Nonetheless, that Treaty “remains an achievement and will continue to be a source of inspiration during the reflection period and beyond. This time of reflection can bear much needed fruit provided that political leaders, opinion shapers in education, media, intermediate organizations, civil society, Church and religious leaders, play their respective parts together in promoting a wide public debate”. AN “OBJECTIVE” KNOWLEDGE. “If knowledge of Christianity disappears from our society, we will no longer be able to understand our own culture”. This quote from the former French Minister of Education and the Arts, the Socialist Jack Lang, forms the starting point of a reflection by MICHAEL KUHN on religious education in European schools. Lang started out from a “non-confessional” view of religion as a school subject: i.e. “science of religion”, meaning not only “knowledge of Christianity as the ‘central European religion’, its main content and its importance for French and European culture”, but also “knowledge of the content and importance of other religions in Europe: Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and other religions”. This knowledge about other religions could, he thought, “help to bring about the peaceful co-existence of different religions and defuse any triggers for social conflicts”. Kuhn notes that “an initiative by the European Council’s European High Commissioner of Human Rights, Gil Robles, takes a similar direction”. Robles plans to found a “training institute for teachers of religion in Strasbourg where practical models for religious instruction are to be developed in order to provide school students with balanced ‘objective’ knowledge about different religions”. THE DEBATE. What are the necessary conditions for the realization of the project? The debate, opened at a conference in Strasbourg last April in which “representatives of various religions and non-government organizations” took part, will probably continue in the autumn – continues Kuhn – with the presentation of a draft report on the teaching of religion in Europe prepared by the French member of the European Council, André Schneider. Another subject for discussion is religious instruction in the European schools of the EU. “Confessional religious instruction is presently taught in different languages at these schools, established for the children of those working in European institutions, both at elementary and secondary level”. But following a reform of the elementary school timetable, there is a risk, says Kuhn, of “religious instruction being pushed into the extra-curricular domain, which will mean that instruction will take place during the lunch hour or at the end of the school day. It would then no longer be a proper subject but, rather, a kind of leisure-time activity like piano lessons or other hobbies”.