Lights and shadows none

It was a session with an agenda packed with important issues and with some distinguished guests, including the Patriarch of Moscow Alexei II and the newly elected Turkish President Abdullah Gul. But it was also a chequered time in the history of the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), held in Strasbourg from 1-5 October. CONFUSION BETWEEN RELIGION AND SCIENCE. The Luxembourg representative ANNE BRASSEUR drafted the Resolution that was approved by the delegates, inviting the governments of the 47 member states to “firmly” oppose the teaching of creationism in European schools. The Palais de l’Europe – seat of the Council of Europe – was the scene of a heated debate on the subject and a vote that divided the deputies: 48 parliamentarians supported the Resolution, 25 voted against it. “The prime target of present-day creationists, most of whom are Christian or Muslim, is education. Creationists – says the document – are bent on ensuring that their ideas are included in the school science syllabus. Creationism cannot, however, lay claim to being a scientific discipline”. According to the Resolution, there is a real risk of inducing in children a serious confusion between convictions, religious beliefs and science. “The theory of evolution has nothing to do with divine revelation, but is built on facts”. A THREAT TO RIGHTS? The text approved (no. 1580/2007) asserts: “The objective of this resolution is not to place in doubt or to combat a religious credo: the right to religious freedom does not permit it. The aim is to warn of the danger of trying to present a credo as a science. Faith needs to be separated from science”. “For some – the document continues – the creation rests on a religious conviction; it gives a meaning to life. Nonetheless the PACE is concerned by the harmful influence that the diffusion of creationist texts in our educational systems could have”. Creationism is even regarded as a possible “threat to human rights”. The Resolution further points out that “all the great representatives of the major religions” show a “moderate” attitude to the question”, “in the manner of Pope Benedict XVI who, like his predecessor John Paul II, recognizes the role of the sciences in the evolution of humanity today” and maintains that the theory of evolution is “more than a hypothesis”. SPEECH OF THE PATRIARCH OF MOSCOW. During the same session, the parliamentary assembly rejected the “principle of unilateral preventive war”, denouncing the “disastrous consequences it has produced in the recent past”. The deputies expressed their support for the role of the UNO, for “multilateralism and the principle of collective response to global threats”, beginning with terrorism. In another debate during the session, the assembly condemned forced prostitution and the trafficking of human beings, though voting for a document full of contradictions. Guest speakers during the session included Patriarch ALEXEI II of Moscow and all the Russias, whose speech was wide-ranging. “With a view to preventing conflicts between the various conceptions of the world, intensive intercultural dialogue that is able to involve the representatives of the traditional religions and of the secular world is needed – he said -. I think that the Council of Europe, given its long experience as a place of dialogue on European values, could become an extraordinary forum in this sense”. TOWARDS PEACEFUL CO-EXISTENCE . Alexei II continued: “We consider it is unacceptable to relegate religion to outside the public sphere. It’s time to recognize that the religious motivation has the right to exist everywhere, including the public sphere”. “It was within a Christian system – Alexei pointed out – that the vision of the high dignity of the human person was forged”. “Every honest expert in European history” can testify that “the concept of human rights, the noblest European political idea, has developed thanks to the Christian teaching on the dignity, freedom and moral character of the human being”. The Patriarch lastly referred to the danger of terrorism: “As we well know, Europe and the whole world are now threatened by extremists and terrorists, many of whom wear religious marks”. These “destructive forces” are fuelled thanks to “religious ignorance”. That’s why “I strongly think the new generations must have access, if they wish, to studies in depth on their religious tradition at school; they also need to get to know and understand the other faiths as the basis for peaceful co-existence”.