An open identity

It’s a sign of comfort and hope. It’s a sign of life and a positive message for everyone, without distinction. The open arms of the Crucifix are there to embrace everyone. The display of the Cross in schools and public buildings benefits everyone. It’s good for our identity and it’s good for dialogue here in Europe. The European bishops’ conferences once again addressed the question of the display of Christian religious symbols in public places, given the upcoming hearing of the European Court for Human Rights (on June 30th), following the appeal presented by the petitioners. The judgment is due at a later stage. All Bishops’ Conferences’ documents are based on the value of religious freedom, justly denying the possibility of the removal of crucifixes, which in fact should be guaranteed. The documents are all brief and marked by respect, underlying the principle of subsidiarity: namely, the enhancement of and the respect for the different national realities along with the “millenary traditions of all peoples and nations”.The Court is also called to decide whether the issue’s relevance extends beyond the subject of the recourse. In fact, it involves a crucial theme that too often has been eluded in political and cultural debates across the continent, regarding the relationship of European bodies – in this case the Council of Europe – of the nations and peoples, with their very own identity and future. Do we wish our future to be void and aseptic, a future where everyone is on his own, or do we instead long to continue freely expressing “a tradition that everyone is familiar with and whose high spiritual value is acknowledged”? Does anyone really believe that in our contemporary societies, displaying a hyper-respect of civil rights and of formal realities which in fact are often void of meaning, that the presence of religious symbols, of the Cross in particular, could become an imposition entailing a form of exclusion? It’s a delicate moment. It’s a time for assuming responsibility, courage and vision. In all likelihood the void of religious symbols (among the many other things), instead of increasing tolerance, respect and pluralism, risks fuelling a perception of solitude and emptiness marked by the lack of points of reference and leading to conflict and violence. It is the aporia of secularization, which demands further thrust and meaning, conveyed by societal stakeholders.And this why the Crucifix gains further relevance. Beware: it’s not the sign of a past that clings to the idea and to the prospects of the inevitably modern present. Instead, it’s the benchmark for a vision of the future marked by planning, building and developing on solid foundations. This is the moral and cultural exercise that is urgently needed in Europe, which the Pope describes as “the educational question”. The Crucifix, the bishops point out, “represents an identity that is open to dialogue with all men of good will”, in order to openly address the possibility of new horizons of civil developments.