Question of freedom

The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has fixed for 30 June the audience during which the Grande Chambre will take into consideration the appeals presented against the sentence issued by a chamber of the same Court (3 November 2009), contrary to the display of the crucifix in Italian public schools. In the meantime, twenty-two European Bishops’ Conferences have so far (prior to 25 June) expressed their position on the question through press releases, statements, declarations or appeals sent directly to the Court in Strasbourg. The Orthodox Churches of Bulgaria and Ukraine have also joined their voices to this choral opposition to the Court’s ruling. We present some passages from the latest documents received by SIR’s editorial offices. (For previous statements see SIR Europe no.46/2010). Spain: “reflects Christians’ religious sentiment””Thanks to Christianity, Europe has been able to affirm the autonomy of the spiritual and temporal spheres and embrace the principle of religious freedom, respecting the rights both of believers and non-believers”, says a statement issued by the permanent episcopal Commission of the Spanish bishops. According to the Spanish bishops, “the presence of Christian religious symbols in public buildings, in particular the presence of the cross, reflects the religious sentiment of Christians of all confessions and makes no claim to exclude anyone”. On the contrary, the presence of religious symbols is, say the bishops, the “expression of a tradition of which everyone recognizes a great value and a great role as a catalyst in dialogue between persons of good will and as a support for those who suffer and those in need, without distinction of faith, race or nation” and “without imposing anything on anyone”. Therefore “societies of Christian tradition ought not to oppose the public display of their religious symbols, in particular in places where children are educated”. Otherwise, “these same societies would have difficulty in transmitting their own identity and their own values to future generations”.Czech Republic: “positive element”In view of the forthcoming audience at the European Court of Human Rights, Archbishop Dominik Duka, President of the Czech bishops, has sent a letter to Monsignor Aldo Giordano, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the Council of Europe. “Christianity, in the form of Judaeo-Christian culture, was present at the birth and development of European and American civilization – says the letter – and hitherto these values have been the only ones able to keep Europe alive and strong. These values are the same that have been applied to the formation of the EU. If they are to continue to transmit their own identity and values to future generations, our societies of Christian tradition must not be prohibited from publicly displaying their own religious symbols”. “In countries of Christian tradition, Christianity has contributed to the formation of national culture. In this context, the display of the cross, especially in schools, is not only tolerable and justifiable, but also constitutes a positive element. The right to religious freedom exists in all European countries and is being extended to permit the display of other religious symbols”, observes the archbishop. “We take the view that it is not the task of the European Court to take decisions in the field of religion and on questions of morality”, concludes Mgr. Duka, according to whom “the role of the Court is to operate within the framework of morality transmitted to the present time by Greco-Roman and Christian civilization”.England: “unacceptable secularism”The English Archbishop Peter Smith, in a statement released on 23 June by the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, has reacted to the imminent audience of the European Court of Human Rights in which it will hear a case concerning the display of religious symbols in public schools in Italy (the Lautsi Case). The case, says Archbishop Smith, “has generated much debate about the relationship between the protection of human rights and the manifestation of religion in the public sphere”. “It would – the statement continues – clearly be unfortunate and unacceptable” if the European Court of Human Rights “moved from ensuring the freedom of individuals from the imposition of a particular state religion – a position which the Church supports – to requiring that all European countries conform to a model of secularism that is antagonistic to any manifestation of religion in the public sphere. That would neither be consistent with the Court’s own previous approach, nor reflective of the principle of freedom of religion that the Convention protects”. Cardinal Herranz: “manifestation of incivility””Wishing to eject this symbol from public places and institutions in the name of a presumed religious neutrality would be a manifestation not only of Christophobia, however covert, but above all one of incivility”, declared Cardinal Julian Herranz, President emeritus of the Pontifical College for Legislative Texts, intervening at a round table in Rome on 23 June.