Atheist Ireland Forum

Catholic Church reminds EU that Lisbon Treaty gives it arm-twisting status

The Lisbon Treaty came into effect this week, and first to celebrate was the Catholic Bishops Conference (COMECE) which issued a press release reminding EU members that religious groups — particularly the Vatican — are coming to claim the privileges that the Treaty promises them.

The Press Release says: “The Treaty introduces into EU primary law an Article of notable importance for the Churches. By means of Article 17 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, the EU recognises the identity and specific contribution of Churches and engages on this basis an ‘open, transparent and regular’ dialogue with them. Thanks to this Article, Churches and religious communities will be able to strengthen their Dialogue with the European Commission, Council and Parliament and so contribute more efficiently to reflecting on European policy. Inspired by Catholic social teaching and strengthened by their background experience, Churches will be enabled to pursue a critical and constructive Dialogue with EU decision makers on the policies put forward by the EU. ...”

Keith Porteous Wood, Executive Director of the National Secular Society, said: “This is probably the most sinister document I have read for some time; the soothing words about care for the poorest and concern for the environment are just window dressing. It gives clear warning that the Catholic Church intends to insinuate the Vatican’s hard-line Catholic doctrine right to the heart of Europe, despite the fact that even among Catholics, only a small minority subscribe to it. Women, gay people and the non-religious should be very worried by this, especially given the appointment of a reportedly zealous new Catholic President"

He is also a hard-line opponent of Turkey's bid to join the European Union because, he has warned, it is an Islamic country and would dilute Europe's Christian heritage.

Separating politics and religion is naive, says Bruton
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ire ... 81090.html
THE BELIEF that religion and politics should be kept separate was “unrealistic” and “naive”, former taoiseach and former EU ambassador to Washington John Bruton said last night.

Such belief “pursued relentlessly” led to tyranny or the breakdown of democracy, Mr Bruton said during an address in Dublin last night at an event jointly hosted by the Jesuit quarterly review Studies and the Catholic think tank, the Iona Institute.

Speaking as a practising Catholic who has been involved in politics, he said he wished to address the relationship that should exist between the Christian churches of Europe and the EU.

“As long as religious belief exists, and there is every reason to believe it will always exist, a secularist notion that religion and politics should be kept entirely separate is simply unrealistic, even naive. And naive beliefs pursued relentlessly, as they often are, lead toward either tyranny or the breakdown of the pluralism that is required for democracy to function,” he said.

Secularists “should beware of committing the same errors of immoderation, of the sort they justly condemn in churches in the past, in pursuit of their own cause today,” he said.

“For example, to seek to use the power of the state to remove every symbol or sign of religious belief from the public space would be just as immoderate as were past efforts to harness the powers of the state to push one religion on people.”

He said it was worth recalling that the European Convention on Human Rights, agreed to in 1949 before the EU came into existence, guaranteed to every European the right to “manifest his religion, with others in public or private, in teaching, practice, worship and observance”.

The EU “submits itself to the whole convention, including to this article about how people may exercise their religious freedom”, Mr Bruton said.

Vatican refuses to endorse UN charter of disability rights
The Vatican has indicated that, at present, it will not be signing a new, widely-heralded international treaty to protect the rights and dignity of people living with disabilities.

The UN-sanctioned treaty needs to be ratified by individual member states, and Britain is among those who have made an early indication of their intention to do so. As a city-state the Vatican is in a position to take a similar lead, but is being encouraged in its present decision not to do so by anti-abortion hardliners.

The Holy See says that, despite reassurances to the contrary, it is concerned that the treaty's inclusion of a reference to "sexual and reproductive health" could be construed as promoting abortion.

Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the permanent observer of the Holy See at the United Nations, says that the Vatican otherwise approves of the move to offer dignity and protection to people living with disabilities. But disabled rights organisations are likely to be outraged if there is no formal endorsement of the treaty, or a tacit disapproval of it.