nearly a dozen countries have appealed to the European Union to include Christian values in its soon to be adopted constitution, an official said Saturday September 13.
"It would be a historic lie not to give for Europe Christian values," said the Foreign Secretary of the Dutch Christian Union party Gerard Geijtenbeek, after a gathering in Lakitelek, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) south-west of Budapest.
"A constitution which isn’t brave enough to refer to its roots would be incomplete," argued European Parliament Vice President Ingo Friedrich, earlier in a statement released by the Hungarian news agency MTI.
"It would be a mistake to think of the European community as based exclusively on economics," he added at a time when the expanding EU is said to play a growing role in the daily lives of Europeans. "The economy is up in thin air if it has no moral and ethical fundament," Friedrich said.
POOR
The comments came as a frail Pope John Paul II tried desperately to convey a similar message to hundreds of thousands of people attending several open air masses in neighbouring Slovakia, BosNewsLife monitored.
Geijtenbeek said several Christian delegates, who are part of the recently established European Christian Political Movement, will likely set up an own fraction in the European Parliament next year to counter the European Peoples Party (EPP), the largest fraction.
The Dutch official said it was difficult to recognize the, officially still Christian Democratic, EPP as a "family party" amid an increase of recognized homosexual marriages or unions as well as abortions and euthanasia cases.
CRUCIAL POINTS
He told BosNewsLife that his and other Christian parties have given the EPP till an Amsterdam meeting on this issue in April to change its line and adopt eight crucial points from this years’ Lakitelek Declaration a key document of the 2nd International conference of Christians.
Besides Christian values in the constitution, the declaration also mentions that "we al agree that God is the sources of all authority," Geijtenbeek said.
"The second point deals with the protection of life, such as unborn children and respect for elderly people and the promotion of hospices as well as the prohibition of euthanasia and cloning."
CORNER STONE
As a third issue the declaration says it is time that Europeans "give a voice to the weak, while the fourth point deals with the family as a corner stone of society, and the fifth with the the responsibility of every citizens, " he explained.
"The sixth point is about the place of churches and other religious organizations." It also stresses in "point seven" that "the European Union most be aware of the identity and sovereignty of states." There has been concern in Hungary and other future EU members that their traditions will be lost in organization’s enlargement process.
Former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Saturday, September 13, that "the European Union will cease to exist unless its member nations are becoming stronger as individual nations. The EU is incapable of solving the problems of those member states that struggle with economic crises, Orban said, according to MTI, at a village ceremony.
"VALID CONCERN"
"Like Holland, Hungary is a small country, so this is a valid concern," said Geijtenbeek. It is one of the reasons why, as a final point, the Likatelek declaration says that "God’s creation is a major part of Christian and Social (policies) such as natural resources. We see each other as stewards," he added.
While he recognized that an increasing number of Muslims live in Europe and many churches are empty, Geijtenbeek said it was important not to forget the continent’s heritage. It comes as Evangelical organizations have identified Europe as a mission field, and expect many evangelists to come from Asia or Africa.
"The historical background of Europe is based on the Christian way. Europe is changing, but if you look to the still Christian families, protection of life, responsibility of citizens, the protection of the weak…these are all Christian values," Geijtenbeek stressed.
It also one of the reasons why his party is supporting training programs for Christian politicians from former Communist countries, he explained. The four-day meeting was concluded with a commemoration of Hungary’s Christian martyrs of the 20th century, when many believers suffered under especially decades of Soviet Communist domination.
