Respecting absolute Christian values

We have been harping, in this column, that regrettably, certain section of the media, especially in Europe and in the United States, do not help viewers, listeners and readers to form a solid religious and spiritual style of living their Christian calling in today's world.

We are not at all surprised that last March Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the Archbishop of Westminster and president of the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, made use of his erudite Corbishly Lecture to erect a breakwater against the incoming tide of aggressive secularism and atheism.

As The Tablet (UK) of March 31 points out, the Cardinal's purpose was not only to start a debate, but also to sound a timely alarm against the "new tolerance" that disputes the presence of religion in the public sphere. The learned prelate said that a new breed of secularists, increasingly visible in the media and polities, seeks to deny even the right of religiously motivated people to serve their fellow human beings in ways dictated by their formed and informed consciences.

The Tablet points out that recently in certain sections of the media the heaping of insults and abuse on religious believers had become almost routine. It states: "A common trait is to treat all who represent different religions the same, thereby laying at the door of venerable institutions of moderation and good sense, such as the mainstream Churches in Britain, all the prejudices seen to flow from Muslim extremism or American fundamentalism."

Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor is rightly most concerned with the defence of Britain democracy and of freedom of religion, while he clearly asserts that in a true democracy, religious individuals and organisations have a right to participate in public affairs, not on the basis of privilege but as part of a diverse community.

He also insists that "religious freedom implies that there must be a limit to what the state can do - an argument that should resonate with those concerned with that other fashionable issue of the moment, the intrusion of state power into people's lives".

The peculiar power of the British Constitution to resist state totalitarianism derives, the cardinal argued, from its inclusion of religion in the public sphere. Indeed, the great merit of the cardinal's studied approach is that both by its contents and by its tone, it strongly contradicts the caricature of religion in the UK media as oppressive and fanatical.

No doubt, Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor together with the bishops of the United Kingdom keeps telling all the faithful and all those of good will that we are living in a world that is very complacent and plays fast and loose with the faith. Nowadays we are witnessing so many politicians and leaders finding it so easy to reject absolute Christian values.

One was not at all surprised when Pope Benedict XVI delivered a hard-hitting speech last March to some 400 representatives of all the Catholic bishops' conferences in Europe to mark the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome that founded the EU. He stressed that Europe was an "historical, cultural and moral identity" before being "a geographic, economic or political reality", and he credited Christianity with helping to make universal values part of its foundation. Calling Europe a "leaven" for the entire world, the Holy Father insisted that Christianity had to remain "an essential element" in its identity.

In their own "Message from Rome" - which was sent to the special session of European heads of government in Berlin the following day - the bishops said they hoped that the still unratified EU Constitution would give "explicit recognition" to Europe's Christian heritage.