The Cross is the Logo of Europe

With all 200 of us just returning from 10 days in Rome and Assisi, our heads are spinning as we cope with the fact that there is only 22 days left in the semester!

But, one of the neat aspects of pilgrimage to Rome is its close connection with the cross of Christ. In this vein, I stumbled across this article in the (Daily newspaper Die Presse, 6.11.09) about the Cross and Europe. It is written by Dr. Martin Kugler, friend of the Kartause Gaming, who has studied history, political sciences and communication. He is director of Kairos consulting agency for non profit projects.

Its a nice read and a good way for us to ease back into the academic setting and rhythm of life:


In 1960 Cardinal Konig of Vienna awoke from a coma after a serious car
accident in former Yugoslavia; he looked at the wall of the hospital room
and saw a picture of Tito. For the young archbishop this experience was
the beginning of an internal process that led him to a special solidarity
with the Christians in communist countries. For us the picture of this
situation can help clear up a misunderstanding with which policies &
politics are made today in Europe. It is the mistaken belief that real
religious freedom is given if a society is free of religion, or - rather
more diplomatically worded: Secularism is the proper way in which the
state expresses its neutrality. This misconception, currently propagated
by a judgment of the ECHR, is based on two false assumptions that, if held
in a prejudice-free and reasonable discussion, could be easily disproved.
First, the talk of the value-neutral state: It is simply naive and the
result of an illusion.

Secondly, the assumption that a public without any presence of religious
life or religious symbols would be more "tolerant" or more appropriate to
freedom of conscience than a "Public Square" which permits or even
encourages statements of religious belief.

The first of the two conditions of our misunderstanding is rather a joke:
value-neutral state? Against fraud and corruption? Against xenophobia and
discrimination? Sins against the environment and sexual harassment in the
workplace? A state that bans neo-Nazis, allows pornography, favors
certain forms of developmental assistance , but others not. . . all due to
neutral values?

Someone is trying to make a fool of us! Goethe already railed against
talking about the nonsense of "liberal ideas". Ideas should possibly be
good or right and our attitude towards people with other ideas should be
liberal. As a historian, I can only interpret this talk of a
value-neutral state thusly: It is a somewhat belated over-reaction of
European intellectuals against the alliance of throne and altar of the
past.

The second assumption one must take seriously, however: The great Jewish
legal scholar, Joseph Weiler, said (given the debate about the reference
to God in the European Constitution): As a member of a religious
minority, he felt better off in a society that respects its religious
symbols, than he would in a secular society, which would deny its roots
and even work zealously against any expression of faith. One might add:
The removal of the cross in a public hospital and the resulting blank
walls are a sign which carry its own symbolism and send signals to dying
patients, who look out for them.

Of course, the atheist parent might feel his or her child being molested by
the cross in the classroom. But this is inevitable. I may also feel
annoyed when upon entering a post office I catch sight of a photograph of
the Austrian Federal President whom I have not voted for. Or if I am on
the way to my daughter's nursery school looking at posters of the
municipality of Vienna co-financed by me. Influence, ideological signals,
visual presences - also sexist – will always exist everywhere. The only
question is how and containing what. The state should intervene only very
moderately. And if it does, not by bans that imprison religion into a
ghetto. The cross is now less than ever a sign of restraint, but one of
identity and cohesion of Europe. So not only Cardinal König was missing it
in the Yugoslavian hospital room. Equally would I and also friends
alienated from the Church miss it: On the mountain peaks of the Swiss
Alps, on the rooftops of the Burgundian churches and the ambulances cars
of the Red Cross. To the Christian, the cross is claim and mystery. But
for Europe it is the most successful and best logo of all times. It should
remain visible.

(Daily newspaper Die Presse, 6.11.09)