THE JAPAN TIMES ONLINE: BUDAPEST — It's a well-worn contrast: the United States is religious, Europe is secular. Yet, in some respects, this cliched opposition has actually been reversed recently: Religion played virtually no role during the last American presidential election, while in a range of different European countries major controversies about religion have flared up, suggesting that questions of faith are back at the center of European politics.
Consider French President Nicolas Sarkozy. On numerous occasions, he has argued that his country needs to rethink its traditional strict separation of state and religion. In particular, according to the twice-divorced self-confessed "cultural Catholic," France should develop a "positive secularism." In contrast to a negative separation, which according to Sarkozy "excludes and denounces," a positive separation invites "dialogue" and recognizes the social benefits of religion.
In a much criticized speech in Rome at the end of 2007, Sarkozy acknowledged the Christian roots of France, "the eldest daughter of the Church"; he also praised Islam during a visit to Saudi Arabia. Now he wants state subsidies for faith-based organizations — a policy proposal that upsets his many secularist critics.
This new appeal to religion — after a long period when it was taken for granted that secularization would make religion less and less politically relevant — is not an exclusively French phenomenon. The Spanish People's Party tried hard to mobilize Catholics during the election campaign in March 2008. The church supported the PP against Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, whose advocacy of gay marriage, more relaxed divorce laws and the removal of compulsory religion classes from the national curriculum, upset many religious conservatives. Zapatero eventually felt it necessary to tell a Vatican envoy that Spanish bishops should stop meddling in the elections (which the prime minister won).
In Italy, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi precipitated a constitutional crisis by trying to rush through emergency legislation to prevent a comatose patient from being taken off life support. This reminded many observers of what America's Republican Party tried to do to demonstrate its "pro-life commitments" during George W. Bush's presidency.
Finally, there is Britain, usually seen as perhaps the most secular country in Western Europe, and thus the least likely candidate to see the return of religion of any kind (outside its Muslim community). Under David Cameron's leadership, the newly invigorated Conservative Party is listening to a number of thinkers, dubbed "red Tories," who urge the party to turn its back on Thatcherism and embrace civil society, local community, the family and, not least, religion as a major force in fostering responsible social behavior. >>> Jan-Werner Mueller*, © 2009 Project Syndicate/Institute for Human Sciences | Sunday, July 5, 2009
*Jan-Werner Mueller is associate professor of politics at Princeton University and an Open Society fellow at Central European University, Budapest.
