By SIR
“Let the European Union, through the High Representative Catherine Ashton, immediately take effective measures in support of religious freedom and defend Christians across the world”: this appeal was made by Mario Mauro, an Italian MEP, who points at the “scaring escalation of violence, terror and death” that hit the Christian communities in several parts of the world.
“What is the target? Christianity or all of the West? – Mauro wonders -. The answer is as simple as it is upsetting: Christianity as well as the West for the fundamentalist groups that are tearing to pieces the Christian communities all over the world are the enemy to be destroyed”. “A distinctive trait of fundamentalism is taking God as an excuse to aim at power. Christians are often hostages and the victims of harassment and persecution, maybe in those countries in which they are ‘nothing’ in terms of social weight. In lots of countries, Christianity is deliberately confused with the West just to reach out to a wider audience and to increase their chances of success to achieve that power more easily”.
The MEP, who is also an OECD delegate against racism and discrimination, went for Christmas with the temporary deputy president of the EU Parliament, Gianni Pittella, to Bethlehem to “bring solidarity to the Christians of the Middle East”.
“Taking care of the religious freedom of Christians across the world – Mario Mauro adds – does not mean simply defending the interests of one category. Religious freedom is an objective factor in the acknowledgement of the respect of human rights. The violence suffered by Christians is actually a wound and a challenge to human dignity. Taking care of the religious freedom of Christians then means tackling a serious emergency of our time”.
The MEP recalls that, at the end of 2009, the EU Council included in its conclusions a statement on religious freedom. “But this is not enough. Nowadays, the EU’s action must become more and more powerful in the defence of religious freedom”, taking on international leadership in this area. “A leadership aimed not to create tension with the Islamic countries but, quite the opposite, to prevent the most vulnerable of such countries being swallowed up into the whirlwind of fundamentalism”. And it is “such leadership and such ideas – for instance, the idea to bind economic subsidies to the protection of religious and ethnic minorities – that the High Representative for Foreign Policy, Catherine Ashton, should be the supporter of, through a widespread diplomatic work aimed at opening effective talks with those countries in which religious freedom is most threatened”.