A chara, - The draft EU Constitution recently produced by the Convention on the Future of Europe has provoked significant debate. Yet one element remains deliberately overlooked. There is no mention of God or the significance to Europe of its Christian heritage.
This issue was raised in the course of the Convention's proceedings and bravely championed by a number of representatives. Unfortunately, the delegates ultimately decided to insert only a vague and fleeting reference to "religious heritage" in the constitution's preamble. Despite recording other factors in Europe's development, the constitution ignores the obvious role of Christianity which has so profoundly shaped the history and culture of Europe's nations, including our own.
It is apt to recall that many of modern Europe's founding fathers, such as Schumann, de Gasperi and Adenauer, drew their vision of unity from a deep-rooted Christian commitment. Nor does the draft constitution offer any acknowledgement of God as the source of the Union's laudable values such as peace, human dignity, justice and solidarity. The omission of these core elements casts doubt on the constitution's ability to fulfil its primary aim of relating the idea of "Europe" to her peoples. The desire to include such references is not motivated by a will to offend but rather by the need to reflect the reality that European civilisation owes much to its Christian faith.
God is acknowledged in Bunreacht na hÉireann as in the constitutions of other EU member-states. It is incumbent on the Irish government, in alliance with other like-minded administrations, to press for a revision of the text in this respect. Otherwise we will be presented with an EU Constitution, legally superior to our own, which expunges God and Christianity from the legal framework governing European citizens. - Is mise,
COLM HAGAN, Portadown, Co Armagh.