Category: Topic

2006, Orthodox Church, Rights - Religious, Human

The Power Struggle in Orthodoxy

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The Power Struggle in Orthodoxy

Philip Walters

There are two large issues in the current crisis affecting the Russian Orthodox diocese in Britain. One is the special character the British diocese of Sourozh has developed, which is now at variance with the prevailing mood in the Moscow Patriarchate, under whose jurisdiction the diocese falls. The second issue arises from the first: should the diocese of Sourozh now change its jurisdiction?

While the Moscow Patriarchate spent seven decades preserving its identity against assault in the hostile atheist environment of the Soviet Union, Russian Orthodox jurisdictions of various allegiances developed in Western Europe and the United States. Some, like the British diocese, remained under the jurisdiction of Moscow, but sought to respond creatively to the challenges of being a minority in a pluralist religious environment.

In the words of Metropolitan Anthony Bloom, the head of the diocese until his death in 2003:

From the very outset … we Russians have considered that we have been sent to this country to bring Orthodoxy here, that is, to share the most valuable thing we ourselves possess, to give it to anyone at all who feels a need for it. This we have done not violently, nor by proselytism, but by proclaiming it for anyone to hear and by sharing it.

His vision of the Orthodox calling is thus out-going and inclusivist.

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2005, Adelheid Project

What we Learnt from the Adelheid Project!

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What we learnt from the Adelheid Project

Carol Pirie

When we in Wales first invited the Adelheid Project to come to Brecon in August 2004 we little thought what effect it would have on us!

Women Walking Together is a group of about 25 members who meet on a regular basis throughout Wales to discuss spirituality issues. About 95 per cent of us are Christian but we also believe that we exist for women of all faiths and none – and it is in sharing our journey together that we learn. Three years ago we chose to affiliate to the Ecumenical Forum of European Christian Women – but the European experience is still relatively new to many of us, and some are still quite wary of what goes on across the water!

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2005, Europe (general), Welfare & Religion

Welfare and Religion in a European Perspective: Introduction to a Europe-Wide Research Project

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Welfare and Religion in a European Perspective: Introduction to a Europe-Wide Research Project

Grace Davie

The aim of the project Welfare and Religion in a European Perspective (WREP) has been to look at the role of majority churches as agents of social welfare across different European societies. Its essence can be found in the following questions:

  • what roles do the historic churches of Europe play within the different welfare systems that exist in the continent?
  • to what extent are they providers of welfare?
  • how, more broadly, how do they influence welfare at a normative level – either through their historical roles or through continuing public debate? – and finally,
  • how do these activities match, or fail to match, with public expectations?

The background to the project lies in (a) the significant economic and social changes currently taking place in all developed societies, not least in Europe and (b) an equally significant set of changes which relate to religion.Taken together these transformations challenge existing models of welfare organisation. The task moreover is highly topical: questions concerning the organisation of social welfare are high on the political agenda all over Europe.

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2003, Europe, Rights - Religious, Human

European Religious Exceptionalism

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European Religious Exceptionalism

Grace Davie

The traditional theory about modernisation is that it necessarily involves secularisation. In my 1994 book Religion in Britain since 1945: Believing without Belonging I showed that a decline in churchgoing in Britain was matched by a decline in active membership of political and social organisations, and that what we were seeing in Britain was not so much a decline in belief but a change in the way that belief was expressed. The phenomenon seems to be a general symptom of late modernity. As young people escape from the authority of a church structure they don’t just lose their belief; it simply changes – becoming immanent rather than transcendent for example. And there is some evidence that once the shackles are shaken off people return to ritual. In countries like Poland or Eire, where young people still feel the pressure of church discipline, they tend to rebel; but in other European countries at least some young people (in contrast to their parents) are opting, once again, for church marriages.

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2003, Europe, European Union

The Impact of Prospective EU Entry on the Cultural, Social, Political and Economic Situation in Central Europe

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The Impact of Prospective EU Entry on the Cultural, Social, Political and Economic Situation in Central Europe

Maurice Fraser

In December 2002 it was agreed that ten countries would join the European Union: Cyprus, Malta and eight formerly communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe (the three Baltic States, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Slovakia). Their accession date has been set for 1 May 2004. All these countries had fulfilled entrance criteria named in 31 ‘chapters’ and covering a very wide range of concerns; the European Commission had taken a very tough stance on all of these. Hungary is regarded as the best prepared of the accession countries, with a large slice of foreign investment. The Baltic States, where there has been a remarkable story of reform, are led by Estonia, which for some time has been the darling of international economic institutions. Poland, Hungary, Slovenia and Estonia have recently been experiencing 4 per cent annual economic growth as opposed to 2.5 per cent for the EU as a whole. Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia started their accession process only in 2000, but have made good progress on catching up with those who started in 1998. Romania and Bulgaria are progressing, but much more slowly, and Romania has been experiencing economic stagnation for a number of years. The time line for the accession of these two countries is now around 2007.

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2003, Ecumenical Forum of European Christian Women

Called to Compassion and Freedom: Christian Women Shaping the Future of Europe

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Called to Compassion and Freedom – Christian Women Shaping the Future of Europe

A Message from the Sixth General Assembly of the
Ecumenical Forum of European Christian Women
held in the Czech Republic 25 August – 1 September 2002

Compassion and freedom are a gift of God, to women and men, said Bishop Jana Šilerováá of the Czech Hussite Church. Dr Gret Haller, from Switzerland, Human Rights Ombudsperson for OSCE to Bosnia Herzegovina, urged women to participate fully in politics and in the whole life of the state, in order to help shape the future of Europe. She said that our contribution could challenge existing patterns, which were often one-sided and male dominated. The senator of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, Jaroslava Moserová, drew attention to the duty and power of women, in their capacity as mothers and educators, to break the vicious cycle of hate which passes from generation to generation. A paradigmatic view of relationship and community came from the Bible Study on Philippians 2:1-5 by Carmen Marquez, a Spanish theologian. The image of the Triune God provides a pattern for human communities, through unity in diversity.

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2003, Roma

The Roma in Central and Eastern Europe Today

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The Roma in Central and Eastern Europe Today. An Appalling Situation

Richard Crowson

For the last three and a half years I have been working with the Roma in the Czech Republic, and my eyes have been opened to an extent I would never have believed possible.

The circumstances of the Roma in Central and Eastern Europe today are absolutely appalling. One basic aspect of their plight is that they are readily distiguishable by their colour, and have thus provided an easy target for persecution over the centuries. They were targeted for genocide persecuted by the Nazis; at the end of the Second World War there was not a single Roma left in the Czech lands; all those there today are recent immigrants, mainly from Slovakia. Today throughout Central and Eastern Europe they are subject to overt discrimination, exacerbated in a context of growing right-wing nationalism: far-right groups explicitly target them. They are routinely excluded from cafes, swimming pools, dance halls. Most of the countries concerned have passed anti-discriminatory legislation, in line with EU norms; but these laws are routinely ignored as far as the Roma are concerned.

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2002, Rights - Religious, Human

Religious Rights and Religious Freedom

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Religious Rights and Religious Freedom

Freedom of Religion in the World Today

Kevin Boyle

This is an important time to discuss the subject of religious freedom in the world: it was in the context of religion that the western world (previously largely remote from terrorism, if we exclude these islands) absorbed the horror of the attacks of 11 September in the United States. In the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights we were correct at an early point to label the attacks as crimes against humanity in international law. Militant Islam espoused and executed those attacks and undoubtedly the nexus long evidenced in history of different religions being linked to violence and conflict was reinforced worldwide. The 11 September attacks were carried out in the name of God and in the aftermath it is not the most propitious time to envisage greater religious freedom Indeed under the banner of counter-terrorism we have seen a backlash against various religions, including Islam, in many countries.

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2002, World Council of Churches

The Challenges facing CEC and the WCC

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The Challenges Facing the Conference of European Churches and the World Council of Churches

The Challenges Facing the Conference of European Churches (CEC)

Keith Jenkins

The main challenges currently facing CEC relate to the European Union.

Work is now proceeding in the EU’s ‘Convention on the Future of Europe’. Its report will contain recommendations for the restructuring of the EU – perhaps a draft constitution or constitutional treaty for the Union.

One reason why restructuring is necessary is the imminent expansion of the EU. Structures originally designed for six countries creak with 15 and will be paralysed with a bigger membership.

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2001, Europe, European Union

Eastern Europe’s Churches and the Challenge of E.U. integration

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Eastern Europe’s Churches and the Challenge of EU Integration

Jonathan Luxmoore

Introduction

Westerners generally do not realise how central a foreign policy issue the question of EU membership has been in Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. It is the nexus around which all economic and political discussion has taken place. There are no significant differences between the centre-right and the former communists (the centre-left) on the issue; only some fringe parties are opposed to EU membership. The candidate countries watch each other like hawks, especially in the context of EU Commission reports on the extent of their readiness to join. Visiting EU ministers are always asked same first question: ‘When do you think we’ll be allowed to join?’

Five post-communist countries have been negotiating membership since March 1998: the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland and Slovenia (in addition to Cyprus and Malta). Five others have opened negotiations since – Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Slovakia – and some of these are now catching up. The Nice summit in December 2000 agreed that enlargement could take place from 1 January 2003, and Poland hopes to complete the process in time for the European Parliament elections in 2004.

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