European Christian Political Youth Network

Politics in Jesus' footsteps

Fri, 12 Dec 2008 23:32:38 +0100

December 3 some 400 parliamentarians gathered in Brussels for what has become the second largest gathering of Christian parliamentarians in the world, the European Prayer Breakfast. Among the speakers was Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands and leader of the Christian Union party, Andr� Rouvoet.

Below is a short synopsis of his speech:

My party, the Christian Union, became part of the government coalition in February 2007. From our point of view this was a blessing: for the first time in history we could exert a greater influence on our society for our clear, biblically inspired political programme.

But two important questions arose too: what will the Christian Union do with the power it gets and what will power do to the Christian Union?

The answer to the first question is very clear to me: a Christian should not be in it for the power itself. Power is not a goal, but a means. It is true, politics is all about power, but in Christian politics power is made to serve the justice of the Kingdom of heaven!

The answer to the second question we can only give at the end of this government term. I am fully aware though of the importance of recognising the temptations that government power brings. We want to resist adapting to the "ways of the world" and we don't want to forget who we are and why we are here in the first place. We know very well that making compromises is part of politics, but we will not be forced to give up our own convictions and our political conscience. We have promised each other to stay mindful of these things during the government term.

These reflections on the opportunities and risks of Christians taking part in government lead me to speak about another topic. Is there in 21st century Europe a prospect for politics in Jesus' footsteps?

For centuries Europe has been the continent from where Christianity spread across the world. Today Europe is often called "post Christian" or "secular" though and for several decades now the influence of Christian has been declining steeply. This goes for the Netherlands too. Ten years ago it was hardly imaginable that an explicitly Christian party would be part of the government coalition. Yet this is the reality today.

What does this tell us? I think it is a sign that we are no longer living in a "post-Christian" age, but that we have moved on to a "post-secular" age. The rationalistic modernism and secularism have been surpassed by its own child, post-modernism. The growing influence of religion in the political sphere has silenced the prophets of the Enlightenment, that announced the end of religion and the death of God.

Of course we have to be realistic. We may live in a post-secular world and religion may be back in the centre of society. And Christianity is the largest and fastest growing religion in the world, but this doesn't mean that we are witnessing a revival of Christian faith in Europe. We are still confronted with the cultural influence of unbelief and we still don't see Europe returning to the faith that formed its culture and identity.

What we do see though, are new opportunities for what I would like to call politics in Jesus' footsteps. There is a hopeful prospect in Europe for politics based in our faith.

Priorities on our agenda are, I think: care for the weak and the poor, especially now that the credit crunch makes it easy for us to forget about the poverty and the food crisis that are also there. Furthermore there is the global challenge of climate change and other environmental crises, that are not only threatening God's creation, but also the quality of life of millions of people and future generations.

Another challenge is respect for life, from the unborn to the terminally ill. In providing good care, we can offer alternatives for abortion and euthanasia. By our influence this is now government policy in the Netherlands.

Climate should be an issue in Development Aid

Wed, 10 Dec 2008 17:43:58 +0100

In the Netherlands' development policy, too little attention is payed to climate preservation, the Youth of the Christian Union party says. "Choices need to be made." The youth organisation of the Christian Union party, PerspectivE, held a congress on 'Development versus Climate' last weekend in Dalfsen. President of PerspectivE, IJmert Muilwijk lauded the fact that the Netherlands spends 0.8% of its GDP on development aid. "That is quite a sum, but are we really helping the people with it?", Muilwijk wondered. "What if this development aid is in fact contrary to their interest in the long run, because it is depleeting their natural resources?"

According to the president of PerspectivE there is a discrepancy between the drive of the West to do something against pverty worldwide and creating a sustainable environment at the same time.

"Is that really possible? Isn't it either the one or the other? Socio-economic development of the poorest countries for example leads to less poverty and hunger, but also to more consumption and thus to an increasing use of space and energy. This increases the contribution to climate change."

The Youth of the Christian Union party feels that this issue is not adressed enough in The Hague and used its congress to draw attention to this issue. "The departments of Development Aid and Environment are still operating in an island-like fashion and this to change", Muilwijk says. "Third world countries are entitled to development, but we should think again before having them copy our Western model of development. We should look for alternatives. It would be good if they could skip the coal era and introduce cleaner forms of energy early."

Especially because of its pro-life ideal, the Christian Union party has, according to Muilwijk, a "special ethical responsibility" to make clear the relation between fighting poverty and climate preservation in developing countries and to prevent the one going at the expense of the other.

Source: Nederlands Dagblad (Dutch Daily), December 1, 2008

Europe should cooperate with Belarus regime only when definite concessions

Wed, 10 Dec 2008 17:20:23 +0100

On 7 October the Belarusian opposition leaders Vincuk Viachorka, Anatol Liabedzka, Siarhey Kaliakin, Anatol Liavkovich, Alaksiej Shein, Zmicer Dashkevich, Ales Lahvinets and others met the Finland's Foreign Secretary and the OSCE Chairmen -in-Office Alexander Stubb.
The OSCE representatives were most interested in the Belarusian politicians' views of the Parliamentary election and the European strategy regarding the Belarusian regime.

All opposition representatives were unanimous in their view that the Parliamentary election-2008 were rigged.

The BCD Co-chairman Alaksiej Shein remarked ‘Personally I noted concerning the cooperation between Europe and the Belarusian government that it can take place only if there are certain concessions from the Belarusian side. First of all, the authorities must renew the registration of parties and organizations. Secondly, they must provide for the free operation of mass media. If the regime gets everything it wants without paying for it, it will not only continue the oppressive policy, it will feel full freedom to do anything'.

Source: bchd.info