“Мe can observe an interesting phenomenon when an influential part of the EU bureaucracy tries to impose its vision of “European values” on Ukraine, where Christian values are often leveled, not prioritized, or relegated to the background. Under the guise of “tolerance,” they propose ideas of blurring traditional concepts of society, family, marriage, and national identity, and the desire to defend one’s rights and defend one’s home is interpreted as aggression, intransigence with injustice and neighborly aggression, as intransigence or militarism. […] What to do in this situation? How to keep the defense in front of the aggressor and to bring a “strange” ally to his senses? To help […] comes an understanding of the essence of a united Europe, which we know from the works of Robert Schumann, Konrad Adenauer, Alcide de Gasperi and other founding fathers of the European Union. [In their legacy] we see a Christian Europe of peoples, filled with the meaning of a common past. We see that the desire to drain Europe of its basic values
leads to strange consequences.” – we read in the publication of the President of the Foundation for Support of Democratic Initiatives, Yuriy Mindyuk, in the collection of materials of the International Conference “Christian Perspective of a United Europe: Origins and Future.”
The conference was held in Lviv on May 29-31 thanks to the Foundation for Support of Democratic Initiatives and the Sallux Foundation. The main goal of the latter is to promote Christian values throughout Europe. On May 28, Jeff Fontaine’s book Deep Roots was presented at the Sheptytsky Center of UCU in Lviv. The author is a public figure, director of the Schumann Center for European Studies, a Protestant who for 20 years was the head of the roundtable “Hopes for Europe.”
Jeff Fontaine set out to broaden the context of understanding the idea of European unity and the concept of a united Europe by returning to the relevant original basic idea set forth by one of the founding fathers of the EU, French Prime Minister Robert Schuman. In particular, Jeff Fontaine emphasizes that Christian values should be understood as an integral and necessary component of a united Europe.
This idea was the basis of the conference, which brought together participants from all over Ukraine.
On May 29, in the conference hall of the Irena Hotel, Jeff Fontaine spoke in detail about Robert Schuman’s embodiment of Christian principles in the founding of the EU. By the way, the Catholic Church has begun the process of beatification of this politician. According to the speaker, modern Christians in Europe must take responsibility for its future and return to the implementation of the principles that the deeply religious French leader envisioned in 1950 in the French-German “Declaration” on reconciliation and forgiveness after the terrible events of World War II. In his turn, Johannes de Wong, Director of the Sallux Foundation, spoke about the activities of the institution to which he belongs, and briefly presented the life and political activities of another father of the EU, Konrad Adenauer, who rebuilt Germany after the war. The director of the foundation emphasized that Germany’s admission of guilt became the spiritual foundation of the postwar era.
On the same day, a discussion began about the need for the European Union to return to its Christian roots.
Lawyer Andriy Hnidets, representing the Association of Christian Lawyers, spoke about the introduction of European norms into Ukrainian legislation. In his opinion, the concepts of “European/liberal values” are being substituted. In Ukraine, the liberalism of Europe is presented as a “European tradition,” although, according to the speaker, conservative environments are still strong there. So it was suggested that Christians of different denominations could create such environments in Ukrainian society. Currently, according to the lawyer, there is a strong desire in Ukraine to copy European institutions without taking into account the values that actually shape the institutions.
On May 30, the conference discussed the state of Christian democratic values in Ukrainian society. In addition, Johannes de Wong drew attention to the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, which is deeply Christian in content. However, this document has not yet been translated
into Ukrainian. After working in groups, more than 20 conference participants presented proposals for implementing Christian democratic values in Ukrainian society.
The conference also featured presentations on the topic of uniting Christians in Ukraine around the cause of promoting Christian values.
They also spoke about the unfortunate facts of violations of the rights of Christians in the European Union. Public figures Myroslav Danylkiv and Bohdan Pankevych, scholars Marian
Zhytariuk, Oksana Horkusha, and others spoke.
The participants were impressed by the emotional speech of the Protestant pastor and volunteer Serhiy Kosyuk from Donbas, who was tortured by terrorists in occupied Donetsk in August 2014 because he organized a “prayer chain” for peace in Ukraine.
Finally, on May 31, the conference participants discussed the possibility of joint projects between Christians of different denominations. As they say, there is a lot of work ahead for civil society activists.
Ihor Sklenar.