A More Secular Europe, Divided by the Cross
By ANDREW HIGGINS
BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — Stanislav Zvolensky, the Roman Catholic
archbishop of the Slovak capital here, was thrilled when he was invited
to Brussels three years ago to discuss the fight against poverty with
the insistently secular bureaucracy of the European Union.
“They let me in wearing my cross,” the archbishop recalled.
It therefore came as a rude surprise when, late last year, the National
Bank of Slovakia announced that the European Commission, the union’s
executive arm, had ordered it to remove halos and crosses from special
commemorative euro coins due to be minted this summer.
The coins, designed by a local artist, were intended to celebrate the
1,150th anniversary of Christianity’s arrival in Slovak lands but have
instead become tokens of the faith’s retreat from contemporary Europe.
They featured two evangelizing Byzantine monks, Cyril and Methodius,
their heads crowned by halos and one’s robe decorated with crosses,
which fell foul of European diversity rules that ban any tilt toward a
single faith.
“There is a movement in the European Union that wants total religious
neutrality and can’t accept our Christian traditions,” said Archbishop
Zvolensky, bemoaning what he sees as rising a tide of militant
secularism at a time when Europe is struggling to forge a common
identity.
In a continent divided by many languages, vast differences of culture
and economic gaps, the archbishop said that centuries of Christianity
provide a rare element shared by all of the soon-to-be 28 members of the
fractious union. Croatia, a mostly Catholic nation like Slovakia, joins
next month.
Yet at a time when Europe needs solidarity and a unified sense of
purpose to grapple with its seemingly endless economic crisis, religion
has instead become yet another a source of discord. It divides mostly
secular Western Europe from profoundly religious nations in the east
like Poland and those in between both in geography and in faith like
Slovakia.
In nearly all of Europe, assertive secularists and beleaguered believers
battle to make their voices heard. All of which leaves the European
Commission, in charge of shaping Europe’s common aspirations, under
attack from all sides, denounced by atheists for even its timid
engagement with religion and by nationalist Christian fundamentalists as
an agent of Satan.
Asked about such criticism, Katharina von Schnurbein, the commission
official responsible for outreach to both religious and secular groups,
smiled and said, “I can assure you that the European Commission is not
the Antichrist.”
Europe is suffused with Christianity, or at least memories of its past
influence. The landscape is dotted with churches, now mostly empty, and
monasteries, its ancient universities are rooted in medieval religious
scholarship, and many of its national crests and anthems pay homage to
God.
Even the European Union’s flag — a circle of 12 yellow stars on a blue
background — has a coded Christian message. Arsène Heitz, a French
Catholic who designed the flag in 1955, drew inspiration from Christian
iconography of the Virgin Mary wearing a crown with 12 stars. The same
12 stars appear on all euro coins.
The very idea that Europe should unite began with efforts to rally
Christendom in the ninth century by Charlemagne, the first ruler of the
Holy Roman Empire.
Throughout its modern history, however, the “European project,” as the
Continent’s current faltering push for unity is known, has sought to
keep religion and the unruly passions it can stir at arm’s length. The
1957 Treaty of Rome and other founding texts of what is today the
European Union make no mention of God or Christianity. The Brussels
bureaucracy, in its official account of Mr. Heitz’s religion-tinged
flag, ignores the Virgin Mary, stating instead that the 12 stars
“symbolize the ideal of unity, solidarity and harmony among the people
of Europe.”
“There is a general suspicion of anything religious, a view that faith
should be kept out of the public sphere,” said Gudrun Kugler, director
of the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians,
a Vienna-based research and lobbying group. “There is a very strong
current of radical secularism,” she said, adding that this affects all
religions but is particularly strong against Christianity because of a
view that “Christianity dominated unfairly for centuries” and needs to
be put in its place.
Ms. von Schnurbein dismissed accusations of an anti-Christian agenda.
The European Union, she said, “is often seen as trying to eliminate
religion, but that is really not the case.” She added, “We deal with
people of faith and also people of no faith.”
Obliged by treaty to consult with religious and secular groups, the
European Commission, said Ms. von Schnurbein, attaches “great
importance” to this dialogue, which she described as “unique” for an
international body.
The commission’s monetary and economic affairs department that ordered
Slovakia to redesign its commemorative euro coins says it had no real
problem itself with halos and crosses and demanded that they be deleted
in the interest of “religious diversity” because of complaints from
countries that also use the euro.
Leading the charge was France, which enforces a rigid division of church
and state at home, and objected to Christian symbols appearing on
Slovak money that would also be legal tender in France. Greece, where
church and state are closely intertwined, also protested, apparently
because it considers the Greek-born monks Cyril and Methodius as part of
its own heritage.
For the European Union’s most strident critics, the dispute has been a
godsend, buttressing their argument that Brussels is an alien, meddling
and sinister force. “I need to voice a serious and disturbing suspicion:
that the E.U. is under the control of Satan or Satanism,” said Rafael
Rafaj of the Slovak National Party, a far-right nationalist party.
The view that the European Union serves Satan has become a popular theme
for some extreme Christian fundamentalists, who cite the Bible’s Book
of Revelation as proof that dissolving national boundaries signals an
approaching apocalypse.
Yet, several of the union’s most senior figures are themselves
Catholics, as were most of its founding fathers, including Germany’s
first postwar chancellor, Konrad Adenauer. Germany’s current leader,
Angela Merkel, the daughter of a pastor, has been outspoken in defending
Christianity, telling supporters worried about the increasing number of
Muslims that “we don’t have too much Islam, we have too little
Christianity.”
The Brussels bureaucratic apparatus, however, is “uncomfortable with
religion,” said Lucian Leustean, a scholar at Aston University in
Britain and the editor of a 2012 book, “Representing Religion in the
European Union: Does God Matter?”
This is partly due to the rise of well-organized secular groups that
pounce on any hint that Christians are being favored over other
religions or nonbelievers. But a bigger reason, said Mr. Leustean, is a
shift in demography and public attitudes.
Church attendance is falling across Europe as belief in God wanes and
even cultural attachments wither. The Continent’s fastest-growing faith
is now Islam. In Britain, according to a poll last year, more people
believe in extraterrestrials than in God. In the European Union as a
whole, according to a 2010 survey, around half the population believes
in God, compared with over 90 percent in the United States.
The collapse of communism in Eastern Europe slowed the secular tide
somewhat as the European Union began to admit new and sometimes deeply
religious countries like Poland and Romania. Jacques Delors, the
president of the European Commission in the 1990s, kicked off a debate
on the “soul of Europe” and held informal meetings with church and other
religious leaders.
But when Europe set about drafting a constitution in the early years of
the last decade, demands that Europe’s Christian heritage be mentioned
ran into bitter resistance and were eventually dropped. The religious
question resurfaced again with the 2007 Treaty of Lisbon, which skipped
any reference to Christianity and instead paid tribute to the “cultural,
religious and humanist inheritance of Europe.”
It mandated dialogue with religious groups. But it also ordered equal
treatment for “philosophical and non-confessional organizations,” which
include groups whose principal philosophy is hostility to organized
religion.
Archbishop Zvolensky of Bratislava predicted that efforts at European
unity are doomed unless the union gives a bigger place to God. “Religion
should be the inner strength of the union,” he said.
He does see one encouraging sign: Slovakia’s national bank has decided
to stick with its original coin design and abandon plans for a halo-free
minting in honor of Cyril and Methodius.
The European Commission has gone along with this, and the commemorative
coins will finally be minted next month — two months later than
originally planned — but with halos and crosses.
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: June 18, 2013
An earlier version of this article misstated the year that The Treaty of Rome was created. It was signed in 1957, not 1951.
Correction: June 18, 2013
An earlier version of this article misstated the year that The Treaty of Rome was created. It was signed in 1957, not 1951.
HI-
Stop scratching on holidays
Off Track Betting in New York State has been racing into a crisis called shrinking revenue. Some people have spitballed a solution: Don’t close on holidays.
New York State Racing Law bars racing on Christmas, Easter and Palm Sunday, and the state has ruled OTBs can’t handle action on those days, even though they could easily broadcast races from out of state.
“You should be able to bet whenever you want,” said Jackson Leeds, a Nassau OTB employee who makes an occasional bet. He added some irrefutable logic: “How is the business going to make money if you’re not open to take people’s bets?”
Elias Tsekerides, president of the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater New York, said OTB is open on Greek Orthodox Easter and Palm Sunday.
“I don’t want discrimination,” Tsekerides said. “They close for the Catholics, but open for the Greek Orthodox? It’s either open for all or not open.”
OTB officials have said they lose millions by closing on Palm Sunday alone, with tracks such as Gulfstream, Santa Anita, Turf Paradise and Hawthorne running.
One option: OTBs could just stay open and face the consequences. New York City OTB did just that back in 2003. The handle was about $1.5 million – and OTB was fined $5,000.
Easy money.
Roman Catholic Easter Sunday in preference to Greek Orthodox Easter Sunday. Is it any wonder that NY is bankrupt and its OTBs going bankrupt one after the other? See NY PML Sec 109 and NY Const. Art. 1, Sec. 3 etc. You might think that one as yet unidicted NY official with standing would avail themselves of a FREE formal or informal opinion from NY Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
See below
Racing also injects money into the industry, paying jockeys, trainers, grooms, etc. Hundreds of employees -- pari-mutuel clerks and racing officials -- help put on the show, which the state gets a piece of in income taxes.
All of this, worth thousands upon thousands of dollars, was lost because on an antiquated law. Not being allowed to race on Christmas or Easter is OK, but Palm Sunday? The New York Racing Authority races on Thanksgiving, and that's a holiday that the vast majority of us celebrate.
Changing this law would be a slam-dunk revenue creator.
Gerard Bringmann, Patchogue
Editor's note: The writer is both a racing fan and a practicing Catholic.
Even Union workers, Teamsters Local 707, Kevin McCaffrey President and Barry Yomtov ... have not yet achieved the freedom to bet, work and or pray as they wish.
Andrew Cuomo pontificates on when "Easter Sunday" and "Palm Sunday" is. Send Andrew Cuomo to Europe.
HI-
Stop scratching on holidays
Off Track Betting in New York State has been racing into a crisis called shrinking revenue. Some people have spitballed a solution: Don’t close on holidays.
New York State Racing Law bars racing on Christmas, Easter and Palm Sunday, and the state has ruled OTBs can’t handle action on those days, even though they could easily broadcast races from out of state.
“You should be able to bet whenever you want,” said Jackson Leeds, a Nassau OTB employee who makes an occasional bet. He added some irrefutable logic: “How is the business going to make money if you’re not open to take people’s bets?”
Elias Tsekerides, president of the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater New York, said OTB is open on Greek Orthodox Easter and Palm Sunday.
“I don’t want discrimination,” Tsekerides said. “They close for the Catholics, but open for the Greek Orthodox? It’s either open for all or not open.”
OTB officials have said they lose millions by closing on Palm Sunday alone, with tracks such as Gulfstream, Santa Anita, Turf Paradise and Hawthorne running.
One option: OTBs could just stay open and face the consequences. New York City OTB did just that back in 2003. The handle was about $1.5 million – and OTB was fined $5,000.
Easy money.
Thanks for the help. The item’s
below. I’d be happy to mail you a copy, if you give me a mailing
address.
Claude
Solnik
(631)
913-4244
Long Island Business
News
2150
Smithtown Ave.
Ronkonkoma,
NY 11779-7348
Home >
LI Confidential
> Stop scratching on holidays
Stop scratching on holidays
Published: June 1, 2012
Off Track Betting in New York State has been racing into a crisis called shrinking revenue. Some people have spitballed a solution: Don’t close on holidays.
New York State Racing Law bars racing on Christmas, Easter and Palm Sunday, and the state has ruled OTBs can’t handle action on those days, even though they could easily broadcast races from out of state.
“You should be able to bet whenever you want,” said Jackson Leeds, a Nassau OTB employee who makes an occasional bet. He added some irrefutable logic: “How is the business going to make money if you’re not open to take people’s bets?”
Elias Tsekerides, president of the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater New York, said OTB is open on Greek Orthodox Easter and Palm Sunday.
“I don’t want discrimination,” Tsekerides said. “They close for the Catholics, but open for the Greek Orthodox? It’s either open for all or not open.”
OTB officials have said they lose millions by closing on Palm Sunday alone, with tracks such as Gulfstream, Santa Anita, Turf Paradise and Hawthorne running.
One option: OTBs could just stay open and face the consequences. New York City OTB did just that back in 2003. The handle was about $1.5 million – and OTB was fined $5,000.
Easy money.
Roman Catholic Easter Sunday in preference to Greek Orthodox Easter Sunday. Is it any wonder that NY is bankrupt and its OTBs going bankrupt one after the other? See NY PML Sec 109 and NY Const. Art. 1, Sec. 3 etc. You might think that one as yet unidicted NY official with standing would avail themselves of a FREE formal or informal opinion from NY Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
See below
Letter: Why close racetrack on Palm Sunday?
Photo credit: AP | In this photo provided by New
York Racing Association, Stay Thirsty, left, with Ramon Dominguez
aboard, captures The G1 Cigar Mile horse race at Aqueduct in New York.
(Nov. 24, 2012)
To see what's wrong up in Albany, one only
needs to look at the fact that the Aqueduct Racetrack was closed on
Palm Sunday. On an average Sunday, The Big A has a total handle of
between $6 million and $7 million, of which New York
State takes a percentage.Racing also injects money into the industry, paying jockeys, trainers, grooms, etc. Hundreds of employees -- pari-mutuel clerks and racing officials -- help put on the show, which the state gets a piece of in income taxes.
All of this, worth thousands upon thousands of dollars, was lost because on an antiquated law. Not being allowed to race on Christmas or Easter is OK, but Palm Sunday? The New York Racing Authority races on Thanksgiving, and that's a holiday that the vast majority of us celebrate.
Changing this law would be a slam-dunk revenue creator.
Gerard Bringmann, Patchogue
Editor's note: The writer is both a racing fan and a practicing Catholic.
Even Union workers, Teamsters Local 707, Kevin McCaffrey President and Barry Yomtov ... have not yet achieved the freedom to bet, work and or pray as they wish.
Andrew Cuomo pontificates on when "Easter Sunday" and "Palm Sunday" is. Send Andrew Cuomo to Europe.
OPEN ON 1ST PALM SUNDAY, OTB RAKES IN $2M - NY Daily News
www.nydailynews.com/.../open-1st-palm-sunday-otb-rakes-2m-articl...
OPEN ON 1ST PALM SUNDAY, OTB RAKES
IN $2M. By Jerry Bossert / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS. Monday, April
14, 2003, 12:00 AM. Print · Print; Comment ...OTB FACES HAND SLAP OVER PALM - NY Daily News
www.nydailynews.com/.../otb-faces-hand-slap-palm-article-1.667233
Apr 16, 2003 – By Jerry Bossert
/ NEW YORK DAILY NEWS ... Aqueduct was also closed on Palm
Sunday, but OTB thrived on action from around the
country.
HI-
Thanks for the help. The item’s
below. I’d be happy to mail you a copy, if you give me a mailing
address.
Claude
Solnik
(631)
913-4244
Long Island Business
News
2150
Smithtown Ave.
Ronkonkoma,
NY 11779-7348
Home >
LI Confidential
> Stop scratching on holidays
Stop scratching on holidays
Published: June 1, 2012
Off Track Betting in New York State has been racing into a crisis called shrinking revenue. Some people have spitballed a solution: Don’t close on holidays.
New York State Racing Law bars racing on Christmas, Easter and Palm Sunday, and the state has ruled OTBs can’t handle action on those days, even though they could easily broadcast races from out of state.
“You should be able to bet whenever you want,” said Jackson Leeds, a Nassau OTB employee who makes an occasional bet. He added some irrefutable logic: “How is the business going to make money if you’re not open to take people’s bets?”
Elias Tsekerides, president of the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater New York, said OTB is open on Greek Orthodox Easter and Palm Sunday.
“I don’t want discrimination,” Tsekerides said. “They close for the Catholics, but open for the Greek Orthodox? It’s either open for all or not open.”
OTB officials have said they lose millions by closing on Palm Sunday alone, with tracks such as Gulfstream, Santa Anita, Turf Paradise and Hawthorne running.
One option: OTBs could just stay open and face the consequences. New York City OTB did just that back in 2003. The handle was about $1.5 million – and OTB was fined $5,000.
Easy money.
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