European christian churches and their level of influence

Baranovichi

Abstract

The article evaluates the level of influence of the Christian Churches in the European Union. In order to identify this influence, the author considers such variables as the degree of the religiosity of the state and the presence of Churches at the supranational (EU) level. Using the parameters of religiosity - belief in God, belonging to a particular denomination, and the confidence in the Church - the author identifies areas of high, medium and low influence of the Churches in the EU. The area of high influence includes Cyprus, Greece, Malta, Romania, Italy, Croatia and Poland; the medium influence area includes Germany, Spain, Finland, Ireland, Slovenia, Portugal, Denmark, Sweden, Luxembourg, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Lithuania and Austria; and the low influence area - Estonia, the Czech Republic, France, the UK, Belgium, Latvia and the Netherlands. Only countries with the homogenous Catholic or Orthodox population are inside the area of the high influence, while the countries with multi-confessional population are mainly in the area of low influence. This is partly due to the historical circumstances, but also to the rivalry between denominations, their ability to work together, and peculiarities of social doctrines. The author believes that all Christian denominations, with the exception of some Free Churches, show readiness to cooperate with the EU institutions on a variety of issues, which is confirmed by the growing number of religious representations in Brussels, where the Catholic Church has managed to establish the most influential and professional bodies, followed by the Orthodox and then by the mainstream Protestants. However, European institutions do not show the same degree of openness and eagerness to interact with the Christian Churches as the latter express about interacting with the EU.

Key words: European Union; European integration; Treaty of Lisbon; religion; religiosity; Christianity; Churches; level of influence

Аннотация

Европейские христианские церкви и уровень их влияния

С.А. Мудров

Барановичский государственный университет,

г. Барановичи

В статье оценивается уровень влияния христианских церквей в Европейском Союзе. Для определения уровня этого влияния учитываются такие параметры, как степень религиозности в конкретной стране и присутствие церквей на наднациональном уровне (Европейского Союза). С учетом параметров религиозности - веры в Бога, принадлежности к конкретной конфессии и доверия церкви - определяются территории высокого, среднего и низкого влияния церквей в Евросоюзе. Зона высокого влияния включает в себя Кипр, Грецию, Мальту, Румынию, Италию, Хорватию и Польшу, зона среднего влияния - Германию, Испанию, Финляндию, Ирландию, Словению, Португалию, Данию, Швецию, Люксембург, Словакию, Болгарию, Венгрию, Литву и Австрию, а зона низкого влияния - Эстонию, Чехию, Францию, Соединенное Королевство, Бельгию, Латвию и Нидерланды. Только государства с однородным православным или католическим населением вошли в зону высокого влияния, в то время как страны с многоконфессиональным составом населения находятся, как правило, в зоне низкого влияния. Это частично связано с историческими обстоятельствами, а также с соперничеством между конфессиями, с их способностью (или неспособностью) к совместной работе и с особенностями их социальных доктрин. Автор отмечает, что все христианские конфессии (исключая отдельных неопротестантов) демонстрируют готовность сотрудничать с институтами Евросоюза. Данный факт подтверждается растущим количеством религиозных представительств в Брюсселе, где наиболее влиятельной является Католическая церковь, за которой следует Православная церковь и традиционные протестанты. Однако европейские институты не проявляют той же открытости и желания взаимодействовать с христианскими церквями, что очевидны со стороны церквей в отношении Евросоюза.

Ключевые слова: Европейский Союз; европейская интеграция; Лиссабонский договор; религия; религиозность; христианство; церкви; уровень влияния

Main part

The Christian Churches play a unique role in the European integration. First, due to the appropriate contribution to the initial stages of the process. Second, they embrace the features of non-state actors and use similar methods to achieve their aims. Third, the Christian Churches contribute to the formation of both European and national identities. There is one more feature, which adds to the uniqueness of the Churches and at the same time allows to assess their possible degree of involvement in the integration or the European Union politics, - this is the Church-state regimes, i.e. a unique and distinct feature, peculiar to the Christian Churches only and in contrast to all other actors of the European integration. The article develops in detail the concept of Churches as specific participants of the European integration and, especially, assesses their level of influence in the European Union. A number of important factors are considered to achieve this aim: the Churches' organisational structures, their interest in the EU politics and their attitudes towards the EU determine the ecclesiastical level of influence. The degree to which a state is religious and the presence of the Churches at the supranational (EU) level are also relevant. Taking all this into account enables to estimate in detail how the Churches exercise their influence in various ways, and what level of influence is achieved by different denominations.

HISTORICAL AND CONFESSIONAL TRAJECTORIES

The formation of the Church-state systems has been a long and complicated process, not without its own conflicts and disputes. The modern models of the Church-state relations mostly developed in the XXth century since earlier «church and state institutions were closely intertwined» [11. P. 252]. In fact, in most countries of what is now the EU the monarchs generally dominated the Church and even assumed the right to appoint bishops and, furthermore, to interfere in the doctrinal issues [11. P. 253-255]. Thus, the relations between the Church and the state were largely unequal; this inequality was disadvantageous for the Churches. There is also a theory that the confessional structure had an impact on the Church-state relations. For instance, H. Knippenberg believes that the Church-state relations differ substantially between the Western and Eastern Christianity, «and this divide can be expected to have direct implications and consequences not only for political conflicts in the European states, but also for the religious landscapes involved» [6. P. 255]. His view is similar to that of John Madeley: «the pattern of church-state relations in society X can, in part at least, be explained by the fact that it is a mono-confessional Orthodox or Catholic or Lutheran society; alternatively, in the case of society Y, that it is a multi-confessional society with a particular range and balance of confessions represented. To make sense of these patterns, two factors must be examined in each case: the character of the different confessional traditions, particularly as this relates to church-state relations, and how strongly they are represented relative to other traditions [9. P. 34].

If we accept J. Madeley's concept of the mono-confessional blocs and multi-confessional belts, then the confessional distribution in the EU will be as follows: (a) Austria, Belgium, Croatia, France, Poland, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Malta, Slovenia and Italy belong to the Catholic bloc; (b) Romania, Bulgaria, Greece and Cyprus belong to the Orthodox bloc; (c) Denmark, Sweden and Finland belong to the Lutheran bloc. The remaining six EU countries (Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Hungary, Latvia and Estonia) cannot be regarded as mono-confessional states, although there are only a few religious minorities in some of them. However, in some of these states the substantial confessional changes are observed: for example, in Estonia traditionally regarded as a Lutheran country more people now identify themselves as Orthodox than as Lutherans according to the last census data [14].

Religiosity as a factor of the churches' influence

No mainstream Christian Church totally abstains from participation in the European integration process. Only sectarian Protestants, who are extremely hostile towards the EU, try to build a wall of separation between themselves and the European institutions. However, this is an exception, not a rule. In the framework of this participation, the Churches can interact with national governments on the EU issues. This interaction can be more intense and successful for those Churches, which are more influential and highly rated within their own countries. Their level of influence is also determined by the level of religiosity and historical circumstances of their countries. In fact, the Churches can exercise more influence in the countries, in which they have more adherents (among the electorate of politicians) and contributed positively to some historical developments (for example, the Catholic Church's support for the «Solidarnosc» movement in Poland).

Indeed, as was noted by J. Haynes, «the more secularized a society, the less likely religious organisations will be able to play a politically significant role» [5. P. 5]. The Churches are able to influence the EU developments through the authorities of member states. However, this depends on the ability of Churches to play «a politically significant role» in their countries. In order to assess the Churches' possible significance and their ability to influence the national political settings (which depends on the ability to exercise influence at the European level), we need to identify the level of religiosity in the EU member states through the objective parameters. These include the level of belief in God and people's self-identification with a particular denominational group. In addition, the level of general trust to particular Churches helps to assess their potential influence. The latest data on the level of belief in God in Europe is available for 2010. The questions asked by the Eurobarometer distinguish the pure belief in God (presumably more of a Christian character) and a vague belief in some sort of spirit or life force. The data is available for all EU countries (see Table 1).

Table 1. The level of belief in God (%) [12. P. 204]