The Role of Churches engaging with a Changing Europe: Christian Faith as a Residue or as a potential? The Joseph Winter Lecture, held in the Sandal Methodist Church, Wakefield (GB) on Friday 7 October 2016. (before proofreading) (original) (raw)

Never in human history have so many changes happened in such a short space of time. The central question of this lecture is: Christian Faith as residue or potential for Europe? I look into the past, in the present and to the future. And the first conclusion is that there is much more to religion – notably the Abrahamic religions - than Religion. It is not about religious sensibility properly speaking. It’s also about our cultural asset, not least our political cultural asset – and consequently our identitarian asset. One of the fundamental principles of the modern faith is that it is possible to draw a line between the private and the public sphere. I’m not sure this works. Climat change, bioethics and democratic citizenship are all in the public sphere. On top the offices of the Conference of European Churches in Brussels have been shocked by other events. We’ve seen the last months outrageous attempts to terrorize innocent civilians in Paris; in Brussels; in Bagdad… We all agree that this is an attack on all of humanity and the universal values that we share. In Eastern Europe, Ukraine is threatening our vision of a Europe that is whole, free and at peace. And it seems to threaten the progress that's been made since the end of the Cold War. We betray our most noble past as Christians and Christian churches in Europe if we were to deny the possibility of movement, the possibility of progress; if we were to let cynicism consume us and fear overwhelm us. Do we participate in a politics of cynicism or do we participate in a politics of hope? The question is whether we spend that time focused on what pushes us apart, or whether we commit ourselves to an effort -- a sustained effort -- to find common ground, to focus on the future. It's easier to blame others than to look inward. It's easier to see what is different about someone than to find the things we share. But we should choose the right path, not just the easy path. For however slow, however incomplete, however harshly, loudly, rudely challenged at each point along our journey, together we can build a world with perspective, to hold fast to our values, to see ourselves in each other.