New Year's Message

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” Romans 2:12

The year 2018 was a year full of events. It was for me a challenging but also a blessed year. First of all, the ECPM has continued to grow. New parties and individual Members of Parliament have joined the ECPM, and even with stricter regulations, ECPM is able to continue to operate as one of the ten European parties. Besides this, I am thankful for the work of our members and partners in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Many resolutions and reports have been adopted this year which sought to promote human dignity. One of the highlights was the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human rights exactly on the same date this Declaration has been ratified by the United Nations. This document names the fundamental human rights, like the right to life, but also of family, freedom of religion or belief and the fights against slavery. Many of them you will find in the spearheads and the vision documents of the ECPM.

The year of 2018 taught me as well that politics became more complicated and more stigmatized.  I see a rise of dogmatism on the left-liberal side and of populism on the far right side of the political spectrum. 

Dogmatism on the left

The left-liberal side has become more and more dogmatic. Their dogmatism is based on the “individual autonomy” of a human being. They believe that politicians should focus on eliminating every aspect that could limit the individual choice of a person, whether this is good or not, or whether this even could harm the dignity of another. New rights are created like the right for a woman to do an abortion or the right to die in cases of euthanasia, which can go against the fundamental right to life. The latest development is the promoting of the gender ideology which is founded on the idea that a gender of a human being is not biologically established by birth, but that it is an identity a person has or will have. Someone should have the right to establish even their own gender, even if this goes against nature and is highly questionable if accepting a change in gender really will help a person. It is interesting that there are lately so many Europe-wide television programs that try to promote this unscientific idea of the basics of human being instead of the fact that we are created as man or woman. The problem is that they want their ideologies to be transposed in legislation and imposed on societies and everyone. Other opinions on these issues are seen as intolerant or discriminatory.

In the name of tolerance, equality and non-discrimination, the political climate has become intolerant and discriminatory against Christian and other organizations that defend the traditional family, or want to protect the life of the unborn or other existing human rights. Reports were written where these organizations are framed as anti-rights, anti-choice and as neo-conservatives. Using also unfounded and crazy conspiracy theories, they try to frame these organizations in order to silence them and overlook their input in debates. Their dogmas have to be accepted by everyone and enshrined in policies. This will have consequences for the freedom of conscience for Christians and other religious people or people with conscience objections in certain professions (like doctors and midwives) who do not want to do an abortion or do not want to do euthanasia, but also for registrars who are for example not able to marry same-sex couples).

Populism on the far right

Another development is the rise of populism on the far right. I believe that the growth of individualism, the breaking down of communities, the increased secularist tendencies, the growing influence of Islam and the refugee crisis, cause an identity vacuum for many. Populist parties on the right side, are jumping in this vacuum and focus on nationalism and on the Christian identity of a country and its people. Christianity is then not based on faith, but merely used as an aspect of cultural identity, especially against the Islam that is seen more as a political ideology. In some countries, these right populistic movements are also supporting the traditional family or the protection of life. This makes it complicated to establish our positions. Should we as Christians collaborate with these far right movements on certain such as family and life, despite the fact that they do not respect the human dignity of refugees and the freedom of religion or belief of all religions in society?   

These two simultaneous tendencies complicate the political environment. At the same time, we are framed and excluded more and more by the left, and some of our Christian values are misused by the far right for their agenda of protecting national and people’s identity. Collaborating with the left-liberals can result in compromising on our values, collaborating with the right will frame us as (far) right-wing politicians. 

How should we act?

The apostle Paul gave us the answer in Romans 12. He tells us there to not conform to the pattern to the world. The basis is in our faith in Jesus Christ. Our faith renews our minds and focuses on God and the other person. Our faith should determine our actions in politics. We must not be distracted by or being focused on the dogmatic politics of the left or the populist politics on the right. As Pope Leo XIII and Abraham Kuyper (two basic thinkers that influenced Christian Democracy) asserted, we should not focus on the left or right, but concentrate our attention towards the middle way. This middle way is based on our “Imago Dei”, on the fact that we are all created in the image and likeness of God. My basis for politics is not the freedom FROM everything that can limit the individual autonomy of a human being, but the freedom TO love God and to love the other: to protect the weak and fragile in our society and to strive for justice.

Or as is written: “He (=God) has shown you what is good, o mortal. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8)

I wish you a blessed and joyful 2019!