Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew: "The planet is our common home, Christians and non-Christians"

 

 

Religion and politics coexist, because they both serve man, they both exist for man. A politician cannot hide his faith, his religion, as these are part of his personal make-up and part of the way he does his job.  European culture too is based on Christian faith, on the lessons of the Gospel - but this does not imply we should exclude non-Christians from Europe. The coexistence of Christians and non-Christians means mutual enrichment.

 

 

The presence of several million Muslims in Europe today is simply a reality. We Christians, the majority, as well as those in the minority, must aspire to live in harmony as children of the same God.  No minority, including Muslims, should live separately: they should be a full part of the society that welcomed them, and gain from the majority the best it has to offer.

 

European society is open. Mosques have been founded in many European cities (including at the heart of Catholicism in Rome) and it is natural it should be so. In Athens too there should be a mosque for Muslims to pray when they want to. But this must work both ways. It is unfair for example that it is not possible to establish a Christian church in Saudi Arabia. In Constantinople we are a very small Christian minority, but we are Turkish citizens and, as a minority, entirely fulfil our obligations to the state. But we do not always receive equal treatment with majority Muslims. It saddens us to feel somehow second-class citizens.

 

 

I inherited this interest in ecology from my predecessor, the late Patriarch Dimitrios, who established 1 September as a day of prayer for the protection of the environment. This is an urgent and critical issue in all corners of the globe. Every day we hear about the devastation caused by hurricanes, floods and climate change in general.

 

I was in New Orleans to see the destruction wrought by Katrina. You have to see it with your own eyes to absorb the magnitude of the disaster. The church has a duty to do something. It must raise awareness among people, particularly the young, because the future of the planet is in their hands.

 

Environmental issues affect us all - Christians and non-Christians - because the planet is our common home, our "oikos". The word "ecology" derives from "oikos", Greek for "home". When the hurricane hits, it does not make distinctions...

 

We organize symposia on average every two years, to which we invite not only Christians but also people from other religions and specialities (biologists, environmentalists, clergy, etc). We are attempting to stimulate dialogue between science and religion. There are practical results. Recently, for example, in the Amazon, we saw with our own eyes how forests are felled to grow soya. An Anglican bishop from Liverpool was there; he was very moved, angry about what was going on and, when he returned to his diocese in Liverpool, he persuaded the local authorities to forbid ships carrying soya from Brazil from docking there.  The forests of Brazil generate vast quantities of oxygen and thus affect not only Brazil but the whole planet.

 

 

Turkey has good relations with all its neighbours, including Greece, Bulgaria and Romania, three Orthodox countries and now members of the EU. These relations will help Turkey in its accession negotiations, but will also benefit the peoples of the wider neighbourhood, who instead of killing each other and spending billions on armaments, can learn to coexist peacefully and to use their money for public works, education and so on, rather than for weapons.

 

Many say that Turkey, as an almost entirely a Muslim country, has no place in Europe. We believe that the difference of religion should not be an obstacle. If Turkey fulfils all the criteria for candidate countries, it can be accepted to the EU even if its population is Muslim. This is a different world, but it can coexist with the Christian world, as it has happened many times in the past and in many places across the globe. In Europe there is room for everyone, as long as we adapt and avoid living in ghettos.