EU: No Christian need apply

Not only have the new Euromasters succeeded in keeping any mention of Christianity, or Europe's Christian history, out of its new constitution, but they show themselves to be adept at keeping the religious from the halls of power. This isn't a new trend or even surprising information, but we were reminded today when Zenit reprinted a George Weigel column from the Denver Register on the Rocco Buttiglione affair.

Buttiglione is a conservative, orthodox Catholic professor of philosophy, a distinguished former member of the Italian government, friend of Pope John Paul II, and a good family man. These qualities did not endear him to the EU decision makers when it came to determining whether Buttiglione would make a good Minister of Justice.

One parliamentarian informed Buttiglione that Rocco's conviction that homosexual relations were morally disordered was "in direct contradiction of European law." Buttiglione, ever the professor, reminded his inquisitor of Kant's distinction between morality and law and made clear his conviction that many things considered immoral should not be criminalized. The inquisitor wasn't impressed. Another parliamentarian asked what Buttiglione intended to do as justice minister to be "pro-active" in promoting "protection of homosexuals." Buttiglione replied that he was firmly against discrimination against anyone, but that the civil rights of homosexuals "should be defended on the same basis as the rights of all other European citizens," not through some "pro-active" agenda.
...
When incoming E.C. president Durao Barroso then presented his entire commission slate to the European Parliament (which had to vote "yea" or "nay" on the slate as a whole), gridlock ensued. Two days after the signing of the European constitutional treaty, Rocco Buttiglione withdrew his nomination so that the process of forming the new European Commission could be completed.

To which Weigel asks the question:

What kind of polity is it that doesn't want a man like Rocco Buttiglione looking after the administration of justice and the protection of human rights? A polity in which too many people believe that the God of the Bible is the enemy of human freedom. A polity in which too many people believe that freedom is license. A polity in which "anti-discrimination" has become the excuse for active discrimination against Catholics and others whose moral convictions ill-fit the relativist-secularist opinion mainstream. A polity, in other words, like the new Europe. The demographers tell us that Europe is dying, physically. The Buttiglione affair tells us that Europe is now on life-support, morally and culturally.

File away but do not forget.