Is Europe secular or religious? The case of Turkey

Essay from the year 2014 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Topic: European Union, grade: 2,0, University of Kent (Department of International Relations), language: English, abstract: This essay intends to answer the question whether Europe is secular or religious.

In both the European treaties and the accession criteria to the European Union there are no references to a historical and cultural community to describe the European polity. Article 6 of the Treaty on European states: ¿The Union is founded on the principles of liberty, democracy, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law, principles which are common to the Member States¿. No references to the Christian roots of Europe in the draft treaty establishing a constitution for Europe (European Constitution, only a general reference to its religious heritage).

The background provided in the introduction states the importance to deal with the subject and finally raises the question. Europe claims to be secular, but its moral values are too closely bind towards its Judeo-Christian heritage to act without showing religious bias. Therefore, my thesis statement will be: Even though the states of the EU have secular constitutions, the shared Christian roots of the member states of the European Union and the notion of believing without belonging which is shared by the majority of the European population leads to religiously motivated policy of the member states.