Tal
Utrikespolitiska konvent i Uppsala 1 april 2011
Birgitta Ohlsson, EU-minister

Tal vid Utrikespolitiska förbundet Sveriges, UFS, utrikespolitiska konvent

Religion a threat or a possibility implementing human rights in the EU?

It is a great pleasure for me to be here today as the Swedish Minister for European Union Affairs and Democracy issues.

I would like to start off by expressing my gratitude to the organizers for the initiative to this conference.

Religion can be both a source of freedom and oppression. Faith can be felt as both liberating and burdensome. Worship can provide both comfort and totalitarianism. But for me as a liberal, it is important that religion should be a private matter and not seek to dictate policy.

Religion is part of our history, a part of our daily life and a part of our future. Influencing politics, culture and traditions.

And it seems like the founders, without using modern tools, without the knowledge of printing. No radio, no TV, no social media, are still able to recruit millions of new believers.

Jesus did not twitter.
Buddha had no Facebook account.
Gandhi did not blog.

"Those who say religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion is", Mahatma Gandhi said.

Only 17 percent of Swedes believe that religion plays a big role in their lives according to a recent international survey by Gallup.

From the Swedish viewpoint, it is easy to underestimate the religious influence on politics - globally and in our Europe.

But religion is a growing power around the globe.

In March 2009 the UN Human Rights Council adopted, on the initiative of a group of Muslim countries, a resolution condemning criticism of religions.

The Catholic Church win more and more souls in Africa.

In South America, Evangelical Free Churches are spreading.

Globally, Islam is the fastest growing religion.

Human rights are violated every day around the world in the name of God.

But too many people on earth must submit to other people's views on God. Often these people are girls or women.

Women are stoned to death under Sharia law.

Women are dying from illegal abortions in countries where abortion is forbidden by the Vatican.

Girls are banned from education by the Taliban.

Sometimes religion is getting extreme.

The terrorist attack in Stockholm on the 11th of December chocked the Swedish society and our democracy. It was the first time ever we had a suicide bomber in Scandinavia.

The attack could have had disastrous consequences, and is also an unacceptable attack upon our open society.

A young man that grew up in a small Swedish town, then a typical Swedish average Joe, having girlfriends, drinking beer, turned ten years later into a suicide bomber with religious extreme jihadist political views.

Shortly after, Swedish citizens, were arrested in Denmark suspected of plotting dramatic terrorist attacks against Jyllands Posten, the Danish newspaper that published the cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed - that we all remember sparked wild protests worldwide.

The Security Service are concerned of the growing problem of persons resident in Sweden travelling abroad to participate in terrorist training and illegal acts of violence in conflict zones.

Persons taking part in jihad abroad may commit serious crimes and violate human rights. If they survive and return to Sweden, they can be a risk for themselves and for others.

In a globalized world with information technology, people with extremist views can more easily spread their message.

In December last year, the Somali terrorist group al-Shabaab published a recruitment video in Swedish on the web.

But we don't know what the religious extremism of tomorrow will look like. We know that the struggle against violent religious and political extremism must be intensified. Because religious extremism is nothing new. There is no more powerful ally one can claim in a debate than Jesus Christ, Allah, or whatever one calls her or his god.

Islam and the Muslim community in the EU ARE very much in the spotlight, being treated as part of the problem as opposed to part of the solution. We need to be clear: Islamist extremism and Islam are not the same thing.

"No religion is free from extremism," declared Abdelfattah Amor, the former UN's Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance.

Some Hindu nationalistic groups in India are trying control the expressions of those not conforming to their world view.

There have been Hindu attempts to change the Indian constitution in ways that would curb artistic free expression and restrict the right of minority Christians and Muslims to preach and practice their religion freely.

2002 at Godhra City in Gujarat in India, a train was stopped and attacked by a Muslim mob. The train was set on fire and some 50 Hindu passengers who were returning from a pilgrimage were burned to death.

The attack triggered a violent reaction in which over 2,000 Muslims are believed to have been murdered and places of worship were damaged. Muslim women were targets for sexual violence.

Neither the police nor the government officials did anything to prevent and stop the rape, looting, destruction of property and mass displacement of people.

We know the various forms of violent extremism have something in common: they use violence to achieve political objectives.

Therefore extremism poses a serious threat to the core values of democracies. Sweden, like other countries, has an obligation under international law to prevent terrorist crimes.

We must in a better way address the factors that can lead to radicalization and recruitment.

To me its obvious that a strategic preventive work against all forms of violent extremism is an investment in democracy. I'm glad that the Swedish government will make more efforts to raise democratic awareness among young people at risk. We need to raise the bar. We will develop teaching materials and support organizations that prevent young people to develop an antidemocratic behaviour, or being recruited to antidemocratic movements. The government has also earmarked funds for research on political and religious extremism.

Last spring I was in Uganda - a country on a witch hunt.

I met my friend Kasha Jaqueline, the founder of FARUG-Freedom and Roam Uganda fighting against discrimination based on sexual orientation.

In January David Kato, an gay-activist and friend of Kasha Jaqueline, was brutally murdered in his home in Kampala. Kato was found beaten to death with a hammer.

Kato had received repeated death threats after his name, photograph and address was published in a newspaper. His name was included in the cover story of Uganda's top 100 homos included a yellow banner that read hang them.

Kato stood up in the fight for the rights of Uganda's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender population, as they face some of the harshest government-sanctioned homophobia in the world. Kato had this to say about the role of Christian groups in anti-gay hate legislation in his country:

"What I want the world to see is the hate, the hate which is behind this bill, the faith-based hate&. Will Uganda be able to understand the faith-based hate behind the bill? & a genocide might come up. We are going to die."

Homosexuality is illegal in Uganda, punishable by a 14 year prison sentence, and a proposed anti-homosexuality bill would have increased the penalty to a death sentence. Like love could ever be a crime.

The bill was backed by and mostly written by conservative evangelical Christian groups in the United States.

Scott Lively. is a noted anti-gay activist and the president of Abiding Truth Ministries, a conservative Christian organization located in USA. He co-authored the book The Pink Swastika, which states in the preface that "homosexuals [are] the true inventors of Nazism and the guiding force behind many Nazi atrocities.

Peter Yiga is a Ugandan born-again Christian with a degree in computer engineering and is also a known gay activist in Uganda. He describes a society of hate and fear:

"The church and other leaders have done a lot to brainwash people, and all the community now is readily spitting fire against homosexuality. They are planning to kill us. We have been running from house to house because when a neighbourhood learns about your orientation, then you should expect mob justice anytime."

The situation has direct ties to the United States through monetary funding from conservative Christian groups. This is an example how religious homophobia can be exported and go global.

Why is it important to have a secular state?

Because the universal human rights are best protected in secular states. Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings. We are all equally entitled to our human rights without discrimination.

A secular state it is the only form of society that show the same respect for all people, whatever our sex, ethnic origin, colour, religion, language, or any other status.

We must remember that the idea of human rights also has religious roots. Since human equality can not be verified empirically, it must be based on a belief in this value.

It is no coincidence that the first opponents of slavery often was Christians. The had a belief in every human being as God's image.

In a secular state freedom of religion is fundamental.

You have the right to believe in any god you want. But also the right not to believe in any god at all.

Freedom of religion is protected in Europe by Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Article 18 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights.

Such freedom is not unlimited, a religion whose doctrine or practice ran counter to other fundamental rights would be unacceptable.

Freedom of religion is challenged - even in Sweden.

Several studies have been conducted among Swedish high school students about their attitudes towards the Jewish and the Muslim-population.

There is a core of 20 percent among the high school students expressing clearly intolerant attitudes, especially boys from socio-economically marginalized homes.

This group of young people can be vulnerable to the messages from extremist movements. We must be prepared.

The world's secularism is a myth, claims the American sociologist Peter L. Berger, in his book "Religious America, Secular Europe?".

Berger claims in his book that only Western Europe have secularized, the rest of the world is still religious.

One of Europe's shared values, transcending national differences, is the separation of church and state.

But how secular are the Member States of the EU? We see several examples of forces that are nibbling at the edges of the secular state.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban prepares a new constitution. The draft constitution begins with a national confession which refers to the importance of Christianity in Hungary. Fetal right to protection from the moment of conception and that marriage is only for man and woman will also probably be entered in the Constitution.

In recent years, western countries have abolished blasphemy laws or changed their focus so that they cover hate-related crimes in general. Ireland has taken a different approach updating its legislation but maintaining a focus on religion.

In 2009 Ireland criminalized blasphemous and insulting statements about religions. A blasphemous slip of the tongue could cost you as much as 25,000 Euros. As the law is designed the burden of proof falls on the accused.

Discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation is unacceptable in the EU. However, last year 50 parliamentarians in Lithuania signed a petition to stop the first Pride parade in Vilnius. The Lithuanian Prosecutor withdrew the demonstration permit.

At the last minute the decision was changed - mainly thanks to criticism from the international community. I was there participating.

To ensure that Pride parades can be a reality in Europe is also a way to support freedom of speech and freedom of assembly and the principle of non discrimination.

These are rights protected under international law, including the European Union's Charter of Fundamental Rights and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

All EU Member States are parties to these agreements. But across Europe lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people still face problems and obstacles. Often religiously colored.

These stories from Hungary, Ireland and Lithuania are not unique in the EU.

There are also worrying signs that superstition is spreading in the EU according to the European Commission's Euro barometer from last year on science and technology.

The report shows for example that today there are more Europeans who believe in lucky numbers than who do not. Remarkably, this figure has increased in recent years.

38 percent of Europeans agree with the statement that "we rely too much on research and not enough on faith". Six out of ten Europeans believe that science and research can affect public morale in a negative way.

A study in the journal Science a few years ago reported that several European countries have a relatively large proportion of the population who are not sure whether the theory of evolution is true, or even argue that it is false.

We need a debate in Europe about the secular state. Only thorough knowledge and critical thinking will successfully meet future challenges.

In this debate it is important to distinguish between the concepts of secular and secularization.

A secular state means that the state does not base its laws on any religion but are neutral in religious matters. Therefore secular states do not have a state religion.

Secularization means that religion tend to lose its importance to people over time.

It is my firm belief that modernity and religion can coexist together. The goal must not be an atheist Europe.

52 percent of population in the EU believe in a god and 27 percent say they are spiritual.

Catholic and Orthodox countries are more religious than Protestants. Most religious is the population in Malta, 97 percent state that they are believers.

Not surprisingly, older Europeans are more religious than younger people. But still, almost half of the population aged 15-39 years believe in a god.

It is perfectly possible to be Christian, Muslim or a Jew and advocating a secular state and a secular legal systems not based on the Bible, Koran or other religious writings.

Religion and spirituality is not in opposition to human rights, science, critical thinking and a secular state.

Europe faces economic challenges. The European prosperity can not rest on any basis other than a science, market economy and democracy.

Therefore, the belief in supernatural phenomena, the lack of trust in the research and the attacks on the secular state must be combated.

But a secular Europe is also important to safeguard human rights in the union and in the rest of the world.

The EU maintains diplomatic relations with nearly all countries in the world. It has strategic partnerships with key international players, is deeply engaged with emerging powers around the globe, and has signed bilateral Association Agreements with a number of states.

The European External Action Service (EEAS) was established following the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon.

It serves as a foreign ministry and diplomatic corps for the EU, implementing the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy and other areas of the EU's external representation.

EEAS is an important tool to defend human rights globally. But then we must practice in Europe what we preach globally.

The Lisbon Treaty makes clear that the EU should respect the status of churches and religious communities in member countries' national legislation. I hope the democratic churches and communities will defend the secular values that are the basis for the Union.

Religions are an integral part of European heritage and future. At the same time, religious beliefs, like other ideologies and philosophies, must be discussed and questioned.

Everything else is a step back to the Middle Ages when Europe was composed of theocracies.

Human rights, democracy and the rule of law are core values of the European Union.

Multiculturalism is questioned in Europe by strong voices. The British prime minister David Cameron has blamed a doctrine of "state multiculturalism" to be the root cause of radicalisation which can lead to terrorism.

Germany's new interior minister has claimed that Islam is not a key part of the German way of life. "Islam in Germany is not something supported by history at any point."

The chancellor Angela Merkel herself has said that her country's attempts to build a post-war multicultural society had utterly failed'.
Hartfrid Wolff, a liberal MP has waisley said: "Islam has been a real part of Germany for several generations now; it is unhelpful to deny this fact.'"

We must accept pluralism but with a common core of shared values. And these values are the universals human rights. And they are best protected in a secular state.