The Buttiglione affair

Value judgment, or a judgment of values?

The Buttiglione affair should need no introduction. It has virtually dominated the European Press for the past weeks. Who is this Buttiglione and what has he done that has prompted all this attention?

Rocco Buttiglione is an Italian politician of long and respected standing, also a Professor of Social Ethics, among other philosophies. He was nominated by Italy as EU Commissioner, with President-elect Barroso subsequently assigning him the responsibilities for Freedoms and Rights of Citizens, Justice and Internal Affairs, subject to European Parliament approval.

At his hearing Buttiglione expressed his personal opinions, opinions that sprout directly out of his Catholic beliefs. As a result of his direct and honest answers, and notwithstanding his assertion that these beliefs would in no way impair the objectivity of his function, a majority of the members of the European Parliament, including the Maltese Labour Party MEPs, considered him to be unsuitable for the post.

One of the questions probed for his personal opinion about homosexuality. Like most of us, Buttiglione is a Christian. His answer was straightforward - he believes it is a sin. Is it not? Of course it is! It is not illegal, and he did not say it was. It should not be sanctioned by society, and he did not say it should be. But according to Catholic teaching, it is a sin, and had Buttiglione answered otherwise, he would have been renouncing his faith. The way civil society considers homosexuality is another matter altogether, but as a Christian, there can only be one answer - the one Buttiglione steadfastly gave.

His use of the word 'sin' was considered to be too extreme, but perhaps we have also forgotten what we are taught about that. Our religion has, as a basic tenet, the concept of free will. We believe that God has granted us the freedom to 'sin' and it is up to Him to eventually judge us on our lives. When Buttiglione referred to sin, he was professing his Christian belief, but also advocating the basic, core fundament of Christianity - free will!

Admittedly, it was not the most politically correct answer, but political correctness does not necessarily translate into honesty, and it is an honest man who can stand up for his beliefs and not give in to the pressure to sell out on what he believes in. It is much easier to put up your wet thumb to feel the direction of the wind and go with it than to stand up and put your finger up to be counted.

Had Buttiglione decided to play along with the charade introduced by that loaded question, and answered it with bland statements, there would have been no issue except that of his personal integrity. Unfortunately, it seems, however, that personal integrity is not always a quality that is looked for in politicians. In this case personal integrity was punished by most of the members of the European Parliament, and I remind readers, including the Maltese Labour MEPs, who just went along with the current of their European Socialist bosses.

Buttiglione as a person was censured for being honest, but the core issue at stake here goes beyond the subliminal religious persecution of an individual. It was not a person facing a modern day inquisition but a whole religion. The entire body of Christian values is being threatened and eroded and at this farce of a hearing, facing an assembly intended to represent democracy, Christian beliefs were found to be unacceptable to the majority of MEP's, including the Maltese Labour MEPs.

Are we really living in a day where being Christian automatically translates into marginalisation? Is it possible that the teachings of a faith that have built European culture as we are enjoying it today are being discarded so lightly by a group of individuals who should really know better?

I would like to make one final point here. I find no fault with the institution of the European Parliament. Like any platform of democracy, it should serve as the means for representation of citizens. MEPs shoulder the responsibility of transmitting to that body the opinions they represent. The onus lies with each and every individual MEP to reflect carefully on the people he/she represents.

The person inside each MEP should go beyond just following the current dictated by the European federation of his/her party, and give more import to his/her popular foundation. That is exactly what the Malta Labour Party's MEPs failed to do!

Dr Scerri is president of the Nationalist Party's General Council.