AHC: Christian EU?

[Great Britain]

Quite famously the European Union makes no reference to the Christian Religion in it's constitution and is seen by many as a secularising, liberal force. How can the the European Union be seen as a religious and Christian force, perhaps even reactionary?

I ask because opposition to the European Union, since Maastricht at least, has overwhelmingly come from the political right. And when it does come from the left as in Greece for example, the criticism focuses on the Economy not socio-cultural issues. Can the situation be reversed with a PoD of 1957, when the Treaty of Rome was signed? Or would those who are pro Nation State vs Internationalist remain the key divide when discussing the European Union?

I see one way- for there to be a De Gaulle like Anti-Americanism more prevalent in Europe coupled with a resurgent USSR in the 1980's and also a more liberal US. Thoughts?

 

[overoceans]

I see one way- for there to be a De Gaulle like Anti-Americanism more prevalent in Europe coupled with a resurgent USSR in the 1980's and also a more liberal US. Thoughts?

I think the last hurrah for right-wing anti-Americanism in Europe was when the pied-noirs stormed the American cultural something-or-other building, some time near the start of the Algerian War. I gather they regarded the US as pro-independence.

So, maybe a Europe that hangs onto its colonies, and an America hellbent on decolonization, with the USA still being viewed in Europe as the land of gangsters, jazz, and the First Amendment, would work for your scenario. But I think as long as you have a percieved threat from the USSR, European reactionaries are going to side with the non-Communist superpower. The settler-vote might force the respective governments to put something about Christendom in the Constitution, but it won't have a big influence geopolitically.

 

[Francisco Cojuanco]

Wasn't the EU generally seen originally a a project of the Christian Democratic parties?

I guess if you want to extend that ethod for longer, you'd have to butterfly the Protests of 1968, and I think that's really hard to do qithout butterflying at least the Second World War in Europe.

 

[David T]

The EU was largely the product of three Christian Democrats who could communicate with each other in German--Adenauer, Schuman https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Schuman and De Gasperi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcide_De_Gasperi (Schuman was from Alsace-Lorraine when it was part of Germany; De Gasperi grew up in the South Tyrol when it was part of Austria-Hungary.) Indeed their left-wing opponents accused them of trying to create a "Vatican Europe." Even its flag was seen as "Marian"... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Europe#Marian_interpretation But in the long run the supporters of the EU realized that it could not rest on Christian Democratic support alone, and needed the support of secular liberals and social democrats. So I would say that there would be no chance of it being explicitly "Christian" despite the historic role of Christian Democracy in creating it.