Buttiglione and Europe

The European Parliament’s opposition to the nomination of philosopher Rocco Buttiglione for the position of justice minister on the European Commission is noteworthy for a number of reasons. As Christopher Caldwell points out in the Novemeber 15 issue of The Weekly Standard , this is the first time that the European Parliament has exercised a right to “advise and consent” regarding nominations to the Commission. When they pressured Commission president Jose Manuel Dorao Barroso, Buttiglione withdrew his name from nomination.

The other, and more important, issue is the reason for the opposition to Buttiglione: He holds strongly conservative Catholic opinions on homosexuality, abortion, and a host of other moral issues. Caldwell notes that the opposition to Buttiglione “look[s] suspiciously like a bunch of progressives gathering around the dead horse of European Christianity and giving it a few joyous kicks – especially since no such scrutiny awaited the seven former Communists who were nominated to the commission alongside him.” Members of the European parliament hailed the event as a victory for democracy, but it may signal that democracy European-style is incompatible with Christian orthodoxy.

Some have drawn that conclusion quite explicitly. Matthew Parris acknowledge in the London Times that “Buttiglione has indeed been the victim of anti-Christian discrimination,” but added that “such discrimination is now in order.” He continued, “Catholic, evangelical Christian, Orthodox Judaic and Muslim teaching on homosexuality and divorce; much Muslim practice as to the status of women; some Hindu teaching on caste; and Catholic teaching on contraception and abortion are unacceptable and insulting, not only to me but also to the majority of Europeans, and the overwhelming majority of educated Europeans.” This is an odd form of democracy, since Parris concluded “I do not shrink from according special status to the educated, for they lead thought.”

Further evidence that democracy is not an anti-ideology, but a positive ideology that is tolerant of all but the morally intolerant.