Dutch church leaders have signed a petition against the “exploitation of Christianity” by populist politicians ahead of next week’s parliamentary elections.
“Whether votes go to left or right, the Church will always steer its own course,” said the petition, signed by Bishop Gerard de Korte of Den Bosch along with dozens of Catholic and Protestant theologians and clerics.
“The Church isn’t a political party, nor is any political party a Church,” the petition said. “We have a separation between church and state – since if the two sit together on anyone’s lap, we get a political and religious dictatorship which serves, not God or the people, but only those in power.”
The petition was circulated before next Thursday’s elections for the Dutch lower house, in which the nationalist Party for Freedom, led by Geert Wilders, is forecast to win most seats.
The petition said it aimed to “send a message” to politicians seeking to “exploit Christian culture”, which was in reality “too radical for coalition compromises, too embracing for borders and too demanding for policymakers”.
It added that those hoping to “turn the sayings of Jesus into a political programme” would “quickly go away screaming”.
Mr Wilders has advocated banning the Koran and closing Muslim schools and some mosques, as well as barring immigration from Muslim countries and withdrawing from the European Union. Mr Wilders, 53, a non-practising Catholic, has urged Christians to support his programme.
A quarter of the country’s 16.7 million inhabitants are Catholic, according to Church statistics, though only half a million attend Mass.
In a pastoral letter, the bishops’ conference urged voters to support parties that “contribute to the common good” by supporting life, families and “the reception of migrants”, as well as religious freedom, poverty reduction and “sustainability and development”.
“The spirit of the times seems to have brought a stress on differences and divisions, rather than a search for connectedness and unity – but let us not indulge in anger, intolerance, indifference and polarisation,” the bishops said.
“We must ask how, in the light of the Gospel, we can contribute to a society based on human dignity, solidarity, fundamental rights, social justice, subsidiarity, tolerance and peace between religions and cultures.”
Bishops to Congolese: don’t blame us for peace deal delay
The Bishops of the Democratic Republic of Congo have urged citizens not to blame Catholics for delays to a peace deal.
In a pastoral letter presented at a press conference in Kinshasa, the bishops said that obstruction of a Church-brokered peace deal had led to threats against the Church.
“Our country risks plunging into uncontrollable disorder,” the bishops wrote.
“The long wait for a peaceful democratic alternative is expressing itself in impatience and tension even towards our bishops’ conference, which is only trying to mediate. Recurrent threats and violence are being fuelled by manipulation shamefully directed against the Catholic Church.”
The letter said worsening tensions risked “leading the nation to implosion and chaos” and condemned deadlock over the planned nomination of a provisional prime minister and government.
The bishops’ letter asked Catholics to protect Church property and avoid “yielding to provocations, discouragement and fear”.
It also spoke of recent attacks on Catholic clergy and property, including a seminary in Kananga and eight churches in various towns.
Patriarch laments selfie ‘disease’
Patriarch Kirill of Moscow has dubbed the hunt for the perfect profile picture and the obsession over gaining likes on social media as a “disease of society”.
His comments come after a rise in the trend of dangerous selfie-taking in Russia. About 100 people died or were seriously injured taking selfies in Russia in 2015, according to police figures. Last month model Viktoria Odintsova received a caution for dangling off a skyscraper in Dubai.
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