Category: News from Oikosnet

The newly elected Board met in Friedberg, Germany at the beginning of November. Several issues were discussed – and quite some deserve special attention, also in this newsletter. You see this in the different contributions.

In addition to these issues, it is good to report about some other elements.

1. Oikosnet International. This subject is always on the table, at least since we are connected with colleagues outside Europe. Especially the situation in the Middle East is visible almost from day to day. It turns out now, that our colleague from Aleppo isn’t able to travel anymore to his parish. too dangerous on the road, which ‘normally’ required about 4 hours but now needs at least 12 hours drive, about 50 road blocks included. And you never know for sure who has placed that road block and by consequence whether you survive this one. So it is not difficult to understand why so many people leave the area, leave the country, leave the region – and several of them head to Europe. We discussed this for quite some time, also having in mind what our members throughout Europe are doing for and with refugees.

Regarding Oikosnet International we are in charge to get a meeting organised by next year. We will make attempts for that, probably connected to our Annual Conference, probably ‘just’ through Skype.

2. Our new configuration. We discussed several elements regarding the new organisation structure in Sweden. In our next Board meeting we will discuss a draft constitution for our new Swedish entity. After that meeting we will send out the draft to our members, so every member can prepare for the discussion and decision, to be taken in Prague.
3. The plan for the Board in the upcoming years. Formally we haven’t set a work plan, but we discussed about our priorities for the next years. As a Board we have the mandate to act in support for our members. Therefore we consider it important to start with 3 to 5 new projects in the upcoming years. And we would like to see both new members coming in as well as new and present members being active within one or more projects. For that we need a productive way of communication with and between members, a transparent way of working and communication, both within the Board and in the Association as a whole.

Many things to do in a challenging time. We take up the challenges.

Jaap van der Sar, president Oikosnet Europe

 

On 9 November, Friedrich Kramer, Director of the Protestant Academy in Wittenberg/Germany, climbed the stairs of a ladder and covered the eyes of the Luther statue in Wittenberg, the oldest of its kind in Germany. According to this symbolic act, Luther was not only blind on one eye when it came to his hostility against Jews.

Friedrich Kramer is member of the Advisory Council for the Christian-Jewish Dialogue in the Evangelical Church in Central Germany as well as of the Steering Committee of the network project of the German Protestant Academies on the “Societal Relevance of the Reformation Today”. “This symbolic act is a call to dissociate oneself from Luther’s hatred against the Jews. The covered eyes are to symbolize that on this issue the Reformer was blind, although he was very thoughtful on other issues and initiated new approaches”, Friedrich Kramer said. “We need to very clear as to what we are going to celebrate in 2017. Certainly it cannot be Luther’s antisemitism. On the other hand, Luther was a courageous man, who remained steadfast against the Pope and the Emperor. This makes him to appear as human.”

Foto: Alexander Bauman

„Europe: where does it begin, where does it end?“ – Under this title, Oikosnet Europe (OE) together with the Evangelische Akademie Villigst published the presentations of its Annual Conference 2014. The 200-pages booklet, however, offers much more than just the reflections on Europe of Oikosnet members and invited guest speakers. It also offers an introduction to Oikosnet Europe and its members. I contains basic texts of OE as well as portraits of many of its members.

Whoever wants to get informed about the present state of affairs within Oikosnet and wants to participate in parts of the debate might consult the Oikosnet website or this booklet. The booklet might also be a valuable resource for those who consider to become members or just want to stay in touch.

Copies can be obtained from the Oikosnet Secretariat or the Evangelische Akademie Villigst at a rather low price.

Please mail to office@oikosnet.eu with your request.

 

After the night from the 13rd to the 14^th of November France fell in state of shock. As the Charly Hébdo shooting was aiming the free press as well as the Jewish community now the whole population has become the target of terrorism.

The remarkable wave of solidarity from all over the world which was shown toward French people was a strong encouragement for the whole population to withstand the immediate feeling of hate and revenge.

Nevertheless the events of November 13^th have a strong impact on democracy and civil society in France.   Immediately after the President François Hollande declared the state of emergency for the whole country, state which has been extended for three months. This decision was taken by a overwhelming majority in the parlement with a strong support of public opinion and the press although this meant a sensitive restriction of civil rights. Only a few cautionary voices raised the question if the restriction of civil rights for the sake of national security is justified.

The second worrying impact is the growing support for the extreme right wing party Front National of Marine Le Pen.  For the regional elections, which will take place on the 6^th and the 13^th of December, a significant victory of the Front National is predicted. In relating terrorism and migration they try to create an atmosphere of suspicion and mistrust in French society towards migrants and Muslims.

The French concept of laicity (secularism) seems to be clueless regarding the radicalisation of youth in French suburbs.

In this way the slogan Pray for Paris could be interpreted as a sign that religion is not only regarded as problem but could be as well proposing solutions for living together in a pluralistic society.

Sören Lenz

The next Board Meeting of Oikosnet Europe will take place in Prague, 16 to 18 March 2016.

Projects of two or more Oikosnet members to be reviewed by the Board for financial support (“seed money”) should be handed in to the Executive Secretary no later than two weeks prior to the meeting.

High on the agenda will also be the preparations for the Annual Conference 2016, membership issues and establishing Oikosnet Europe as an association under Swedish law.

 

Common Concern for Oikosnet Members?

Much has happened since Gerhard Robbers (available in many languages) and Wolfgang Lienemann/Hans Richard Reuter published their standard works about a decade ago on church-state relations in member states of the EU and of the Council of Europe. Their guiding question was not only the legal framework, but also the space given to religions to be present and visible in public and to contribute to the common good. Since then, there is a much bigger religious plurality in many European countries and, due to many reasons, there are serious attempts to relegate religion from the public more to the private sphere. It is probably right to say, in many circles religion is seen more as being part of the problem than being part of the solution.

No wonder, therefore, that recently many sociologists have started to re-analyse and to re-describe the role of religion in public in different European countries. The Religare Project (www.religareproject.eu), sponsored by the EU, in 2013 comes to the conclusion, that the EU should play “a more direct and active role … in developing a coherent policy framework that would strengthen the combat in Europe against discrimination on the basis of religion or belief in a way that is compatible with a democratic understanding of the functioning of pluralist democracies …”.

Inspired by the consultation and process on “The Role of Religion for Cultural Identity, Democracy and Peace”, to which the Sigtuna Foundation had invited Oikosnet to take an active part, the idea has grown to invite to a Europe-wide discussion forum, possibly leading to some consultations or a common project among Oikosnet members.

Guiding questions could be:

– What is the role of religions in the different European countries?

– How do religions accompany and influence societal developments and transition processes?

– What is the role of “Europe” in influencing national relations between state, society and religion?

If you are interested, please, contact Sabine Federmann at the Villigst Institute for Church and Society (sabine.federmann@kircheundgesellschaft.de)

 

The Orthodox Academy of Crete (OAC), is continuing the work of its Founders as well as underlining the manifold actions of HAH, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomaios I, for the ecumenical protection of nature as an indication of the respect towards the Divine Creation and human beings as image of God, installed photovoltaic (PV) panels of 8kW with the kind and substantial support of OIKOSnet.

The aim of this endeavour is to protect the natural environment and prove also that the production of the building’s necessary energy can be reached by taking advantage of sustainable technologies, stressing the respect for the natural resources. It is the first important step for the OAC to significant reduce its carbon dioxide emissions and become eventually a net zero energy facility, as a good practice example for the local society and a paradigm for achieving an environmental friendly future.

The official announcement the OAC’s PV project was made at the Scientific Conference organized by OAC’s Institute of Theology and Ecology on November 14^th and 15^th concerning energy autonomous islands and communities, which use up to 100% renewable energy sources (RES) with distinguished speakers from all over Europe.

Both the PV development and the RES Conference are scheduled in order to convince with real life examples the community of Crete and Greece in general that the production of energy should be done with respect to the future generations and to strengthen the idea that more citizens should get involved in this vision.

This is the reason why OAC is also making methodical efforts to establish the first Co-operative energy association of Crete. This initiative of the OAC is an invitation to all the citizens of Crete as well as all the faithful of the Church of Crete, to embrace the key point of Crete as a place well supplied with energy, for the RES constitute the chance for a collective development of Crete, for the common interest of all the people, as OAC’s duty for the next generations.