In November 2024, the Finnish Baroque Orchestra and the Helsinki Chamber Choir were confronted with a shocking decision by a school principal. Their performance for primary school children in Uusimaa, Finland, was cancelled due to “religious references.” The work in question is one of the most celebrated and enduring masterpieces of all time: Händel’s Messiah oratorio. The case is not just a blatant misunderstanding of the nature of faith and religion, it is a denial of European culture itself and a reflection of a mistaken attitude. The desire to appear “neutral” or “inclusive” paradoxically leads to the exclusion of the very elements that have shaped Europe.
One does not need to be a believer to recognise the indivisible link between Christianity and European civilisation. This influence is crystal clear not only in religious institutions but also in visual arts, music, philosophy and even legal traditions. In this secular era, it is all too easy to interpret the influence of Christianity in negative terms. The reality, however, is that Christianity continues to shape the very structure of our daily lives, from the calendar we follow to the holidays we celebrate.
Uusimaa’s director of education cancelled the concert, referring to guidelines from the Finnish Ministry of Education on religious practices in schools. Although the ministry later clarified that the director had, in fact, misinterpreted these guidelines, this case raises concerns not only about our understanding of our cultural heritage and civilisation but also about the quality of the leaders working in our institutions. Far from being an isolated case, it reflects a growing trend across Europe to remove references to Christianity. Examples include the removal of crosses from town halls and other public buildings in Poland or the renaming of Christmas and Easter holidays as “winter” and “spring break” in UK universities – despite the fact that these references are integral to our understanding of our shared culture.
No European visual art, literature, music, philosophy or even political thought can be fully comprehended without a firm grasp of Judeo-Christian theology and biblical narratives. As our societies grow increasingly hypersensitive and overly politically correct, one of the greatest challenges in today’s discourse is to distinguish between personal faith and an understanding of Christianity’s role in shaping Europe. Faith is a personal commitment, an existential stance toward the divine. On the other hand, knowledge of the Bible and Christianity is a part of our intellectual existence and a necessity for understanding our civilisation.
How could one understand J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, Dante’s Divine Comedy, Michelangelo’s The Sistine Chapel frescoes or his Pietà, Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper, John Milton’s Paradise Lost, Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita, Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, Mozart’s Coronation Mass – just to mention the most obvious examples – without a firm knowledge of Christianity?
Without the Christian and Jewish religions, there would also not have been St. Benedict, Thomas Aquinas, John Calvin, Ignatius of Loyola and Hugo Grotius, a list which could be continued.
Roots of Christianity in European Legal Tradition
Beyond literature and art, Christian thought has played a fundamental role in shaping the European legal tradition. The European ideals of human dignity, freedom and equality all have their origins in Christian thought. The five books of Moses – which Jews call the Torah – and the Ten Commandments introduced ideas like human equality (Genesis 1:27, Exodus 22:21), the sanctity of life and human dignity (Genesis 1:27, Exodus 20:13), the balance between freedom and moral responsibility (Exodus 20:1-17) and leadership accountability/resistance to tyranny (Deuteronomy 17:18-20). Likewise, as Samuel Gregg, moral philosopher and political economist at Oxford University, points out, the idea that all men are created equal has gained exceptional force because Judaism and Christianity have emphasised that all men are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27).
As Augusto Zimmermann, an internationally recognised and distinguished legal scholar and former Law Reform Commissioner, points out, the cornerstone of English constitutional development, the Magna Carta issued in 1215, had Christian roots. Zimmermann highlights that Archbishop Stephen Langton, a key figure in drafting the Magna Carta, was, in fact, a Christian cleric and a biblical scholar. This significant document inspired current constitutional improvements and served as the foundation for modern civil freedoms and human rights. Other important law scholars such as Lord Denning argue that the common law tradition had been shaped for centuries by judges steeped in Christian teachings. He once even stated that “without religion, there can be no morality, and without morality, there can be no law.”
The concept of natural law, which forms the foundation of many European legal codes, was also developed by one of the Catholic Church’s greatest theologians and philosophers, St. Thomas Aquinas, who built upon the philosophical traditions of Aristotle and St. Augustine. The central principle – or synderesis rule – of natural law, according to Aquinas, is that “Good is to be done and pursued, and evil is to be avoided” (Summa Theologica, St. Thomas Aquinas). What it means is that we are called to “do good and avoid evil.” This fundamental moral directive serves as the foundation for all other moral reasonings in natural law theory. According to Aquinas, it is self-evident and known to all rational beings. On this basis, people are expected to use their God-given reason to decide what is morally right in any given situation.
International law was also significantly shaped by Christian theologians. For example, Francisco de Vitoria, a Spanish Roman Catholic philosopher, theologian and founder of the School of Salamanca, laid the groundwork for free-market economics, individual rights and international law – and was thereby recognised as a forerunner of libertarian thought and, alongside Alberico Gentili and Hugo Grotius, as a “father of international law.”
Another example is that of Christopher Dawson, a prominent English historian who stated that every society is based on a world religion; therefore, in order to understand a society, one needs to first examine its religion. As he puts it, “we can only understand Europe and its historical development by the study of Christian culture, for this forms the centre of the whole process, and it was as Christendom that Europe first became conscious of itself as a society of peoples with common moral values and common spiritual aims.”
The Bible as a Cultural Code
The Bible is not only a sacred book for Christians but also an outstanding work of world literature. It should be included in high school education for its literary and historical significance. Take, for instance, the example of Hungary. The Hungarian National Curriculum mandates the study of the Bible as part of literary education in the ninth grade of high school, irrespective of the actual government in power. Under the 12-hour learning module called “The Bible as a Cultural Code,” students explore the structure of the Bible, key narratives from the Old and New Testaments and their impact on European thought, literature and art. Students have to read extracts from biblical texts such as Genesis, Exodus, Psalms or the Gospels and get familiar with concepts such as the creation, prophet, gospel, parable or passion.
The curriculum further helps with understanding references, motifs and symbols associated with the Bible, as many of them have their origins in the Bible. Symbols like cloud, bread, keys, rose, candle, figs, grapes, sea, lamb, numbers and colours all carry biblical significance. It is not about religious indoctrination but about ensuring cultural literacy and helping people understand biblical references in history, philosophy and language. It does not mean imposing a religious belief but recognising Christianity’s role in shaping European civilisation. Secular societies can and should provide an education that includes the study of Christianity. The same, of course, applies to Greek mythology, or other foundational mythological and philosophical traditions that have shaped Western civilisation.
The question we want to ask ourselves is to what extent do we want to understand the world around us? Whether religious or secular, we all have inherited a civilisation shaped by Christianity. This is not an appeal to faith, but a recognition of historical and cultural truth. Yes, the church has had its faults, something which history must take account of. But it has also been a driving force behind many of the ideals modern Europe holds. These values have not been developed in a vacuum – they have been formed over centuries within a moral and spiritual framework rooted in Christianity. Overlooking this reality risks our societies slipping into insensitivity and indifference; to deny it altogether means losing sight of our past and misunderstanding our very identity.
Written by Jolán Bogányi, Edited by Valerie Schicke
Photo credit: James Coleman (uploaded October 6, 2019) on unsplash
