The Director of The Iona Institute, David Quinn, was one of the speakers at a conference on religion and the EU organised by Fine Gael MEP, Gay Mitchell, that took place on Wednesday in the parliament building of the European Union in Brussels.

The conference, attended by roughly 200 people including MEPs, parliamentary staff and lobbyists, was called ‘Unity in Diversity: What role for religious belief following the Lisbon treaty’. The other speakers were the President of the Italian Senate, Marcello Pera, and Mr Jorge Cesar das Neves, adviser to the European Commission on the EU’s dialogue with religions, Churches, and ‘communities of conviction’. 

David Quinn’s topic was ‘The reasons why Ireland requested guarantees to the Lisbon Treaty’. He explained why many Irish voters were concerned about the effect of EU law on family law, education and the right to life and why guarantees were sought to protect Irish constitutional law in these areas. 

He also dealt with the negative impact of equality laws on other rights, such as freedom of religion and expression. 

Senator Pera addressed the themes raised in a book he co-authored with then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, called ‘Without Roots: The West Relativism, Christianity and Islam’. He warned that unless Europe retains its Christian roots it will eventually lose its present cultural identity including its attachment to human rights. Senator Pera is an agnostic. 

Mr das Neves explained how Article 17 of the Lisbon Treaty will work. This requires the EU to enter into ‘structured dialogue’ with religions, Churches and ‘communities of conviction’. 

The conference was funded by the European People’s Party.