THE CHURCH, VIOLENCE, AND BASQUE SEPARATISM

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TOLEDO, Feb 1 2004 (IPS) - ETA, the Basque separatist group, has killed more than a thousand people, from businessmen, functionaries, and professionals to children, but not a single priest. Does ETA perhaps have some debt to the church, or fear it? writes Jose Bono, president of the autonomous community of Castilla-La Mancha. In this article, Bono notes the predominance of nationalism in sectors of the church hierarchy and the Basque clergy, which raises new questions about the relation between power and religion, not only for the church prelates but the parishioners as well. In the Basque Country, many citizens have lost the freedoms that they had won. Though it is difficult to state with precision when this happened, the cause is clear: the terrorism of the ETA. The loss was gradual and progressive, as an unobserved sowing of hatred and destruction brought an ever greater harvest of fear. What the Basque region needs is to end ETA violence and guarantee democracy, which requires not only politics but the ethics necessary to a pluralist society, which Basque society is and must remain. If the church (the whole church, not just the Spanish or the Basque, the clergy or the lay) wants to play a role in this transition, based on an ethic of democratic coexistence –which does not exist today– it must broaden its thinking and historical perspective on its own relation to higher powers and on violence.

ETA, the Basque separatist group, has killed more than a thousand people, from businessmen, functionaries, and professionals to children. But among their victims there is not a single priest. Does ETA perhaps have some debt to the church, or fear it? This is a question that reverberates in the silence.

Dangers arise when the Christian message of peace and love is emptied of content. When Christ took leave of his apostles with the request that they ”go forth in the world and preach the gospel, teach all peoples, preach to all creatures”, he was not establishing a sectarian doctrine: he chose all the people of the earth, not a particular group.

It was the first apostles who saw Jesus preach from closest up and knew him best. It is difficult, therefore, to agree with new apostles who, to defend a given party, political ideology, or friendly government by conferring the endorsement of the church pervert the Christian message by confusing love with hatred.

A few considerations are in order: to begin with, it is important to recognise the historical context of the present situation. In the Basque Country, many citizens have lost the freedoms that they had won. Though it is difficult to state with precision when this happened, the cause is clear: the terrorism of the ETA. The loss was gradual and progressive, as an unobserved sowing of hatred and destruction brought an ever greater harvest of fear. Fortunately, there is already an impulse to fight for freedom within Basque society itself.

Second, the division at the heart of the church hierarchy, clergy, and parishioners has diminished the influence of the church and is eroding the traditional Catholicism of the Basque people. What was once the cradle of missionaries and a beacon of Christian values now has the lowest rate of religious practice among the young and the fewest people entering the service of the church.

What is the source of this division? Spain experienced a period of inevitable political exaltation after the death of Franco in 1975, referred to as the period of transition, from which evolved an atmosphere of political normality. This is not to say that our democracy is without flaws– there are and we must address them– but we can do so without causing political trauma. In contrast, the Basque Country is facing a political crisis it has not yet found an exit from and which affects and implicates the Basque church, traditionally rooted in its society.

Lamentably, there is no unanimity among Spanish bishops regarding the very serious issues of secession or independence, which are without a doubt the issues the terrorists use to justify their crimes.

The third consideration is the predominance of nationalism in sectors of the church hierarchy and the Basque clergy. Jesuit historian Garcia de Cortazar has warned ”that today we see in the Basque Country a kind of Basque Catholic-nationalism, in various shades, as was seen in the rest of Spain under Franco”. This phenomenon should be attributed to the dominant role played by the Basque National Party (PNV), which has governed without interruption since the Basque region was granted autonomy in 1979 and whose founding motto is ”God and Old Law”. This situation raises new questions about the relation between power and religion, not only for the church prelates but the parishioners as well.

Writing these lines, I was subjected to a barrage of blistering statements by the founding father of the PNV, Sabino Arana: ”…our race, unique by virtue of its noble qualities, and more so because of its lack of any point of contact or fraternity with other races, like the French or Spanish, or any other in the world … the Basque is not made for service but was born to rule … the Spaniard was born to be a lackey, a servant … woman is vain, superficial, egotistical, inferior in mind and heart.”

What the Basque Country needs is both an end to ETA terrorism and a guarantee of democracy. This will require not only political action but also the ethics necessary to a pluralist society, which Basque society is and must remain. If the church (the whole church, not just the Spanish or the Basque, the clergy or the lay) wants to play a role in this transition, based on an ethic of democratic coexistence –which does not exist today– it must broaden its thinking and historical perspective on its own relation to higher powers and on violence.

The Catholic church is the only institution that thus far has been safe from the violence of the ETA. After so many years, this cannot be attributed simply to coincidence. It is a perplexing question. Some venture quick responses: ”ETA was born in the seminaries, it would not resist a religious crusade”. However, my search for the truth leads me along other paths.

The goal of making the church into a meeting place for its faithful, whether nationalist or not, whatever their nationality, who feel Spanish or otherwise, would be another: to give meaning to a community of believers in one religion that calls itself Catholic (universal) in order to project to the entire society a powerful force for peace in freedom, which does not exist today in the Basque Country. (END/COPYRIGHT IPS)