EMPOWERING EACH OTHER BY EMPATHY AND
RESPONSABILITY
Response to the lecture given by Professor Ernst Hirsch Ballin
University of Tilburg, 21. II. 2013
Jürgen Mettepenningen, advisor CEDER (CD&V, Flanders), theologian KU
Leuven
“You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill can’t be
hidden. No one lights a lamp and put it under a bushel but on a
lampstand, and it gives light to everyone in the house” (Mat.
5:14-15)
Having read the lecture by Professor Hirsch Ballin, I noted a quotation
from the Sermon on the Mount, put at the head of the text: “You are
the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it
be made salty again?” (Mat. 5:13). In his lecture, Professor Hirsch
Ballin made it clear why he chose this quotation. I like what he said
about respect, compassion, and hope; and
I would like to thank
Professor Hirsch Ballin for sharing his wisdom, in a lecture which I
appreciated a lot.
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As a respondent, of course, the organizers of this colloquium
expect me to respond; and they clearly expect a response, from the
perspective of Christian Democracy, particularly Christian Democracy in
Flanders. However, next to the fact that I am an advisor within the study
center of CD&V, I am also – in fact in the first place du to my Ph.D. – a
theologian. Please allow me, then, to speak from the perspective of both
perspectives. These are two significant and, to a degree, complementary
viewpoints, certainly when the topic is “Christianity and the Future of
Christian Democracy”.
The advisor/theologian complementarity compels me to begin my
response with the verse which immediately follows the verse about being
the salt of the earth: “You are the light of the world. A city located
on a hill can’t be hidden. No one lights a lamp and put it under a
bushel but on a lampstand, and it gives light to everyone in the
house”. To be salt for politics cannot happen in an invisible and hidden
way. No political party wants to put its own viewpoint, proposals and
opinions under a bushel. Or, to phrase it another way: every political
party is called to put its light on a lamp stand. That light of course must
be more than just a collection of opinions and proposals. It must reflect
underlying convictions, a political philosophy. And what is our light? Our
philosophy?
In what follows, respecting our limited time, I would like to share
three observations about our light, the house it enlightens, and how it
happens.
1. What light are we talking about here?
The Christian Democratic light, of course! And then the question arises:
what do we mean by Christian Democracy? What is Christian
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Democracy? What is its identity? How does its light differ from other
lights? It is the question about its nature.
Professor Hirsch Ballin has certainly formulated a number of
important considerations about Christian Democracy. Reflecting on the
wisdom he has shared with us, however, I still think that a complete
answer cannot be fully given due to the nature of politics itself, which
implies that one cannot fully grasp the identity of Christian Democracy
without taking the concrete context into account too, something I will
discuss in the second point. At this moment, I leave in a way the context
a while aside, to discuss the question: which light are we discussing
here? The notion of identity is at the center of the debate. Professor
Hirsch Ballin talks about it several times: he speaks about the “Christian
Democratic identity” and, in another place, about “the political identity of
a Christian Democratic political party”.
In yet another place, when
speaking about the Dutch context, he mentioned
“the identity as
Christian Democrats” and he even seemed to moan a bit.
It seems quite clear to me that the identity of the Christian
Democratic light cannot be summarized in one or two sentences for it
has to do with its roots, with its values, with the laws and habits
appropriate to politics, and with the words and deeds of the
representatives of Christian Democratic parties worldwide – each in its
own particular context. Let us think about some of these elements which
are constitutive for Christian Democratic identity. First of all, in every
context, it is important to refer to the roots. Also in Flanders, where we
recall our roots in the program outlined at the establishment of the party
in 1945, the so-called ‘Christmas Program’, ‘het Kerstprogramma’. It
states that “the party is Christian because it wants to build on the
platform of human values which founded our Western civilization. From
an historical perspective, they were transmitted to us by Christianity.
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However, those values are currently common to everyone, believers and
non-believers”.
When it comes down to these values, we are always talking about
issues
relating
to
personalism,
responsibility,
respect,
solidarity,
subsidiarity, and sustainability. Within every context these values need to
be represented and concretized into proposals, new laws or updated
laws, shaped by politicians who are connected to many people. But is
this Christian Democracy? I think ‘yes’ with my intellect; but I don’t feel
much ‘yes’ in my heart. Very honestly, politics must be felt in the heart
as well. For me this is quite evident from an integral-personalistic point
of view. In other words: next to the pragmatic aspect of politics, there is
the aspect of inspiration: the very soul of political vision, opinion,
government, and opposition.
Let me be a bit provocative. Don’t we at times avoid explicitly
mentioning our roots? Yes, of course, we are Christian Democrats; but
we often stress the word ‘Democrat’ and we like to leave the term
‘Christian’ as vague as possible.
If people do ask what the ‘C’,
mentioned in our party’s name, signifies, we quickly refer to it as an
important source of the values we are promoting, and that’s it. On to the
next question….
Sorry – and you are probably thinking: well the theologian is
speaking now – but I go on to be a step further in being provocative: if
the ‘C’ of Christian Democracy only refers to values and not also to
Christ, the cornerstone of Christianity and of the word ‘Christian’, and if
Christ is the big name you never pronounce, then it would be better to
delete the ‘C’ because, in that case, the ‘C’ is reduced to a purely
historical reference in footnotes and to a mirror of values. Does this
mean for me that the name of Jesus needs to be mentioned more in
politics? No, but I think in the bosom of a Christian Democratic party, in
talks and reflections, his name should not be absent. On the contrary. In
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his lecture, Professor Hirsch Ballin speaks about the Sermon on the
Mount and about the story of the Good Samaritan. Very nice, and I am
very happy that he mentions these very rich stories; and I am also
happy that he puts the salt-quotation at the beginning of his lecture.
Nevertheless, even in a colloquium on “Christianity and the Future of
Christian Democracy”, a title in which the word Christian appears twice,
Professor Hirsch Ballin’s lecture lacks the name of Christ. I don’t mean
this as any kind of an attack – a colloquium is no place for attacks – but
as a fact which I critically observe.
Have we, as Christian-Democrats, so greatly assimilated secular
society that we don’t want to pronounce the name of Jesus Christ
anymore? In the name of values?! In other words, are we not putting
an important source of inspiration and consciousness under the bushel?
Salting politics with compassion is great, I find; but isn’t the salt losing
its saltiness, if we don’t dare anymore to give the power of the salt a
name? In my eyes, the name of Jesus Christ belongs to the identity of
Christian Democrats, whether they believe or not. The latter seems to be
a contradiction, but that’s not the case: Jesus is the image of God for
those who confess this in their creed; but he is first and foremost the
example to follow, to imitate. In short: in politics, the imitatio Christi
doesn’t need to imply, in a way, the confession of Jesus as imago Dei.
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2. In which house does Christian Democracy need to give light?
Before answering this question, let me state that Christian Democracy in
a way doesn’t exist. I mean this: from the perspective of its own identity,
and belonging to its identity, Christian Democracy always is ‘applied
Christian Democracy’. There is a Sitz im Leben – Christian Democracy is
situated. Precisely this social, cultural, religious, and political context is
the house in which the lamp gives light or needs to give light. The
quotation of both salt, therefore, inspires me to state that the salt is
meant for ‘the earth’ as a whole – for “all that are in the house”. This is
exactly what makes a Christian Democratic party a party for all the
people, for everybody in the house. What we call in Dutch ‘een
volkspartij’,’ something Professor Hirsch Ballin has considered very well
too in his lecture. About such a people’s party one can say a lot, of
course. And there are several possibilities to give the term content. Let
me be clear: even if one has the majority of the votes, this does not
mean that one is a people’s party (‘een volkspartij’). And even if you say
most of the time what people think or express in daily life, you are not a
people’s party, but rather a populist party. I believe that a people’s party
is a term which belongs to the category of quality of life. This implies
that a people’s party shows attention for the men and women in our
contemporary culture who have neither a voice nor a face, who are not
featured on television, and who live in the margins of society, hidden,
until one or another drama or miracle happens. It is in line with the
Gospel that attention for all those people has as a consequence that you
focus your attention on all the people. So, the light needs to shine for all
women and men who are poor and for those who are asking for a
second or third chance to build up a life in dignity. If the light shines for
everyone, it shines for everybody.
It is within this context that the notion of ‘compassion’ is so
important. For me, Jesus is the most eminent image of what compassion
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can be. It means for me that Christian Democrats are called to speak
with people who are left aside by others, that they really exert
themselves for them, that they not only attend receptions – as Jesus did
as well – but that they also visit the people who are never invited to
receptions. It also means that Christian Democrats do not make quick
judgments about people but that they go a step further: offering people
chances, beyond the judgment. Jesus and his close followers are useful
and inspiring examples. For instance, compassion always starts with
attention and empathy. I am convinced of the fact that only Christian
Democrats can reach the minds and hearts of people – and by doing so
give witness to their ambition of being a people’s party – if they pay
attention to everyone (in particular the weak) and try to do their best to
be as empathic as possible. So doing, one learns how to give
compassion its most appropriated shape, also on the level of politics.
Three terms – attention, empathy, and compassion – all focus on the
other: on people’s wellbeing and welfare. Or let me put in another way:
if we would be more concerned about ourselves as Christian Democrats
than about the other, then we are unworthy to maintain the term
‘Christian’ as part of our name. Enfin, this statement makes me express
the necessity of focusing on our core business as Christian Democrats. In
this perspective, I greatly appreciated the ‘C-exercise’ done within CDA,
published by Erik Borgman, Pieter-Jan Dijkman and Paul Van Geest, in
which the president of CD&V, Wouter Beke, also has written a
contribution.
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3. How to put the light on a lampstand?
What I found very clear in Professor Hirsch Ballin’s lecture, was the fact
that Christian Democracy is a value-inspired way of managing
democracy, not a political way of managing religion. It belongs to the
heart of Christian Democratic parties to think, to act, and to react in a
way which is faithful to its own inspiration. Among other things, this
means, therefore, that all the terms with which Christian Democracy is
connected need to be recognized in everything Christian Democrats
think, do, and don’t do. This could probably be called the ‘Christian
Democratic check’. In my eyes this implies that Christian Democrats first
and foremost encourage people to develop their talents, and to
encourage people to help their neighbors, employees and friends to
develop their talents. In short, to create a framework of reciprocal
encouragement, responsibility, empathy and – if necessary – help. This
leads me to the key notion of empowerment. It is not the task of politics
in general and the government in particular to be responsible for
everything that happens or needs to happen within our society. No!
From a Christian Democratic point of view the government is called to
give
responsibility
and
confidence
to
organizations,
institutions,
movements, and other unions where people meet each other, are
connected to each other, and make each other stronger.
Christian Democrats aim to create a future, which means: to open
the future for everyone, in line with the capabilities of everyone, taking
the concrete situation and context of everyone into account. Moreover,
empowerment is not only the task of the government, but the
responsibility and task of everyone! Therefore, it is important, I think, to
teach our children and grandchildren a spirit of empowerment. From this
perspective, education in family, school, and youth movements is so
important! Building a spirit of empowerment is creating the future.
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Please allow me, to conclude my response, to refer once again to
Jesus. He didn’t visit only the poor nor only the rich, but rich and poor.
Every time again, on the street or around the table, this meeting meant
enrichment
for
everyone:
people
became
stronger,
found
encouragement, became in a way ‘new’, and became more human. Like
Christian Democracy, empowerment means little in the abstract – in
theory. Only ‘applied Christian Democracy’ and ‘applied empowerment’
have relevance. In the application, the inspiration and the soul become
visible. And for me, inspiration and application are already on the
lampstand in the very name itself: Christian Democracy.
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