European Identity - Individual, Group and Society - HumanitarianNet

EUROPE: MEANING AND MOTIVE 65reflective attitudes and criticism, is one of the fundamental elements of atruly free society (L. Gómez Llorente) 19 .The reservations about applying secularity to confessional education,as expressed by religious denominations, can be explained by theinherent tension between the moral autonomy proposed by the Enlightenment—whose ethical imperative is to be found in individual reasoning,and awareness of duty— and the moral of obedience and the idea ofbeing subject to the absolute authority of the Church or of tradition.However, while anti-clericalism, intolerance and doctrinism were rifeamongst the conservative elites and those with economic power, youwill find nothing but strict respect for the Church, Catholicism, religiousfreedom and freedom of education amongst the likes of Don FranciscoGiner de los Ríos, Don Fernando de los Ríos and Don Luis GómezLlorente, all of whom held religious beliefs. You will therefore see why Ifind their posture so laudable; indeed, when talking about the mostadequate instrument to transmit the idea and the significance ofEurope, you will understand why I am tempted to follow their example.Secondly, in the situation I have described, what room can be leftfor hope? How can we possibly speak of a European Humanisttradition as if it still had any relevance when we are living in a worldwhich so brutally denies the values of such a system? How can we stilltalk of our Humanist tradition when Europeans have inflicted so muchsuffering on fellow human beings? The thing that did not ring true forthose who have lived through the horrors of the 20th century 20 is thatthe belief in man’s natural goodness and perfectibility (Rousseau) 21 , theoptimism that characterised the Age of Enlightenment and the trust inthe positivist version of Humanism of the 19th century have alldisappeared as far as science, progress and the future are concerned.However, we should not accept the present as being everything. If, forinstance, we ignore the stoicism of the Ancient World or its reinstatementby Montaigne (1533-1592) —in the midst of the violence and intoleranceof the European religious wars— then we are led to ignore the alternativefacet of Humanism, in other words trusting in the potential for creativity19Cfr. Gómez Llorente, L. Vigencia del Laicismo, Temas para el Debate (magazine),November 2001; id. Principios de la Escuela pública, in Por la Escuela pública, Homageto Mariano Pérez Galán, Madrid: Fundación Educativa y Asistencial CIVES, 1998; cfr.P.Lathuilière, M. Barlow, B. Comte,B. Descouleurs, M. - F. Tinel, Dieu, est-il laïque?Recherche de sens et laïcité, Paris: Desclée de Brouwer, 1998.20Cfr. Hobsbawm, Eric. Age of Extremes. The short Twentieth Century 1914-1991,London: Michael Joseph Ltd, 1994; Gabriel Jackson, Civilización y Barbarie en la Europadel Siglo XX, Barcelona: Ed. Planeta, 1997.21Rousseau, J.J. Emil, Bielefeld und Leipzig: Welhagen & Klasings, 1913.