Is the issue so important in any of these or other countries that they might actually vote to reject the Constitution if it excluded a reference to God?

Out of the Dark Age came the most magnificent thing we have in our society: the recognition that people can have a society without having a state.

I'm trying to work out if

1. Everyone has gone mad

or

2. Bush is the blackmail king of the world, and has hit people waiting to take out anyone who doesn't agree to join Jesusstan and the Idiot's Crusade.

(Neither of those is very reassuring, is it?)

Don't let's forget that these wars were also quite often religious in nature. They pitted different categories of Christian against each other, and Christians against Muslims. Arguably, the European Jews were persecuted for religious reasons, too. So let's have a mention of RELIGION too, so we can all have another fight about that.

Seriously, I don't think this will fly. There are countries, France among them, who won't accept it. Will Merkel even be able to get her own country on board?

Sometimes I think she's a bit of a twit.

The EU is - in its idealised form - supposed to STRENGTHEN the ties that bind us, to emphasise and build upon the areas of similarity amongst a culturally-diverse continent which has seen more than its fair share of mistrust, division and war over the centuries.

All religion has ever done - and in Europe's history more than that of pretty much anywhere else in the world - is enhanced the "us versus them" idea, heightening perception of differences, and created hostility through the insurmountable believers versus non-believers dichotomy.

We already have enough alienated and annoyed non-believers in the EU - they're called Eurosceptics - let's not add to their number, eh?

Btw am I alone in getting the shivers listenning to the head of Germany and a former Hilter youth talk about the need for some state sanctioned official ideological homogenity imposed on all Europe?  Angela wants to talk about religion and shaping Europe's history?  Let's talk about the historical relationship between the Pope and Germany.

Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. -Voltaire

Deutsche Welle: Germany | 29.05.2006 - Opinion: Re-opening a Constitutional Can of Worms

It's an ambitious goal, and may yet land Berlin in hot water. German Chancellor Angela Merkel's demand that the constitution include a reference to God and Christian belief will complicate her foreign minister's job even further. This dimension to the debate had in fact been considered down and dusted, given that France made it clear it would never agree. By bringing the matter up again, Merkel is opening a whole new can of worms.

I think I may have linked to this before, though I have not mastered the ET search yet. :-( Some of these days I am going to figure it out.

Also, until I read this I thought that Germany just wanted to revive the old constitution, not redraw everything. If Merkel want to change something about the preamble, France may want to change something else. Soon you end up negotiating about everything and the ratification process will have to start from stratch.

But maybe Merkel doesn't realize this. Anyway, her idea of reviving the constitution struck me as a pretty useless way of wasting her political capital (which she still has in Europe). Germany is going to run into a brick wall during its 2007 presidency, like they never saw it coming.