By Jody K. Biehl

In America, religion dominates campaigns to such a degree that both US presidential candidates carry Bibles with them and regularly invoke the word "God." In Europe, however, secularism dominates -- or at least it has. This week, even as the European Union constitution was signed in Rome on Friday, the entire continent is embroiled in a debate or, as some are calling it a "cultural war." At issues is the division of church and state and how much religion and personal beliefs can and should play in EU decision-making. It's a conflict that shows Christian cracks in a seemingly secular EU surface.

The debate is specifically focused on whether controversial Italian Rocco Buttiglione, who is a devout Catholic and believes homosexuality is a sin and single moms are bad mothers, is qualified to serve as European commissioner for justice. His candidacy was the key reason why incoming EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso withdrew his 25-commissioner line-up from the parliamentary approval process Wednesday. Too many EU parliamentarians were uncomfortable with Buttiglione's views.

Many have labeled the conflict a power game pitting the EU Parliament against the EU Commission. But it may, in fact, be more.

At issue fundamentally is a simple question: Is Europe a Christian continent? Traditionally, Brussels has answered with an adamant "no," insisting that religion plays no role in political discourse. The so-far failed candidacy of Buttiglione -- the hand-picked candidate of conservative Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and a good friend of the Pope -- again reinforces that stance. He was, ostensibly rejected because he is too outspokenly Catholic and, therefore, too conservative to represent liberal Europe. Still, the fury over his candidacy indicates that all is not so well in the state of secular Europe.

"I wonder if with the enlargement of the EU ...you might have the beginnings of a resurrection of religious principal within politics that has been long banished from the EU," said EU specialist Martin Rhodes, who teaches at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy. "It never went away with Catholic countries but the EU has long been dominated by a secular ethos. It may be the fact that something is coming back."

Is Europe becoming more Christian?

But what, exactly, is coming back? In Europe's largest countries, France and Germany, even conservative parties that identify themselves as Christian have never sought to overturn laws its citizens take for granted -- like the right to abortion or gay rights. In fact, both Paris and Berlin have openly gay mayors. Spain, an officially Catholic country, is showing increasing signs of liberalism. It recently voted to slash state church funding and is moving to ban crucifixes from public buildings. In Holland, drugs are tolerated and euthanasia is legal. England, albeit headed by Tony Blair, a devout Christian, is decidedly agnostic. Even staunchly Catholic Ireland has been edging towards liberalism. The country still outlaws abortion, but in 1990 it elected Europe's first female president and in 1995 it legalized divorce. Italy, a bit of a maverick with Silvio Berlusconi at the helm, is the exception, growing increasingly chummy with the Pope.

Shift the axis a bit eastward, though, and a different European vision emerges among Europe's new members. In Poland, political parties are openly Catholic and religion finds its way into every aspect of society. Abortion is illegal, as it also is in Ireland and Malta. In Slovakia, 84 percent of the population believes in God, 69 percent say they are Catholic and young candidates for the priesthood are steadily on the rise. Lithuania, too, is deeply religious, with 75 percent of the population identifying themselves as Catholic.

"The new lands are small, but they may -- even if only in small ways -- affect the nature of debates in Europe," said Richard Faber assistant professor of sociology at Berlin's Free University who has written extensively about the EU. "One of those ways is to bring back religion in ways it has not been present in decades."

Faber said it is "too early to tell" what effect that might have, but he said, it is "certainly a trend to watch."

Europe and America: Mirror Images?

Does that mean Europe is experiencing the sort of right-left conflict that so often polarizes America? "That's the million dollar question in Europe today," said Marco Incerti, a research fellow at the Brussels-based Center for European Policy Studies.

The religion-oriented debates do bear some resemblance to those that routinely galvanize the US and that are playing out in the current presidential campaign. They are simply inverted -- as if seen through a warped transatlantic mirror. While in the US, candidates are falling all over themselves to court the religious conservative vote, Europeans are rushing to declare themselves secular.

"Secularism is an inevitable and unstoppable process in Europe, unlike it is in the US," said Frank Unger, a German who teaches at the Institute for European Studies in Vancouver, Canada. "American Christian fundamentalism is so closely linked to patriotism it's a different set of ideas. In Europe in general, religion is losing. This is illustrated by what has happened, namely that when a strong Catholic openly displayed his convictions it was reason enough for the Parliament to dismiss him and to find someone else."

Katinka Barysch, chief economist at London's Center for European Reform, concurs. "Religion simply doesn't play the same role in Europe as it does in America. If an American politician evokes the church or evokes God, nobody bats an eyelid. In Europe you have someone like Buttiglione and it causes a huge uproar. That is the big difference."

Yet despite the protest of academics, religion continues to creep into European discussions. Take the soul-searching that enveloped the discussion of whether the word "God" belonged in the European constitution. Several countries -- but most vocally Poland, Italy, Ireland and Spain -- pushed for an explicit reference to Christianity. After much debate, they lost last July.

More questions are coming -- particularly the bid by Muslim Turkey to join the EU. That issue has already ignited debate in Europe and pushed many to define Europe as Occidental and Christian, rather than Oriental and Muslim.