Speech of 2025/10/03 in Athens by Dr. Uģis Nastevičs, President of the European Congress of Ethnic Religions

"European Identity Crisis: Challenges and the Role of Ethnic Religion"

Distinguished members and fellows, dear friends,

It is an honor to stand before you today at the European Congress of Ethnic Religions. We gather here not only as representatives of different traditions, but as guardians of the living heritage of Europe. Our task is not merely to look backward, but to understand how our ancient ways continue to serve Europe today, and how they may guide us into the future.

I would like to speak about what I call the European identity crisis, and the special role that ethnic religions play in responding to it.

Across our continent, people struggle to define who they are, what values unite them, and what it means to belong to Europe. This crisis is not new. It has deep roots in history. For centuries, imperial and cosmopolitan projects have tried to erase or flatten local distinctiveness. They often demanded uniformity, suppressing or marginalizing the richness of local cultures, languages, and sacred traditions.

This loss of identity has been accelerated by the pressures of modern life. Economic and social systems are often guided only by selfish profit and cold calculation. Nature itself is exploited and destroyed for the narrow interests of a few, while the majority are left to bear the consequences.

In addition, a worldview has been promoted — often through established religions — that tells people this world is sinful, worthless, and that true meaning lies only in some distant afterlife. Such a worldview separates the sacred from the everyday world, and in doing so makes the world seem less valuable. These imposed ways of thinking have shaped our societies for centuries, weakening people’s sense of connection to place, to nature, and to community.

And yet, ethnic religions, our traditions, tell a different story. They remind us that the entire world is sacred, that all life carries divine value, that every tree, every river, every mountain, and every human community has dignity. This perspective is not a relic of the past — it is exactly the contribution that Europe and the wider world needs today.

At the same time, we cannot ignore the challenges ethnic religions face in modern Europe. They are often opposed or marginalized by powerful established religions. They are weakened by secularization, which dismisses all spiritual life as irrelevant. They must also find their place in multicultural societies, where many traditions compete for recognition. These challenges are real.

But so are the gifts we bring. Ethnic religions are part of Europe’s cultural richness and historical continuity. They carry values that strengthen community and respect for nature. They are voices of balance and wisdom in a world that too often runs after only profit, power, and consumption.

By recognizing and supporting the persistence of ethnic religions, Europe gains more than heritage — it gains a living source of guidance for the present. These traditions can help Europe find a healthier way to debate questions of identity, values, and belonging. They can strengthen social cohesion, not by demanding sameness, but by honoring the many voices that together form Europe’s song.

Ultimately, ethnic religions are not just memories of what once was. They are active participants in shaping both national and European identity today. They are needed now more than ever, in this time of ecological crisis, cultural uncertainty, and moral searching.

Dear friends, if Europe is to heal its identity crisis, it must remember that diversity is not weakness, but strength. It must hear again the voices of the land, the ancestors, and the gods of place. It must see that the sacred is not far away, but here, in every living being, in every community, in every part of our world.

This is the gift that ethnic religions bring to Europe and to the world. And this is why our work, here in the Congress, matters so deeply.

Thank you.