Posted on 05/26/2004 8:01:00 AM PDT by marshmallow
CBN.com – (CBN News) - When the Gospel went forth from Jerusalem, one of the places it took root was Europe. And Europe became a center of Christian civilization for more than 1,000 years. But there are signs that Europe's Christian era has come to an end.
A big deal was made of the fact that the first draft of the new European Union Constitution did not include a single mention of God. But most Europeans act as if the Christian God of history no longer exists. Although Europeans say they believe in some type of ‘God,’ church attendance in most European countries is less than five percent.
Less than half of the British public can name any of the four New Testament Gospels. Almost a third of all Dutch no longer know why we have Christmas day.
There is a new ‘dark continent’—the land that used to be known as Christian Europe. Today, many of its cathedrals are simply large museum pieces. They are ‘artifacts of an ancient religion, and a dead faith.’
Jessica Elgood is an analyst at the British research firm, MORI. She said, "Our polling shows that large proportions of the British public still believe in God — concepts of a Christian God. But very few actually practice that faith through ‘an organized religion.’"
She continued, "Only three percent of the public regularly attend church. And of those three percent, half of those are black—black Britons—who only make up about five percent of the population."
Richard Miniter lives in Brussels and is a correspondent for The London Sunday Times. He said, "When, as an American in Europe, you tell Europeans that you go to church on Sunday, they look at you like a museum piece—something strange."
Miniter also said, "There are more practicing Muslims in France than there are baptized Catholics. Out of a nation of more than 60 million Frenchmen, less than four million are baptized Catholics. A generation ago, that just wouldn't have been so."
Near Brussels, at Christian Center, an Assemblies of God church, Belgian Pastor Paul Devos preaches to a culture that no longer believes Christian faith is the answer to anything.
Devos said, "In the United States, people would more quickly turn toward, at least Christ, in general, and Christianity, because it's still somewhat part of the culture, in general. Here in Europe, we have gone beyond that point, and people do not expect anything from religion, apart from some very abstract hope that there is something after this life. [They think] for this life, there is no hope to be found in the church."
Reverend Alan Baker is an American pastor at Christian Center. He said, "Something I hear a lot is an ‘ancient spirit of hopelessness.'"
Baker added, "I've had people tell me, when they come off the plane getting into Belgium, it's as if there are spiritual hands around their throat. They just can't seem to breathe. It's a very heavy, heavy thing, a hopelessness."
It's not just a feeling. While most Americans say they are hopeful about the future, most Europeans in this poll admitted they are literally hopeless.
A poll conducted in 2002 found that while 61 percent of Americans had hope for the future, only 42 percent of U.K. residents had that hope. On the European continent it was even worse, with only 29 percent of the French saying they have hope for the future, and only 15 percent of Germans.
Miniter said, "The loss of faith, in Europe, is like an ‘unseen black star’ that still has a tremendous gravitational pull. They don't understand why their culture is failing. They don't understand why divorce rates and suicide rates are so high. They don't understand why so few European women have more than one child, and why on most European streets, you see more dogs than children. This is the impact of the death of real Christian belief in Europe."
Yet the European media never tires of mocking America's high church attendance as "something weird," or portraying President Bush's faith as a "weapon of mass destruction."
In a typical comment, written in the Sunday Herald, the writer says President Bush is "under the influence of the crackpot TV evangelism that is so peculiar to America."
European elites are especially worried that Bush prays a lot.
A writer for Britain's The Economist magazine wrote, "To Europeans, religion is the strangest and most disturbing feature about [America]."
European elites worry that "fundamentalists" are "hijacking" the country. They find it extraordinary that three times as many Americans believe in the virgin birth as in evolution.
Elgood said, "I actually think we don't understand it [American Christianity] at all, and it's one of these gaps between our cultures, that actually leaves us scratching our heads at each other. We don't understand it. It hasn't been a part of our life here for 40 years."
When Elgood's firm asked the British to name an 'inspirational' figure, Jesus finished at the bottom.
The Mori poll found that 65 percent of Britons named Nelson Mandela, 14 percent picked Prime Minister Tony Blair, 10 percent said 'none of the above', and six percent said Britney Spears. Astonishingly, only one percent named Jesus Christ as an inspirational figure.
Religion is an especially dirty word in European politics; many European leaders are atheists.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair is not one of them, but during the Iraq war, when Blair wanted to end a televised address to the nation with the words "God Bless You," his aides talked him out of it.
Some analysts say religious differences between America and Europe are reaching the point of driving the two continents apart.
But could Europe be poised for revival?
A licensed Christian broadcaster in the U.K. at Premier Radio, Managing Director Peter Kerridge believes the demise of the church in Europe has been greatly exaggerated.
Kerridge said, "It doesn't matter how many Times headlines there are, saying the church is dead. The truth is, the church will never die."
Kerridge added, "We are seeing some decline, in some branches of the established church and huge growth in other areas of the church.
In London, the black Pentecostal church is exploding. Huge growth. And one of the hopes for the church in the UK is the re-evangelization of England by ethnic minorities. "
But in Europe, evangelization can be tough going.
Devos said, "What I always tell the congregation, our congregation, is that if we want to reach out, it has to go through personal contacts. We cannot go ringing doorbells and going from home to home trying to reach them, because they do not trust us."
Pastor Baker says the hopelessness of many Europeans can be seen in a conversation he had with a successful Belgian businessman.
Baker said, "[The businessman] was trembling, with tears in his eyes, and he said to me—literally face to face—‘Now pastor, if you believe the Bible is God's word, if you believe it's the message of life and hope, give me one reason, today -- give me one reason to go on living. If you can't do it, I'm taking my life right now. I can't take it anymore!’ Then he says, 'Don't look at me that way. There's nothing wrong with me. It's not just me, it's my wife, it's my children, it's all our friends—we have nothing to live for'—it's all across my nation!"
Though the church buildings still remain, European secularists assumed that Modernism would do away with religion. But secularism has created a spiritual void, a vacuum in Europe that beckons faith to return.
There is a real worry that if Europe tires of this spiritual chaos, then the religion they will turn to is Islam. Islam is the fastest growing religion in Europe.
In the US, a battle is still raging over the sanctity of life, the right to speak about and post God's name in public buildings and institutions, the right to broadcast and propagate pornography etc.
In Europe, the patient is comatose. There never was a fight. It surrendered gladly. In the US, the patient is strapped to a bed and an executioner stands over her with a needle poised to deliver the same narcotic which has subdued Europe but she refuses to be still. She is still kicking and screaming.
One minor point. The author does not distinguish between Eastern and Western Europe. This article really applies to the west. I believe that the east, which suffered under atheistic persecution for three quarters of a century is a different story. In time, I believe that missionaries from the formerly atheistic east will re-evangelize the newly atheistic west.
Very good article.
Implied at the end of the article (and very true): The decline of Christianity is one of the reasons the Muslims have decided NOW is the time to make their move.
Baker added, "I've had people tell me, when they come off the plane getting into Belgium, it's as if there are spiritual hands around their throat. They just can't seem to breathe. It's a very heavy, heavy thing, a hopelessness."
Wow. That was the impression I had when I was there.
Very opressive and ugly Soviet style artwork on buildings, especially around the city of Shape.
"For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened."
"Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures."
Romans 1 is often used dealing with homosexuality, but it is so much more than that - it explains the depravity and inevitable degression in a culture that apostasy leads to.
Bump.
Elgood said, "I actually think we don't understand it [American Christianity] at all, and it's one of these gaps between our cultures, that actually leaves us scratching our heads at each other. We don't understand it. It hasn't been a part of our life here for 40 years."
It hasn't been a part of their lives for far more than 40 years, it also accounts for the decline in Euro wealth and power and France's quips about our "primitive notions of morality". Europe has entered a dark age of animal/humanism, and is ripe to fulfill the prophecies of the last days. The previous president of the E.U. made the statement that the EU needs a leader of such magnatism and persuasive abilities that be he the devil or God they would follow him.
He will get his wish, no doubt about it.
"In the Netherlands, Muslims are a majority among children under 14 in the country's four largest cities. Rotterdam, a port city where half the people are of foreign origin, will soon unveil Europe's largest mosque. In Brussels, the capital of the European Union, Muhammad has been the name most frequently given for newborn baby boys. Osama is a close second."
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1113560/posts
The Belgian businessman he speaks of at the end understands life at a profound level. Without the God of the Bible there is NO hope!
It's time to write off Western Europe. If it can't make even an effort to save itself, no one else can save it.
This would be the best time to clear out the museums and cathedrals and send their contents here, before the Muslims destroy their contents as "infidel graven images and sorcery".
Makes sense to me. The Namby-pamby, I'm-ok-you're-ok, kumbaya churches that comprise most of the major denominations attract no one. They're convinced that they are far more suitable for the modern world than those which maintain their rigid old ways, and no plummetting attendance figures will convince them otherwise.
Along comes Islam, which takes itself seriously. The contrast is pretty clear. You'll not find God in a Church that is so obsessed with fitting into the modern world that God becomes their secondary concern.
Nietzsche pronounced his death a little more than a century ago, and as far as his Europe was concerned, he was right.
"There is a real worry that if Europe tires of this spiritual chaos, then the religion they will turn to is Islam"
Oh please. No atheist or agnostic is going to choose the ignorant shackles of Islam. No European woman will choose Islam as her solution to 'hopelessness'.
While there appears to be a ton of Muslims in Europe (no argument there), the opinion that non-Muslims will rush to convert is ridiculous.
They use other methods of conversion. Anyway if secularists have one child per family and Muslims have four, the conversions will not be needed.
Maybe the Europeans should apply for US statehood. That's what would give them hope. They are corrupt people living in a corrupt system with no faith in themselves or their historical achievements or the God of their ancestors. That's pretty pathetic.
Except for the fact that some are already doing it.
"I'm a Brit, and yes I don't go to church anymore.
Saying that though, I still have an utter and total belief in Christ, and God. I've just lost faith with the religion that goes with it."
"I just think a lot of people have had enough with the 'organised' Christianity"
I've met people like that here in the USA, and of course I smile and nod, and acknowlege its a free country. However, I have to say, that such an attitude is one Christian Americans (or Christians all over the world, for that matter) find very sad and ultimately self deceptive.
Humans are social beings. No matter what the interest, people seek out others with the shared interest. It may be stamp collecting, it may be canoing, it may be anything at all--but we gather together over shared interests. Even hermits live in monastaries with others who want things quiet.
Saying one is religious, but doesn't go to church or believe in organized religion is just a contradiction. Its like saying "I'm a true football fan, I just don't ever have time to go to games, or even to watch it on television."
I'm sorry, but anyone who makes a statement like that is just not telling the truth. True football fans go to games...as many as possible....and then they also watch games on TV. It's what defines a fan.
Its the same way with religion. With your personal description of RC worship, I too would not want to be a part of such emptiness. That's where America's long tradition of church state separation--and the liveliness of our many different denominations comes into play. Without a state church, or even any officially favored church--Americans take for granted the ability to find a church amidst many different kinds which they feel comfortable with--one which is alive and teaches--and more importantily lives--the scriptures.
Scripture clearly teaches, and gives example after example--of honoring organized religion, and being a part of a local fellowship. Not only that it is commanded.
Someone who says they love Jesus and the Bible, and yet don't attend church, has a real contradiction. As Jesus and His bible love the organized church--and seek to change it for the better. He expects the same of those who love Him.
Sad but true. Just got back from Europe. My observations just that. The church I visited in Vienna was 1/3 Austrian, 1/3 African, and 1/3 Filipino. But the Sunday School was only about 10% Austrian.
In France I listened in astonishment as a pastor told me about applying for a building permit for a new church building as they had outgrown their old one. It was the first new church build in that area in 200 years, since before the revolution that killed what there had been of Christianity in France.
There are a few flickering flames left. But the smothering feeling is very real. I have never felt such darkness. Not in Africa, not in South America, not in Asia.
Maybe Africa can send them some missionaries.
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