Europe's Apocalypse

The New York Sun ^ | April 11, 2003 | Daniel Johnson

[quidnunc]

George Weigel is best known for his official biography of John Paul II, "Witness to Hope," and as a commentator on the Vatican for NBC News. …

-snip-

Mr. Weigel's critique of Europe subtly distinguishes between the gradual process of secularization and a newly aggressive, official hostility toward religion. He believes that this Christophobia underlies a number of disturbing phenomena: European appeasement of Nazism, communism, and terrorism; anti-Americanism; a naive belief in the ability of international organizations to solve the world's problems; a preference for bureaucracy over democracy; declining productivity; and a "depoliticization" that avoids tough decisions.

-snip-

Mr. Weigel's critique of Europe subtly distinguishes between the gradual process of secularization and a newly aggressive, official hostility toward religion. He believes that this Christophobia underlies a number of disturbing phenomena: European appeasement of Nazism, communism, and terrorism; anti-Americanism; a naive belief in the ability of international organizations to solve the world's problems; a preference for bureaucracy over democracy; declining productivity; and a "depoliticization" that avoids tough decisions.

-snip-

Having succumbed to a radically new "atheist humanism," which first found expression in the carnage of World War I and in the totalitarian movements that arose from it, Europe, in the words of Dawson, turned itself into "a secular society that has no end beyond its own satisfaction … a cancerous growth that will ultimately destroy itself."

Perhaps the least predictable and most valuable witness called in Mr. Weigel's indictment of Europe is the constitutional lawyer Joseph Weiler — not a Christian at all, but an Orthodox Jew. Mr. Weiler, who coined the term "Christophobia," identifies the 1968 generation as the driving force behind the radical secularism that has become the ruling ideology of the European Union.

-snip-

[Slyfox]

This question is, he argues, closely related to another: "Why did Europe have the twentieth century it did?"

The answer would be, because of the thoughts they latched onto in the 19th century, which played out in all it's frightful reality. Hence, the new adadge is true: Words means things.

I heard Mr. Weigel speak one time and he said probably the most profound thing I have ever heard said about JPII. (I have to paraphrase here because I did not write it down.) He said:

"Bill and Hillary Clinton think that they are supplying a bridge to the 21st century, but they are wrong. The next century will be the fulfillment of the words of John Paul the 2nd."

Following a holy man would be a much better prospect than crossing a rickety bridge to nowhere.

[EternalHope]

Nice article. Thanks for posting.

Mr. Weigel suggests four possible scenarios: Europe reinvents itself as a godless paradise on earth; Europe muddles through; Europe reconverts to Christianity; or (the nightmare scenario) Islam inherits the hollowed-out shell of a civilization, reversing the historic defeat of the Turks at the gates of Vienna in 1683.

To address Mr. Weigel's scenarios:
1. Mankind is not capable of self created utopia. This scenario can be ruled out.
2. If you don't know where you are going, you can only "muddle through" for so long. This scenario can be ruled out.

That leaves two possibilities.
3. Europe might reconvert to Christianity. In my opinion, this is Europe's only hope. I doubt that this is happening, yet, but perhaps it will when the Muslim threat becomes obvious to all. If so, it will lead to civil war in Europe.
4. Islam may inherit Europe. This looks like the most likely scenario. Europeans, at the personal level, do not seem to see their own civilization as something worth risking their lives to preserve.

[OpusatFR]

And how long is that going to last?

[Unam Sanctam]

bttt