Posted on 04/22/2005 6:40:51 AM PDT by rob777
Pope Benedict XVI will strive during his tenure to re-Christianize Europe by making the way for greater religious freedom on the continent and then converting millions of the Muslims who now populate the area, asserts geopolitical analyst Jack Wheeler.
In a column on his intelligence website, To the Point, Wheeler uses a comedy scene from the classic film "Princess Bride" to show the kind of task the pope has on his plate.
"One of my favorite scenes is when the hero, Westley (played by Cary Elwes), is wounded and his friends drag his limp body to a Yiddish Wizard named Miracle Max (played by Billy Crystal) in hopes of saving him," writes Wheeler. "But it's too late. He's dead, they tell Max.
"'Look who knows so much,' Max replies after examining Westley. 'It just so happens that your friend here is only mostly dead. There is a very big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive. With all dead, well, with all dead there's usually only one thing you can do.'
"'What's that?' his friends ask. Max answers, 'Go through his clothes and look for loose change.'"
Wheeler explains that by electing Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the cardinals were bringing a mostly dead European Christianity to the new pope for reviving.
And the pope is more than up for the challenge, Wheeler asserts.
"It takes both heroic optimism and heroic faith to attempt a revival of Europe now at death's door," he writes. "For many astute observers, Europe is doomed by a 'perfect storm' of inescapably negative demographics, welfare-state bankruptcy and the creeping seizure of its cities by Muslim immigrants. Yet the cause of all three is Europeans' willful abandonment of their cultural souls. Restore that to them and all three of the clouds creating this perfect storm start to clear.
"Such restoration can only be done with and cannot be done without Christianity – and not some wishy-washy, apologize-for-the-Crusades, can't-we-all-get-along, multicultural-diversity-transgendered theological goulash, but a straight-talk, look-you-in-the-eye Christianity of muscular moral certainty with no excuses and no apologies."
Wheeler says the high birth rate among Muslims in Europe influences how the pope will accomplish his job.
Writes Wheeler: "While native Europeans simply refuse to have children and are committing demographic suicide, Muslim immigrants are breeding like bunnies. Right now, in many European cities, 30 to 40 percent of all the children are Muslim. It seems all but inevitable that Europe will become Eurabia with a majority Muslim population in most metropolitan areas within a generation.
"There are only two ways to prevent this: eviction or conversion. Either evict those illegal Muslim immigrants out of Europe and back to their country of origin – or convert them to Christianity. Benedict XVI will advocate the latter path. The obstacle in this path is that Islamic law or Sharia views apostasy or irtidad as a crime punishable by death. The murtadd or apostate, by 'turning his back on Allah' deserves to be killed."
Wheeler says Benedict XVI will publicly demand that Muslims be free of any punishment should they choose to convert to Christianity, citing Article 18 of the U.N.'s Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
"You can further expect him to promote efforts by Christians to evangelize Muslims," he writes, "making positive efforts to persuade them to convert to Christianity. First in Europe – and then in Islamic countries around the world."
Comparing Benedict to Ronald Reagan, Wheeler says: "This new pope is a conservative revolutionary aiming to overthrow the entrenched modern orthodoxies of secularism and relativism, and rescue Western Civilization from a massive alien threat.
"May he live long enough to accomplish his goal."
Have fun storming the castle!
Reagan, Thatcher and Pope John Paul II worked in harmony to fight communism. Perhaps Benedict XVI will be an ally for President Bush as we work to fight Islam.
LOL! Great post!
Benedict needs to be firm in his efforts to reevangelize Europe and defend the rights of religious freedom. He needs to make this a new standard and make it such that his successors have no choice but to continue these policies. I'm confident this will be the case.
I also think the death of religion is overly played. The huge numbers of people attending the funeral are very encouraging - especially seeing so many young people. But people are not inspired to go to mass. There is a dichotomy. I think it's more a matter of people being distracted with materialistic pop culture and intimidation from the ruling socialistic elites.
We cannot depend on the EU or Brussels to revitalize Europe. The economic union is fine. But anything to weaken the political power of Brussels is good - hopefully France follows through and votes no.
Just like after the fall of the Roman Empire, the Church must assume its historical role as the defender and preserver of Western cililization. And the churches of Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, and Asia, must play the former role that the Irish monks once played. Someday it's efforts will successfully bear fruit. Rome must lead. It has no choice but to lead.
Good article.
"The huge numbers of people attending the funeral are very encouraging - especially seeing so many young people."
Yes, it does suggest that there is some life their afterall. In fact, Dr. Wheeler makes the same observation in the article upon which this one is based:
"What convinced the Conclave that Europe just might not be culturally all dead yet was the breathtakingly massive outpouring of emotion during the funeral of John Paul the Great. Four million Christians came from all over Europe to peacefully pay homage to him – and in so doing paid homage to the religion of which he was the living symbol."
The article posted is WND's report on a web site article by Dr. Jack Wheeler, I did not post the orignal article because you need a subscription to read it. (The Worldnet Daily article provides a link if anyone want to subscribe)
so the new pope agrees with Ann Coulter - convert them to Christianity!
PING ! A very interesting outlook by Dr. Jack Wheeler on the role a new Pope Benedict XVI could play in reviving Christianity in Europe.
Oops--wrong verb tense. I should say what Role Benedict XVI can play in reviving Christianity in Europe. Let's hope that he will play the role that Dr. Jack Wheeler predicts in the article.
She's deader by the minute. Yesterday, Spain (yeah, that one) approved gay marriage with automatic adoption rights.
If the Pope is in a fighting mood, good, but it may be a couple of decades too late for revival.
Think it'll work?
I would take a miracle.
Thank you"sergey1973"
Converting millions of the Muslims ? I doubt it.
Ping.
It is interesting that the countries the west used to send missionaries to are now sending them to us.
The West has turned its back on God, hopefully it isn't to late to find God again.
>>If the Pope is in a fighting mood, good, but it may be a couple of decades too late for revival.<<
Geez, he has God on his side.
I think He can do anything.
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