Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

In Defense of Christendom: Europe wonders why its house is falling apart.
Wall Street Journal ^ | 10/20/2015 | Bret Stephens

Posted on 10/20/2015 1:34:23 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

The death of Europe is in sight. Still hazy and not yet inevitable, but nevertheless visible and drawing nearer—like a distant planet in the lens of an approaching satellite. Europe is reaching its end not because of its sclerotic economy, or stagnant demography, or the dysfunctions of the superstate. Nor is the real cause the massive influx of Middle Eastern and African migrants. Those desperate people are just the latest stiff breeze against the timber of a desiccated civilization.

Europe is dying because it has become morally incompetent. It isn’t that Europe stands for nothing. It’s that it stands for shallow things, shallowly. Europeans believe in human rights, tolerance, openness, peace, progress, the environment, pleasure. These beliefs are all very nice, but they are also secondary.

What Europeans no longer believe in are the things from which their beliefs spring: Judaism and Christianity; liberalism and the Enlightenment; martial pride and capability; capitalism and wealth. Still less do they believe in fighting or sacrificing or paying or even arguing for these things. Having ignored and undermined their own foundations, they wonder why their house is coming apart.

What is Europe? It is Greece not Persia; Rome not Carthage; Christendom not the caliphate. These distinctions are fundamental. To say that Europe is a civilization apart is not to say it is better or worse. It is merely to say: This is us and that is you. Nor is it to say that Europe ought to be a closed civilization. It merely needs to be one that doesn’t dissolve on contact with the strangers it takes into its midst.

That’s what makes the diplomacy of Angela Merkel, undisputed regent of European foreign policy, so odd and disconcerting.

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: christendom; europe; europejihad; islam; secularism

1 posted on 10/20/2015 1:34:23 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

The German people no longer wonder.


2 posted on 10/20/2015 1:35:38 PM PDT by stephenjohnbanker (My Batting Average( 1,000) (GOPe is that easy to read))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind
In Defense of Christendom: Europe wonders why its house is falling apart.

Europe needs to get the bloodshed started now, before the Submit-Lamists are powerful enough to win.

3 posted on 10/20/2015 1:38:03 PM PDT by DiogenesLamp ("of parents owing allegiance to no other sovereignty.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Since the Battle of Tours in 732, Islam has not changed one bit. The Koran will always instruct it’s users to employ conquest, domination, rape, slavery, mutilation and death in praise of Allah and their perverted prophet.


4 posted on 10/20/2015 1:43:58 PM PDT by lormand (Inside every liberal is a dung slinging monkey)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: lormand

The “Time Traveler’s Three Words” story is playing out before our very eyes.

Remember Stockholm Sweden
Remember Paris France
Remember London England
etc

Eff’ing suicidal liberal existential threat ignorant idiots.


5 posted on 10/20/2015 1:54:45 PM PDT by MarchonDC09122009 (When is our next march on DC? When have we had enough?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind
"In Defense of Christendom: Europe wonders why its house is falling apart...."

...... Like the United States .... when the enemy was at their gates ..... they felt sorry for them and invited them in!

6 posted on 10/20/2015 1:56:08 PM PDT by R_Kangel ( "A Nation of Sheep ..... Will Beget ..... a Nation Ruled by Wolves.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

This is what happens when nations no longer follow God’s Word. Read the Old Testament. God is the same yesterday, today and forever. He does not bless those who despise Him.


7 posted on 10/20/2015 2:12:29 PM PDT by txrefugee
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Sadly, we’re not much better. I’d argue we surrendered 7 years after 9/11 when we elected BHO.


8 posted on 10/20/2015 2:24:31 PM PDT by rbg81 (is pr)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Meaninglessness is the result of naturalism/materialism/nanny-does-everything from cradle to grave (you are never allowed Choice/Free Will/Freedom that makes life so fulfilling, and allows YOU to become an intellectually mature male and female as God Designed. We are reduced to godless animal with no choice (Free Will) in socialist societies.

As GK Chesterton says, meaningless comes not from being weary of pain, but from being weary of pleasure. He was always right. The greatest people have always been allowed to fail and pull themselves UP, which gave them a great intellect and understanding of Reality. Flourishing and happiness needs Virtue which comes from Wisdom (Knowledge of Truth)— the dignity of Work and private property and Virtues——and nanny states makes slaves of its people and kills virtue and destroys Truth/God.

The irrational Theocracy of muslims gives them their intrinsic meaning and they will breed the next generation for they do have “meaning” (an end game) for their lives.

Neitzsche understood Europe to a “T” when he stated “God is Dead” in second half of the 1800s. It just took awhile for the evil ideology to spread beyond Germany and infect all of Europe.

With removal of the transcendent-—you remove intrinsic worth of man. Life has absolutely no meaning-—just extrinsic meaning from the State and “things” like money, fame, etc, which is pretty meaningless in the end because it always tends to destroy Virtue.


9 posted on 10/20/2015 3:00:15 PM PDT by savagesusie (Right Reason According to Nature = Just Law)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind
Europe is dying because it has become morally incompetent. It isn’t that Europe stands for nothing. It’s that it stands for shallow things, shallowly. Europeans believe in human rights, tolerance, openness, peace, progress, the environment, pleasure. These beliefs are all very nice, but they are also secondary.

What Europeans no longer believe in are the things from which their beliefs spring: Judaism and Christianity; liberalism and the Enlightenment; martial pride and capability; capitalism and wealth.

And by the way, in case someone freaks out over the use of the term "liberalism", let me remind them that historically, the term "liberal" is opposed to those who embrace statism, monarchs, and other styles of overbearing governmental models. Only in the past 60 years or so has it taken on the clothing of the Democrat party.

10 posted on 10/20/2015 3:44:40 PM PDT by SoFloFreeper
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SoFloFreeper

“Classical liberalism” is usually the term here


11 posted on 10/20/2015 3:54:46 PM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Embrace the Lion of Judah and He will roar for you and teach you to roar too. See my page.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind
"Withdraw from Christendom the Bible, the Church with its sacraments and ministry, and Christian morality and hopes, and aspirations for time and eternity; repeal all the laws that are founded in the Christian Scriptures; remove the Christian humanities in the form of hospitals and asylums, and reformatories and institutions of mercy utterly unknown to unchristian countries; destroy the literature, the culture, the institutions of learning, the art, the refinement, the place of woman in her home and in society, which owe their origin and power to Christianity; blot out all faith in Divine Providence, love, and righteousness; turn back every believer in Christ to his former state; remove all thought or hope of the forgiveness of sins by a just but gracious God; erase the name of Christ from every register it sanctifies—in a word annihilate all the legitimate and logical effects of Christianity in Christendom—just accomplish in fact what multitudes of gifted and learned minds are wishing and trying to accomplish by their science, philosophy, and criticism, and what multitudes of the common people desire and seek, and not only would all progress toward and unto perfection cease, but not one of the shining lights of infidelity would shine much longer. Yes, the bitterest enemies of this holy and blessed religion, owe their ability to be enemies to its sacred revelations - to the inspiration and sublimity of that faith which reflects its glories on their hostile natures. They live in the strength of that which they would destroy. They are raised to their seats of opportunity and power by the grace of Him they would crucify afresh; and is it to be thought that they are stronger than that which gives them strength? Can it be supposed that a religion which civilizes and subdues, and elevates and blesses will succumb to the enmities it may arouse and quicken in its onward march? Are we to tremble for the ark of God when God is its upholder, and protector, and preserver?” - Dr. Benjaming W. Arnett, St. Paul A.M.E. Church, Urbana, Ohio, Centennial Thanksgiving Sermon, November 1876

12 posted on 10/20/2015 5:31:28 PM PDT by loveliberty2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Tax-chick; GregB; SumProVita; narses; bboop; SevenofNine; Ronaldus Magnus; tiki; Salvation; ...

Ping!


13 posted on 10/24/2015 9:29:21 AM PDT by NYer (Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy them. Mt 6:19)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind; NYer

I recommend reading this article: CHRISTIANS PERSECUTED BY MUSLIMS EVEN IN THE WEST — “Here we pray only to Allah.”
October 23, 2015 Raymond Ibrahim

It begins:
Last April, police in Sicily reported that Muslim migrants hurled as many as 53 Christians overboard during a crossing from Libya. The motive was that the victims “professed the Christian faith while the aggressors were Muslim.” Another report cited a boy seen praying to the Judeo-Christian God. Muslims commanded him to stop, saying “Here, we only pray to Allah.” Eventually the Muslims “went mad,” in the words of a witness, started screaming “Allahu Akbar!” and began hurling Christians into the sea.

It gets worse. When Christian refugees finally do make it to Western shores, they continue to be attacked by Muslims, or fellow “refugees.”

http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/260531/christians-persecuted-muslims-even-west-raymond-ibrahim


14 posted on 10/24/2015 9:41:49 AM PDT by GreyFriar (Spearhead - 3rd Armored Division 75-78 & 83-87)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Built on sand?


15 posted on 10/24/2015 9:59:59 AM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MarchonDC09122009

Got any guesses on what “the three words” are?


16 posted on 10/24/2015 1:07:22 PM PDT by DuncanWaring (The Lord uses the good ones; the bad ones use the Lord.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson