Notre Dame: An Omen

Townhall.com ^ | April 16, 2019 | Dennis Prager

[Kaslin]

The symbolism of the burning of Notre Dame Cathedral, the most renowned building in Western civilization, the iconic symbol of Western Christendom, is hard to miss.

It is as if God Himself wanted to warn us in the most unmistakable way that Western Christianity is burning -- and with it, Western civilization.

Every major Western (and one major non-Western) social and intellectual force has conspired to rid Europe of Christianity and the civilization it produced.

Within the Western world, the French Enlightenment -- the intellectual basis of the French Revolution and the modern West -- sought to replace Christianity, and religion in general, with secularism rooted in reason. No God, Bible or Ten Commandments is necessary for morality or meaning: reason (and science) will replace them.

The two final deathblows to Christianity in Europe were the world wars. World War I ended most Westerners' belief in the nation-state and the West. Christianity, already weakened by the Enlightenment, was further weakened by World War I. German Christians were killing millions of French and English Christians, and French and English Christians were killing millions of German Christians. So the argument and sentiment against Christianity went. Then World War II saw even more death on the Christian continent as well as the failure of Catholic and Protestant churches in Nazi Germany to offer even minimal noncompliance with the Nazis' Jew-hatred.

With the end of World War II, every internal Western intellectual doctrine was secular. God, the Bible and religion were regarded at best as innocuous nonsense and at worst as noxious nonsense.

Meanwhile, Europeans brought a non-European ideology into Europe, an ideology that, for more than a thousand years, sought to replace Christianity as the world's dominant religion. The Europeans, believing in nothing distinctly Christian or Western and believing in the moral and intellectual nonsense known as "multiculturalism" -- a doctrine that asserts that all cultures are morally equivalent -- saw nothing problematic in bringing millions of Muslims into Europe. They had no idea that most of these people actually wanted to replace Christianity with their religion. They had no idea because, in their ignorance and arrogance, they assumed that because they were secular multiculturalists, everybody else was, too -- or would be, once they lived in Europe.

They were wrong, of course. And as a result, the two dominant forces in Europe -- secular leftism and Islamism -- sought the end of Christianity and the West. (The left believes that protecting Western civilization is equivalent to protecting white supremacy.)

This is not producing a pretty picture. Generally speaking, Islam has not been nearly as kind, tolerant, open, medically or scientifically innovative or intellectually curious as Western civilization (and yes, Nazism and communism were born in the West, but they were anti-Western).

Even without tens of millions of Muslims, post-Christian Europe has not produced a pretty picture. This was predicted in 1834, 100 years before Hitler's rise, by the great German poet Heinrich Heine, a secular Jew (who later converted to Protestantism, "the ticket of admission into European culture"):

"Christianity -- and that is its greatest merit -- has somewhat mitigated that brutal German love of war, but it could not destroy it. Should that subduing talisman, the cross, be shattered, the frenzied madness of the ancient warriors, that insane Berserk rage of which Nordic bards have spoken and sung so often, will once more burst into flame. This talisman (the cross) is fragile, and the day will come when it will collapse miserably. Then ... a play will be performed in Germany which will make the French Revolution look like an innocent idyll."

European Christians persecuted European Jews, often brutally. But it took a post-Christian ideology, secular Nazism, to produce Auschwitz -- just as it took post-Christian communism to produce the Gulag, the Chinese Cultural Revolution and the Ukrainian and Cambodian genocides.

Moreover, Nazism and communism aside, the left's belief that secular reason can replace God and the Bible turns out to be completely wrong. The alleged citadels of secular reason -- the universities -- are the most irrational and morally confused institutions in the West.

I don't know if a worker accident or a radical Muslim set fire to Notre Dame Cathedral (as they have scores of other churches around Europe). In terms of what the fire represented, it doesn't much matter. What matters is the omen: Europe is burning, just as Notre Dame was.

[preacher]

L8r

[equaviator]

If it was just an accident, how symbolic of anything is it other than gross negligence and incompetence?

[Telepathic Intruder]

Does God feel he needs to warn us now? He’s been warning us for 3,000 years.

[Nateman]

The foes of religion, and Christianity in particular, fail to take into account all the good that it has done. The practical end of slavery and cruel and unusual punishments for example. That will go up in smoke as well if Islam is victorious

[no-to-illegals]

France has begun a criminal investigation of the fire according to new info

[grania]

How many more warnings and last chances is Our Creator going to send?

[jazzlite]

It is time for all true Christian believers to throw off all secularism which does not agree with the Holy Scriptures and to be bold in proclaiming and living their faith in every respect. Sadly, it is true that our colleges and universities are the most dysfunctional institutions we have and are on the front line in promoting irrationality and madness to the next generations. They have evolved into mental illness and are applauded for it in the media which is not far behind in the cultural degradation. May God make known His will for these terrible times which are infecting the entire world. The first order of Christian business is prayer for our nation and the world. Notre Dame did not just belong to Paris. It belonged to Christian humanity. May it’s ashes bring renewal of our faith which is the only thing which can reveal our sin so that we can repent and once again love others as we love ourselves.

[ShadowAce]

He’s been warning us for 3,000 years.

Yes, and He will continue to warn us.

And the warnings will get worse.

[infool7]

Will this event become a fire in the pants of luke warm Christians this Holy Week or will everyone just go through the motions and overlook the grave state of the Church and Christendom?

May the Holy Spirit enkindlle the fire for true faith in each of our hearts and may we be united in that burning faith with love for each other.

Amen

7

[Desron13]

"The symbolism of the burning of Notre Dame Cathedral, the most renowned building in Western civilization, the iconic symbol of Western Christendom, is hard to miss."

Nope, good riddance! It was built by white, mostly straight, patriarchal, homophobic, transphobic, racist, men of white privilege. Now that it's gone the people of fluid sexuality and relativistic values can get on with transforming the world into their private little Hell of victim-hood hierarchies.

[melsec]

Everything is an opportunity. I pray for those in Europe not to see their faith as something historical and tied to buildings and art as lovely as tbose things are. I would hope rather than an omen people would see this as a reminder or warning that faith is a living thing and that we all need to a have that living faith in and through Christ Jesus. We cant rely on what went before. Jesus said to the his contemporaries that if they did not acknowledge him that the very rocks would cry out. May the stones of Notre Dame cry out that Jesus is Lord and the God give the French ears to hear.

[Pete Dovgan]

The author almost gets it right. He needs to say it more simply. “Without Christianity Germanic peoples (Caucasians) have resorted to almost unimaginable brutality and warfare. Specific instances are easily identified historically. These include, but are not limited to genocides, conquest, slavery, and events such as mass torture and murder like Vladimir the Impaler”

People don’t get it. The history of Islam is unmistakable, this process of attacks upon civilization and Christianity will not stop. Eventually, out of frustration there will be retribution (see Serbia and Bosnia). However, when enough has been destroyed no one will be able to ‘save the muslims’ or stem the violent tide.

These events can only lead to an awakening of the ‘inner Viking’, a regression to the dark ages, and unspeakable horrors. They do not really understand the consequences of their actions, because they believe that Christianity has made them ‘weak’.

Sometimes the best way for people to coexist is to be separated enough to rationally consider the other. Forced integration is here, let’s hope that the dark ages don’t return with it.

[Rumplemeyer]

Dennis speaks the truth, by will these arrogant fools see it?

[unread]

"The left believes that protecting Western civilization is equivalent to protecting white supremacy."

BINGO..! The perverbial nail has been struck on it's proverbial head....

[Road Warrior ‘04]

How long did you think it would take for this kind of thing to happen after being (allowed & encouraged) overrun and taken over by non-Christians? (Muslims) This isn’t the first salvo! But, it’s the biggest! And, not the last!

[Republicanprofessor]

I hope there is a “resistance” in Europe. I would love to see candles and ceremonies held around Notre Dame on Good Friday and Easter, regardless of its ruin, by many more people than would probably have gone to Easter Mass. A ring of light around the cathedral.

I am pleased that it is not totally devastated. They need to rebuild, and more quickly than NYC did after 9/11.

It is really a strain on credibility to have such a disaster as an “accident” the day after Palm Sunday.

[Bigg Red]

Amen

[Campion]

Weather permitting, they should have Easter Mass in the square in front of the Cathedral. Let the world know that ND is, and will remain, a Catholic Christian house of worship.

[nathanbedford]

I don't know if a worker accident or a radical Muslim set fire to Notre Dame Cathedral (as they have scores of other churches around Europe). In terms of what the fire represented, it doesn't much matter. What matters is the omen: Europe is burning, just as Notre Dame was.

Just as we do not want to let the perfect be the enemy of the good so we should not want to let the long-term necessarily be the enemy of the shorter-term, especially when the short term presents the more emergent and acute problem.

So I disagree with Dennis Prager, a venture which should give anyone pause especially when done publicly. I think it is necessary to determine:

1. The cause of the fire.

2. The extent of the damage.

3. The feasibility and cost of rebuilding.

4. If the fire was caused by Islamic terrorists, what does it tell us about the mentality of jihad, what implications should that have for immigration policy, integration policy, and defense of the public? What does it tell us about Islam?

5. Why and what does the grave damage to Notre Dame imply about the state of Christianity, its culture in France, in Europe, and in the West, quite apart from the cause of the fire?