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The illusion of permanence is the curse of post-Christian civilization. Religious societies have a much greater sense of both past and future, as we did a century ago, when we spoke of death as joining “the great majority” in “the unseen world.” But if secularism’s starting point is that this is all there is, it’s no surprise that, consciously or not, they invest the here and now with far greater powers of endurance than it’s ever had. The idea that progressive Euro welfarism is the permanent resting place of human development was always foolish; we now know that it’s suicidally so.

It would be interesting to see Mr. Steyn debate the European future with our own Euro-optimists like Jeremy Rifkin and T.R. Reid. The image he paints here seems almost too grim to be true. He makes one mistake in simply projecting demographic trends linearly. (There's no way Yemen will have more people than Russia in 2050, whatever the current pop. growth rates are.) But other than that there's a lot to wonder about in the whole death-of-Europe scenario. I find that when I bring it up in class my European students just shake their heads in disbelief.

But its true - liberalism is literally a death culture. It lives in the past, coasts on in the present and is strangely unconcerned about tomorrow. That's not the underpinnings of a political philosophy that says something to what really matters. And the proponents of radical secularism offer only the easy dole, nihilism, and eventual extinction. Its not like they're all glowing with the bloom of fresh-scrubbed youth. They look more like Andrei Andropov-Ted Kennedy oldsters about to keel over. Its not even a lovely fantasy anymore. Like Ronald Reagan used to be fond of observing, "facts are stubborn things." Indeed.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)

<< .... when I bring it up in class my European students just shake their heads in disbelief. >>

Despite that it is increasingly more difficult by the minute to tell the same young Euro-peons [And offshore-satellite state Canadians, Brits, New Zealanders et al] male from female -- and that the simple math that their 1.4-children-per-Euro-peon-woman falls far short of the 2.1-children per Absolutely necessary to their survival.

The Brussels-based Neo-Soviet will not last 15 years and none of the Euro-peon-styled states 50. Holland will go first -- probably before the EU and already-doomed once-great-britain -- its natives producing only 1.8 offspring per woman -- within 50!

It would be interesting to see Mr. Steyn debate the European future with our own Euro-optimists like Jeremy Rifkin and T.R. Reid.

You're right. I enjoy reading Steyn's predictions of Europe's impending collapse nearly as much as I enjoy eating chocolate ice cream, but sometimes I wonder if it's too good to be true.

Is there anyone out there rebutting him? I mean directly. I know the Euro-optimists are out there making their case, but surely there's someone who's dealing specifically with Steyn's columns. It would be interesting to see what they have to say.