Fr Anthony Paganoni, Scalabrinian, continues with the last in this series for The Record, this week reflecting on what, if any, future the Church has in Europe and why this is important for us.
Islam: on the doorstep of Europe.
By Fr Anthony Paganoni
Many in Europe today worry that it is no longer an idle question to ask whether the rapid pace of de-Christianisation will push Europe towards mutating itself into Eurabia, as the famous Italian writer, Oriana Fallaci, has anticipated. As Libya’s President Gaddafi states: There are signs that Allah will grant Islam victory in Europe without swords, without guns, without conquests.
The 50 million (allegedly) Muslims in Europe will turn it into a Muslim continent within a few decades. These predictions are not entirely without foundation. In Amsterdam, close to 40 per cent of births are Muslims and in Milan just over 20 per cent.
Michael Novak and George Weigel, two outstanding and informative writers, predict a cultural meltdown: The Western culture against which it has declared holy war cannot possibly match the capacity of traditional Muslim societies when it comes to reproduction. Without children, the idea of posterity, for example, will have little relevance or meaning.
There are other forces eating away at Europe’s resolve and none of it is more intentional and pervasive than the secular liberal hostility to Christianity. Back in 1914, Chesterton in his fantasy novel The Flying Inn describes Islam overrunning England.
In the same novel, Chesterton is making the point that secularism is itself a form of rigid religion with an intolerant outlook and, as such, paves the way for authoritarianism.
The secular hostility in Europe represents the reigning orthodoxy of Europe, even if it is not confined to Europe. While politically Europe’s politicians may be very wary of the Islamist presence in their midst, I feel inclined to believe that secularists would prefer to make their peace with Islam than with the new Christians. Two major forces are contending today for Europe’s soul: radical Islam and the new Christianity.
Islam and its radical moves, resulting in the slaying of several writers and film-makers, has ratcheted the governments into a high security posture, while Christianity seems to be offending Europe’s intellectual elite and their cultivated sensibilities and secular convictions. I should add that the head-on confrontations with the radical Islam have forced some of the mainstream secular-minded Europeans to just ask what their values are based on, forcing them to reconsider also the claims of Christianity.
Astonishing his admirers, the revered Leftist philosopher Jurgen Habermas has proclaimed that Christianity, and nothing else, is the ultimate foundation of liberty, conscience, human rights and democracy, the benchmarks of western civilisation. We continue to nourish ourselves from this source. Everything else is postmodern chatter.
A German Bishop, Jobst Schone, has remarked, Perhaps God is using the Muslims to bang our heads together. Or in a much more optimistic mood, even if worded in financial terms, Odon Valet remarks, If you are the type of person who buys stocks and bonds, I’d buy Christianity. The price is now very low … it has to go up.