Meeting the Islamic challenge in Europe

The dilemma in today's Europe between tolerance and the preservation of identify needs to be resolved in terms of a Christian revival in Europe that is marked by both tolerance toward Islam and a firm grip on its own philosophical foundations.

A number of readers of World Peace Herald suggested in their comments to the article that the problem was Europeans' tolerance in the face of intolerance. The apparent implication is that tolerance should be reserved for the tolerant.

In other words: "Do unto others as they do unto you." (Wait, was that what Jesus taught?)

Europe's problem is not too much tolerance. Europe's problem is that it has created for itself a spiritual vacuum that lies vulnerable to a religion, such as Islam, that has a strong belief system and followers who are committed to the traditional Islamic way of life.

De Borchgrave says Islamic fundamentalists are finding "willing partners among leftist radicals who never got over the end of the Cold War." This is not surprising, since leftist radicals have rejected the traditional Judeo-Christian tradition of Europe. They put their faith in Communism, but that, too, has failed them. They would be natural partners for Muslims looking to transplant their way of life in a new continent.

Requiring that immigrants adopt the culture of their new homeland is not likely to work. Why should they adopt a secular and materialistic system in favor what they feel is a much stronger spiritual system.

For Europe, there is only one answer, and that is to find its way back to its Christian roots. This will not make it more intolerant of Islam. Instead, it will give it a foundation on which to absorb Muslims through a natural process of voluntary assimilation.

Tolerance and the loss of identity

Arnaud de Borchgrave has written an article about a trend in Europe toward a "Muslim parallel society" that deserves careful reading and thought. You can click on the link above to read the entire article, or read my excerpts below:

From the British city of Leeds to Livorno in Italy and from Luxembourg to Ljubljana in Slovenia, multiculturalism is pretty much a bust. Quicksand is the only common ground between Western values and militant Muslim fundamentalism. But some Islamist extremists have found willing partners among leftist radicals who never got over the end of the Cold War -- and jump at any opportunity to rumble against whatever government is in power.

He continues:

Zero tolerance for intolerance has gone the way of the Dodo. Now, misguided tolerance has spawned liberal opinions that categorize Muslim honor killings as manslaughter, not murder. Some Islamic experts in German universities are already asking whether Sharia law, or Islamic law, is gradually infecting German law.

. . .

The European cult of appeasement has given free rein to radical imams whose only goal is to Islamicize Christian Europe. The terrain is fertile. Only 20 percent of Europe's Christians attend church services on Sunday, but mosques are packed with worshippers on Fridays, where sermons are political paeans to the courageous jihadis in Iraq and Afghanistan.

. . .

German city skylines are sprouting minarets, and irate citizens in several cities have petitioned for a halt to the muezzins' 5 a.m. call to prayers, which wakes up the neighborhood an hour before citizens normally get up to go to work. But judges decreed that since church bells are legal, the muezzins' wailing chants are too.

. . .

The European Union's 27 member countries now house some 20 million Muslims, which is expected to double in less than 20 years. No one is more alarmed about current trends than Pope Benedict, who said recently, "Unfortunately, one must note that Europe seems to be traveling along a road that could lead to its disappearance from history."

In a remarkable piece of research and analysis, Russell Shorto, who covers religion for the New York Times Sunday magazine, wrote that the pope's speech last September "that caromed around the world and caused protests in the Middle East and attacks on Christian churches (there) for seeming to say that Islam is a religion of violence, marked a homecoming, albeit an incendiary one." The pontiff's main target is still the spiritual apathy of Europeans.

As Germany's Cardinal Ratzinger, he co-authored a book titled "Without Borders," which pilloried Europe's secular dogma that stripped Europe of its soul: "Not only are we no longer Christian; we're anti-Christian. So we don't know who we are."

Der Spiegel quotes Berlin attorney Seyran Ates: "We are at a crossroads, everywhere in Europe. Do we allow structures that lead straight into a parallel society, or do we demand assimilation into the democratic constitutional state?" The European Union switchboard in Brussels finally located someone who said no such question had been posed to the European Commission.

This post is already longer than it should be, so I will begin a separate post to give my own comments.