Christian History
George Weigel, a Roman Catholic thinker, in a speech to the Foreign Policy Institute, has offered a challenging understanding of recent events in Eurpoe and their effect on the U.S. He suggests that rampant secularism (seen most recently in wiping from the proposed EU constitution any reference to a Christian past) has so demoralized the continent that it is suffering a sort of massive ennui that leaves militant Islam with a free pass to the future.
His is the first interpretation I have seen of the startling low birth rate in countries that once worried about over-population, notably Italy, France and Spain. So low, Weigel says, that the next generation will never know siblings, aunts or uncles. It is true, I believe, that the only reason the birth rate in our nation is above replacement level is due to recent immigrants, notably Hispanics. But they are hardly secularists.
Weigel argues, and I agree, that trying to eliminate the past is not only futile but emotionally depressing. And that relying solely on the Enlightenment, with its emphasis on denying the depths of spiritual richness to reality, robs life of an essential dimension. But there is nothing new about this debate.
What he fails to address is the role of the church in all this. The recent right turn of the Roman Catholic Church, demanding right belief and forbidding the clergy to join the struggle for justice in impoverished countries, has fit neatly with right wing American evangelica narrowness and meanness.
But he raises a good point and I take his point seriously. Deprived of spiritual quest presses down the human spirit. Whether that explains Europe's low birth rate is hard to say. But if the church is to lend to the relighting of hope and excitement in the old Christian west, and to serious challenge of militant Islam, she is going to have to risk loosing the reins on what is fair game for inquiry.
His is the first interpretation I have seen of the startling low birth rate in countries that once worried about over-population, notably Italy, France and Spain. So low, Weigel says, that the next generation will never know siblings, aunts or uncles. It is true, I believe, that the only reason the birth rate in our nation is above replacement level is due to recent immigrants, notably Hispanics. But they are hardly secularists.
Weigel argues, and I agree, that trying to eliminate the past is not only futile but emotionally depressing. And that relying solely on the Enlightenment, with its emphasis on denying the depths of spiritual richness to reality, robs life of an essential dimension. But there is nothing new about this debate.
What he fails to address is the role of the church in all this. The recent right turn of the Roman Catholic Church, demanding right belief and forbidding the clergy to join the struggle for justice in impoverished countries, has fit neatly with right wing American evangelica narrowness and meanness.
But he raises a good point and I take his point seriously. Deprived of spiritual quest presses down the human spirit. Whether that explains Europe's low birth rate is hard to say. But if the church is to lend to the relighting of hope and excitement in the old Christian west, and to serious challenge of militant Islam, she is going to have to risk loosing the reins on what is fair game for inquiry.
posted by Blayney at 4:46 AM
2 Comments:
The declining birthrate in most countries is due to future ECONOMIC malaise, even in countries with very strong socialist "cradle to grave" benefits. Russia is the most striking recent example. The EU is a close second and moving up fast.
Social and economic interdependence has shifted from the community of families to the socialist welfare state. Free will is stiffled. The future is beyond the individual's control.
Socialism erodes the Christian belief in the intrinsic value of every person and faith is lost - faith in God and faith in your neighbor.
I am suspicious of Roman Catholic theologians pontificating about population growth or lack of it.
I suspect that if given a hard hypthetical choice between (1) a declining population with a higher standard of living for all; and (2) a growing population with a lower standard of living for all, the Roman Catholic theologian will find reasons to opt for the second althernative.
I do not know the mind of God. But, if I were God, I would want humans to have the best life possible and I would want them to use the brains I gave them as well as their genitals.
Dwight Collin
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