I just read an article about secularism and atheism in Europe. Religion and belief in God is not very popular amidst the native populations of western Europe these days. However, it’s still pretty popular amidst the Muslims, whose numbers are growing a lot faster than the natives. As far as the Catholics go, Pope Benedict is on a mission to “re-Christianize” Europe. I’m sure he’d like to get those heathen French and Belgian folk back into the old cathedrals, but it looks as though his new Euro-Christian army is going to be comprised mostly of African and South American immigrants. Like the Arabs and Turks, they also embrace the old-tyme religion and have a lot of babies.

So, it looks like the European scene is in for some conflict in the coming decades. If the script from the past is followed, the Christians and the Muslims will resort to violence in competing for the right to show the faithless the error of their ways. And the atheists will just write more books about the stupidity and hypocrisy of it all. But you never know – history does have its twists. Perhaps Benedict and the sheiks will find common cause in the campaign (dare I say “crusade”) against modern Godlessness in Europe. Perhaps they will unite in various political campaigns to outlaw abortion, women’s equality, stem-cell research and academic freedom. That will go a long way to cast Europe back into the middle ages.

I think it’s a terrible shame that the Catholic faith, which for a short time back in the 1960s seemed ready to make peace with the modern world, is now on a campaign to bring back the past. Obviously, I’d much rather see Rome engage the secularists instead of going head-to-head with them (just what we criticize the Islamics for doing). But the much-acclaimed Pope John Paul II wasn’t in the mood for accommodating the secularists, and they went their own way. Now his right-hand man is finishing the job. JP2 is still celebrated for helping to reclaim eastern Europe from Communism; but he also has to take the blame for losing western Europe to atheism. It happened on his watch. As with President Ronald Reagan, I think JP2 is over-rated. They were both very good at leadership; the fall of communism made it look as though they were leading in the right direction. But just because you avoid one dead end, doesn’t mean that you know the right way. In the end, both Ronnie and JP found other wrong directions to take their flocks.