EM: “Ratzinger was John Paul’s closest friend, collaborator, and confidant. In effect, he was longtime CEO to John Paul’s Chairman. Who better to take the helm of the world’s oldest organization?”
Commnent: To be accurate, Ratzinger was to Pope John Paul II his Minister of Internal Affairs, keeping Law&Order within the Church
EM: “The Church’s growth areas are Latin America and Africa, where ardent Catholics abound. The church’s main problems on both continents is the faith being mutated by local cults and customs.”
Commnent: True, Catholics abound in Latin America and Africa. But the situation is far from tranquil.
In Latin America, besides voodoo, macumba and condomblé, the big prblem comes from within Christianity, namely the dynamic and aggessive proselitism of North Amarican Evangelist Churches.
In Africa, it is close competition with Islam, which at the moment seems on the lead.
EM: “To paraphrase Frederick the Great: he who believes in everything, believes in nothing.”
Comment: I am not so sure about Frederick, but definitely G.K. Chesterton, at the beginning of the twentieth century, when Darwinism was becoming conevtional wisdom among educated people, and at the same time spiritualism and séances were the rage, was prompted to say that “when people cease believing in the Christian God, they don’t believe in nothing - they believe in everything
Posted by ilmagro at April 27, 2005 12:04 PM
Addendum
More recently Tom Robbins (“Even Cowgirls Get the Blues”), put it even more paradoxically and amusingly than Chesterton
I believe in nothing, everything is sacred.
I believe in everything, nothing is sacred.
Yes, Benedict XVI has got a really tough job!
Posted by ilmagro at April 27, 2005 12:11 PM
>Benedict is being warned by numerous anti-Muslim
>groups he must deal with the challenge of Islam.
>This is a red herring.
Margolis is an apologizer of most things Muslim so of course he’ll claim that this is a red herring. Those “anti-Muslim” groups are concerned about the historical identity of Europe, which is Christian (at least culturally). Muslims truly are a worry for the identity of Europe as there are many of them and they have prolific families. At least this is a worry to those Europeans who are not oblivious to where their respective peoples and cultures are heading. In Germany for example, Muslims constitute 5% of the total population, while 20% of births are from Muslim families. It is said that with their suicidal reproduction habits the German population will be down by over 2/3 in two generations. Of course some foreigners might like that. France and Britain both have larger Muslim populations who came from their respective colonies. It’s payback time. The French and the British owe their Muslim population big time.
>The real challenges to the Church comes from
>within its own ranks: liberalism(make
>our own rules locally) and relativism (there is
>no absolute truth). As John Paul made clear, it
>is not Islam that challenges Catholicism, but
>lack of spirituality, the rampant consumerism
>that has replaced faith; hedonism; the cult of
>selfish, instant self-satisfaction; and the
>foolish leftist dogma that men and women are
>intellectually and emotionally the same.
Very true.
>Ratzinger’s age is a concern; so are his
>previous references to Catholicism as the only
>true religion.
Almost all religions are mutually exclusive in their essential tenets. Those religions that teach that all religions are valid are non-sensical as some of the biggest religions (mainly the western religions of Judeo-Christianity and Islam) exclude all other faiths in their essential teachings.
chris
Posted by chris at April 29, 2005 12:10 AM
That is the fear among increasing numbers of Europeans nowadays, that their entire cultural-ethnic-religious identity is about to be lost. Europe’s cultural conservatives have every good reason to be concerned, not only about demographics but about higher crime rates in immigrant neighbourhoods. Simply blaming the Muslims as a group (which many are doing) is short-sighted and hysterical. It looks like Islam, in some form, will be the future for Europe. Perhaps we had all better learn to get used to it—Catholics, Protestants, Orthodox, Agnostics(like me)…everyone.
European History, (or at least, some part of an historical pattern), may yet repeat itself. In the Fourth Century AD, another multi-national European superstate cast aside their previously established religion in place of a more recent Mid-Eastern faith drawn from the Abrahamaic tradition. This occurred at the time when the Roman Empire was split in two, much as Europe today has a major gap between the prosperous West and the recovering East.
Here the comparison probably ends, since Rome adopted Christianity right around the time it’s fall was nearly complete and the so-called “barbarian” hordes were having their way with the carrion. Whereas, in many ways, now is the EU’s shining moment. Possibly the birth of a young superpower. I suppose Patrick Buchanan would say that fresh waves of barbarians are currently having their way with Europe’s (and America’s) social system, and will have the same effect as their Celtic and Germanic predecessors.
In some cases, like France and Britain, the comparison is even more apt, because the African and Near Eastern immigrant groups are either former colonial (ie., imperial) subjects, or descendants of same. I am as dismayed as anyone at the rising crime and violence taking place in cities like Paris and London. But I really have little time for xenophobic Euros, and their North American counterparts, with a short-sighted view of their own history. Where do you think so many Algerians and Morroccans developed their antipathy towards France?
If Europe finds it must continue to import hundreds of thousands of new immigrants from Islamic countries to sustain their standard of living, the possibility of some kind of Euro-Caliphate(for lack of a better word) coming into being, some decades down the line, becomes very real. In any event, if Europe were to “go Islamic,” why are so few conservatives willing to consider the positive outcomes that could arise from this development? Many of the problems Euro-skeptics point towards, such as low birthrates, breakdown of family structure and general morality, are to a large extent the direct result of their decades-long retreat from the Christian Church. Wouldn’t Islam be an answer to these problems? Short of a mass return of Europeans to Christianity, which is far less likely, we have to start considering the options.
After all, most people agree that fifteen hundred years ago, Rome finally paid the piper for years of decadence, neglect, concentration of power and and over-extension of empire. The old mythology and state-imposed pantheon just weren’t cutting it anymore for the divided Romans. While it is not fashionable to say it, the mass conversion to Christianity eventually brought Europe back into some sort of unity, which eventually led to it’s rebirth.
Living in Southern Ontario, I have known or come into contact with, many Muslims of varying nationalities and temperaments. There is something different about them, their commitment to hard work, family, and just general ethics are facts most people, even their critics, would accept as truths. I am not blind to their faults as a community; and I would say that the more forward-looking of them are also well aware. perhaps a hundred years from now, or sooner, they will constitute the establishment of the new Europe. I say that while it might not be to everyone’s liking, Europe could do far worse than to turn to Mecca. They have done worse, in fact. And a review of twentieth century history will confirm this.
Posted by kevin at May 2, 2005 09:44 PM
About high crime rates in Muslim neighborhoods in Europe, I felt utterly dejected by some blog comments made by one American Muslim woman currently living in the South of France:
“‘Jazak’allah khayrin sister for your comments…I have been thinking all day about what I would write here as a comment, I can go on and on all day about it since I’m here in France and watching ridiculously biased debates about this on TV again and again, and being treated time after time in an outright rude and discriminatory manner with no recourse. The mindset against hijab is incredibly deep-rooted. You can’t reason with these people, you just can’t. I’ve gone on antidepressants recently, and one of the major factors contributing to my depression is my experience as a hijabi in France…and I’m not even Arab. I could go on and on, really I could, I have so much to say about this subject I could fill up a whole website about it by myself, but I won’t. It just reinforces my bitterness and I want to stay on the Siratul Mustaqeem by remaining hate-free. I will say this: who do we have to thank for this situation? The list would be long, but high up on it would be the Maghreban immigrants who come here and inflict all kinds of jahiliyya abuses on their families in the name of Islam. Domestic violence, and other forms of oppression including forcing hijab on their women. The excuse for banning hijab is to “protect” those girls who are forced by their families to wear it. And they are forced in many cases, we have to admit it. Now obviously this isn’t an excuse for the government to come running to their rescue with passion and zeal, obviously they have ulterior motives. But so-called “Muslims” here are feeding the powers that be this excuse, they’re selling out honest Muslims by the quarter-kilo with their heedlessness of their religion. Look at the prison inmate lists…everyone’s named Muhammad, Bilal, Huceine, Karim. Go to the sections of town where all the Arabs live and smell the stench of urine, wade through the garbage in the streets, observe the dilapidated buildings…but hang on to your handbag or portable phone, and don’t dare park your car around there, because it’ll be stolen in the blink of an eye by one of your brothers (sisters?) in “faith”. All the gangs are Arab (with a smattering of Asian faces among them). Who are all those cuties wearing the barely-covering-the-pubic-region jeans and the babydoll tshirts trolling for gang members? They are named Fatima, Samira, Aicha… So when I’m asked “Why do they hate us?” that is what comes to mind. Where do you sort out a mess like this? Colonisation breeds economic disaster breeds jahiliyya breeds hatred for Muslims, reinforcing the “need” to control those savage Islamists…over and over again. It’s maddening to watch this happen. I wanna go home, ya Rabb. In the meantime…pass me my Prozac (and my hijab) please. I take small comfort in the fact that the government is paying for my meds. Fi amanillah Zafira’”
Posted by George Carty at May 3, 2005 12:38 PM