'Godless'? Hardly
'It is fashionable to claim that western civilization has outgrown religion. This confession of agnosticism, whether smug or contrite, is a fraud'
Conrad Black, National Post
Published: Saturday, January 20, 2007
canada.com
It is fashionable to consider that we are in a post- Christian era; that as a civilization we have outgrown religion. It has been a truism for decades that religion is in decline, and that the Roman Catholic Church is racked with dissension, starved of clergy and is becoming a mere consolation for the geriatric and the ignorant. Our Islamist enemies routinely revile the West as a godless pigsty of degeneracy and materialist corruption. Because our opinion-leading elites have, unlike most of the greatest cultural icons of the Victorian and Edwardian eras, renounced religion in most forms, this Islamist complaint is largely conceded by most of our cultural leaders, and considered by them a badge of honour.
But this confession of agnosticism, whether smug or contrite, is, in most respects, a fraud. The Roman Catholic Church has as many adherents as all the branches of Islam combined, and probably as many communicants; and they enjoy a higher standard of living and education and influence in all fields, except radical politics and oil production, than the Muslims. The Pope speaks for his co-religionists. What is the telephone number or address of the head of Islam?
When John Paul II died, almost two years ago, the Western media honoured him as a strong and brave (if quaint) man who had faced Nazi and Communist oppression and the ravages of age and illness, all with the same unwavering courage. But his Church was deemed to be in crisis and mortal decline, and infested by perverts. Three million people spontaneously came to Rome for his funeral, with no chance to see much of it, though then-cardinal Joseph Ratzinger held it in St. Peter's Square where more than 500,000 people could witness it. There were in the world twice as many people calling themselves Roman Catholics as there had been when he had become pope, 27 years before, and the ceremony was attended by 75 chiefs of state and heads of government, a higher total than the funerals of John F. Kennedy, Winston Churchill and Charles de Gaulle combined, (impressive ceremonies though those all were).
Agnostic media commentators point with delight to the alleged decline of the Church in Latin America, but this too, is largely a canard. The performance of the secular leaders throughout South and Central America has been inadequate. And the Church has risen to the challenge of oppressive governments and competitive evangelical recruitment such that it is now enjoying a substantial renaissance.
A widely publicized Latino- Barometro poll of 2005 revealed that 18% of Latin Americans trusted any of the political parties in their countries, 28% their national congresses, 38% private business, 42% trusted the military, and 43% trusted their national presidents. The Roman Catholic Church was trusted by 71%, including leftist-governed countries such as Venezuela (74%), and even Cuba, and including a representative sampling of non-Catholic opinion.
Left-wing "Liberation Theology" has collapsed and been rejected by everyone, laity and clergy. It was an import from Europe that did not put down roots. Evangelical Protestantism has been a spur to more comprehensive pastoral effort by the established church. As in other spheres, competition has been a benefit. The fact is that while Roman Catholicism was unchallenged in Latin America for 500 years, it was not really a Catholic continent. Foreign missionaries provided an inordinate percentage of the clergy and a vast number of local cults and indigenous practices were roughly absorbed and accepted under the Roman umbrella, with little change to pre-colonial practice. Rigorous organizations with serious purposes and structures of belief and work, like Opus Dei, Charismatic Renewal, Communion and Liberation, are now flourishing, and growing more quickly than their reasonably friendly Protestant rivals, like the Jesuits and the Capucines in the Counter-reformation. Even the quasi- Communist, President Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, while he persecutes the Church, speaks in Christian images.
There has been a religious decline in much of Europe, but then Europe itself is in decline, and the two trajectories are related. The only prominent public figure in Europe who has long sensibly emphasized the danger of Europe's demographic erosion and dechristianization is Pope Benedict XVI. The Islamic attempt to treat him like the Danish cartoonists failed, after he pointed out the lack of reciprocity in Christian generosity to Muslim minorities, in a speech in Regensburg six months ago. He regretted offending Muslim sensibilities, but retracted nothing and apologized for nothing.
Unless Europe really has a continental death wish, and is not merely suffering from reproductive and cultural dyspepsia, it will resuscitate its birth rate and stop trying to replace the unborn with unassimilated aliens. If Europe revives, the European churches, especially the premier Christian Church, will revive also.
The Roman Catholic Church is in excellent condition in most of English and Spanish-speaking North America. In much of Asia and Africa, the major Christian churches are growing steadily.
This does not mean that the Church leaders have vast secular influence, though the late Pope was instrumental in the collapse of Communismin Poland and Nicaragua, (where even the re-elected Sandinista President, Daniel Ortega, has instituted a startling series of pro-life measures). But it does mean that the Christian perspective is strong and widely embraced, and affronted with peril.
The separation of Church and State is a principle of every sophisticated Western society, and ostentation and fervour in religion, as in most other things, is broadly disliked in the West. However, no Westerner, whether religious practitioner or not, need endure the allegation from Islamist fanatics that ours is a godless and decadent society.
Our religious practice is a good deal more spontaneous, intellectually distinguished, and conducive to productive activity and general civility than all but the most unrepresentatively thoughtful versions of Islam. No Islamic leader has a fraction of the moral or intellectual credibility or mere market share of the Pope. Rome and all the West, secular and ecumenical, have seen off more serious challenges than this.
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