(DOWNLOAD) "Conservatism, Christianity, And the Revitalization of Europe (In DEFENSE OF OLD Europe) (Essay)" by Modern Age " Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Conservatism, Christianity, And the Revitalization of Europe (In DEFENSE OF OLD Europe) (Essay)
- Author : Modern Age
- Release Date : January 22, 2007
- Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines,Books,Professional & Technical,Education,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 198 KB
Description
We live in a secular, by which I do not mean a neutral, society. No society can be neutral with respect to religion, for public appeal either may or may not be made to religious principles. If--in the Western world--all discussion must be limited to maxims drawn from non-Christian sources, secularism is enthroned. There was a time when one could say--and Hilaire Belloc did say--"the Faith is Europe and Europe is the Faith." That time is no more, for the acids of modernity have done their work--the churches, not to mention the souls of men, are empty. And that is not all; no public acknowledgment can now be made of Christianity's historical importance. During the debate leading up to the drafting of a constitution for the European Union, those opposed to any mention of Christianity constituted a majority. Former French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing, who presided over the constitutional convention, left no one in doubt that "Europeans live in a purely secular political system, where religion does not play an important role." (1) At the recent celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome, the first step on the road to a unified Europe, the European Union again refused to recognize Europe's Christian heritage, although German Chancellor Angela Merkel did opine that it would be permissible for people to express their personal views of the matter--as long, apparently, as they did not raise their voices in public. To do so might disorient a population that, however well programmed, remains discontented--this to the utter bewilderment of Washington Post columnist Anne Applebaum, who reports that the last half century witnessed a rise in living standards, improvements in health, and longer life expectancy. What, then, could be wrong?