Whatever the future holds, we need to understand that the economic collapse is not the main crisis which engulfs Europe. More significantly, we see the EU developing into the ever-tighter totalitarianism which was envisaged from its inception. The founding fathers of the EU never foresaw a democratic union. The founders of the project, such as Coundenhove-Kalergi and Jean Monnet, always assumed there would be government not by elected statesmen but by technocrats. This is indeed what we have seen recently in the appointment of such men to supreme power in Greece and Italy.
Of course, that's also why Greece and Italy are in trouble: the technocrats have been running those countries for the last few decades hand in hand with the political hacks, socialists and generals.
Our crisis is a spiritual crisis, a crisis of identity. The mistake of the secularists and the bien pensants who now control every aspect of our lives is to imagine that we can throw off our Christian identity and yet all the political liberties and other good social consequences we derive from that identity will remain in place.
But this creeping totalitarianism is not the root of our problem. Our crisis is a spiritual crisis, a crisis of identity. As the philosopher and former President of the Italian Senate, Professor Marcello Pera said, "Christianity is so consubstantial with the West, that any surrender on its part would have devastating consequences."
But all references to Europe's Christian character have been expunged by the EU bureaucrats. Europe is now officially secular. Pope Benedict XVI identified our real crisis with terrifying clarity:
"The EU is godless. But then it is unthinkable that the EU could build a common European house while ignoring Europe's identity. Europe is a historical, cultural and moral identity before it is a geographic, economic or political reality. It is an identity built on a set of values which Christianity played a part in moulding."
A church in every village. A cathedral in every city. The glorious traditions of European music and literature. The political freedoms of which we are rightly proud. All these were products of Christian civilisation.
The mistake of the secularists and the bien pensants who now control every aspect of our lives is to imagine that we can throw off our Christian identity and yet all the political liberties and other good social consequences we derive from that identity will remain in place.
#3
1631: "We killed God at Magdeburg" - apocryphal quote from the Thirty Years War, appeared in the movie "The Last Valley". It went from bad to worse after that.
Europe gave up the ghost by 1918.
#5
Such pessimism. Why not just stretch your necks out over the chopping block and get it over with?
Silly me. I'd rather go to church. Try it some time. You might like it. You meet nice people there. You hear good music. You see colorful stained glass windows. You hear interesting Bible stories. In some churches you might even smell incense. It's not so bad, you know. Remember when you were a kid and your mother took you there? OK. Maybe you didn't like the little suit she made you wear. They're a little more relaxed these days. Drop a few bucks in the plate when it comes around. You can spare it. And there will still be time after church to watch football.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
