Mona Charen has a wonderful column on Europe's continued decline in church attendance and the outright rejection of Christianity in the capitals throughout Europe. Even worse, the declining birthrates in these nations are slowly evaporating the Christian character of these nations because they have to seek workers to replace the aging workers which result in a great inflow immigrants from Northern Africa, thus an introduction of a Islamic faith and culture. In the column, Charen points out that such a decline has sparked George Weigel to write a book called The Cube and Cathedral. Just look what Charen had to say about the book in her column:
Culture, Weigel argues, determines civilization. Without its distinctly Christian history, Europe would not be what it is. To cite just one example, Weigel recalls the 11th century "investiture" controversy between Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV and Pope Gregory VII. The pope won, and the victory established an important principle that would have profound consequences for the development of what would later be called "civil society." The principle established was that the state "would not occupy every inch of social space."If the people of Europe don't go back to their religious roots, the society as a whole will fall by the wayside. While we saw an outstanding display of religious devotion throughout Rome and Europe during Pope John Paul II's funeral, the general population has fallen prey to the alluring forces of secular humanism that has run roughshod over the great Churches of Europe. Even though Europe faces many problems, Weigel's devotion to the decline of Christianity and the rot of European culture is a good place to start in resuscitating this great nation.
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