THE UNITY OF THE ABRAHAMIC:

The New Crusade: Fighting for God in a secular Europe, conservative Christians, the Vatican and Islamic militants find a common cause (Carla Power, 11/08/04, Newsweek)

For Europe, the clash of civilizations is less between "Islam" and "the West" than between muscular religiosity and militant secularism. With the collapse of communism, Europe's religious conservatives—Catholic or Muslim—now see secularism as their chief enemy. To the naked eye, the secularists appear to have won. Western European pews are empty. Church membership is plummeting. Families are shrinking, breaking up and evolving as parliaments pass laws to pave the way for gay marriages. Fantasies of a Christian Europe have been dealt a blow by surging immigration and the EU's nod to Turkish accession earlier this month; the religious vigor of many of Europe's 30 million-odd Muslims stands in marked contrast to the apathy of the Christian flock. Writes Catholic theologian George Weigel: "European man has convinced himself that in order to be modern and free, he must be radically secular."

But Europe's religionists are fighting back. In the vanguard is the Catholic Church, emboldened by conservatives from new member states like Poland, Slovakia and Malta. It's even trying to forge new alliances with Muslims and moderate secularists, arguing that Europe, in moral crisis, must embrace a new ethics founded in "natural law"—or, as one of Cardinal Ratzinger's aides puts it, "find common ethical norms to save democracy and the weak from the whims of the powerful."

Where it once shunned grubby politicking in Brussels, the church is now lobbying for more formal rights with European institutions. Religious conservatives lost the skirmish over God in the Constitution, but they may have won a larger victory. Embedded in the document is Article 51, allowing churches an "open, transparent and regular dialogue" with the European Union. Church members say that's merely democracy in action. Moderate Catholics and secularists fear the clause will give the church undue influence over European legislation.

Major fights are shaping up. They begin with abortion and reproductive rights. EU positions on family planning have been traditionally progressive: in 2002, when George W. Bush cut aid for the United Nations Population Fund on the ground that it supported coercive abortions in China, the EU stepped in with 32 million euros. But conservative M.E.P.s have since stepped up campaigns to limit spending on sexual and reproductive health overseas. Two years ago, when the European Parliament was planning its new strategy, a conservative voting bloc managed to slash a proposed 20 million euros budget for overseas family- planning aid by nearly a third. Just last week, during debates for the 2005 budget, conservative members tried to block funding for groups overseas that perform abortions. "It used to be that we could ignore the ultraconservatives," says Belgian Socialist M.E.P. Anne Van Lancker. "They're not strong in numbers, but if they make alliances [with the more traditional lawmakers] they can become very powerful."

The most emotive issue is gay marriage. Dutch and Belgian homosexuals already have the right to marry, and many countries recognize civil unions. Even such traditional church allies as Spain are following suit. Earlier this month, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero's Socialist government announced that it would legalize same-sex marriages and adoption by gay couples. Restrictions on divorce, abortion and stem-cell research will also be eased, along with rules making religious education mandatory. The bishop of Avila, Jesús Garcia Buríllo, called the reforms "a violent cultural earthquake."

In the face of all this, Christian conservatives are rallying their troops. The Vatican has sent numerous delegations to Spain to try to block the gay-rights move. Last week, releasing its annual policy handbook, the Vatican reiterated its belief that "no power can abolish the natural right to marriage or modify its traits and purpose." Earlier this year the Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Community, an influential liaison group in Brussels, vowed to promote "family policies" that aim to make the EU "the most family-oriented region in the world by 2010."

Traditionalists are looking to the new East European countries such as Poland for help.

The reality is that we'll have more in common with the coming Islamic Europe than we do with the current secular Europe.

Posted by Orrin Judd at November 6, 2004 11:27 AM