Saturday, August 27th, 2005
Pessimistic Pope sees Europe as unique in its drift from
God
Pope Benedict XVI gestures on top of a hill at Marienfeld, a former
coal mine, near Cologne, western Germany, during a mass Sunday,
Aug. 21, the final day of the 2005 World Youth Day. (Associated
Press)
The rather pessimistic cultural outlook of Roman Catholic Pope
Benedict XVI comes into sharp focus in an address the former Joseph
Cardinal Ratzinger delivered a day before predecessor John Paul II
died.
The speech, translated into English and posted on the Internet by
zenit.org, says Europe has excluded God from the public
conscience in a manner unknown before now to humanity,
radically contradicting Christianity and all other religious and
moral traditions.
Like John Paul, Benedict is distressed that the now-moribund
European Union constitution deleted mention of the continents
Christian heritage, though its a historical fact that no one can
seriously deny.
Benedict says mention of Christianity wouldnt offend Jews, who
share the continents biblical heritage, or Muslims, who do not
feel threatened by our Christian moral foundations, but by the
cynicism of a secularized culture.
In an aside, Benedict says terrorism is based on modern secular
modes of mans self-authorization, and not on the teachings of
the Quran.
Whats the impact when the biblical God is relegated to the
past?
Benedict endorses many good results of the Enlightenment, that
period when Europe began straying from medieval Christian roots,
including freedom of religious choice, the religious
neutrality of the state and democracy. But he warns that many
dangers lurk when culture forsakes faith and morality.
He believes campaigns against discrimination are turning into
attempts to limit churches freedom, for instance, to morally
oppose homosexual activity or limit the clergy to males. More
generally, he thinks the culture seeks to suppress influences
stemming from religion.
A confused ideology of freedom leads to dogmatism, which is
showing itself increasingly hostile to freedom, he says.
The Pope believes that exclusion of God leads to the
self-destruction of freedom and severs the roots that nourish
morality and human decency, leading ultimately to contempt for
man.
In particular, he thinks the gravest danger of our time is that
development of science and technology has not been matched by the
moral strength which is the precondition for the security, freedom
and dignity everyone yearns for.
Humanity has reached a point of biological self-manipulation
and reconstruction, making the person no longer a gift of the
Creator but a product of our action with traits selected
according to various desires.
Instead of bearing the image of God, the manufactured human is no
more than the image of man.
He concludes, The attempt, carried to the extreme, to manage
human affairs disdaining God completely leads us increasingly to
the edge of the abyss, to mans ever greater isolation from
reality.
What happened to Europe? Benedict doesnt theorize but a USA Today
survey of Europes secularization said unprecedented affluence
could be one reason for secularization.
But then, how to explain the wealthy but devout United States,
which isnt examined in Benedicts speech?
USA Today said one consequence of religions decline is a dearth of
children, but that could just as easily be a cause of
secularization.
Since U.S. history is so different, one useful factor could be
Europes past warfare between Christians and its church-state
entanglements which Benedict says violated the faiths true
nature.
In Swedens World Values Survey of 2000, only 18 per cent of
Americans said they never or practically never attend
worship, compared with these percentages for Europeans: France
(60), Britain (55), Netherlands (4
, Belgium (46), Sweden (46), Denmark (43), Norway (42),
Spain (33) and West Germany (30). Canada leans toward Europe, at 26
per cent. Most percentages increased since a parallel survey in
1981.
Most observers think the problem is most acute in western Europe,
noting Christianitys strength in Poland, Russia and Ukraine.
USA Today said the need to revive European Catholicism was among
the main reasons the cardinals chose Germanys Benedict as Pope.
Thats debatable, but theres no doubt Europes plight is much on
the new
