European decline

Interesting commentary on secular Europe and its evolution away from freedom:

Here is Weigel: 'Christianity taught European man his own dignity' and 'a proper respect for individuality.' It can hardly have been otherwise. Christianity values the individual. The state doesn't. Answer: Restrain the state; make it respect individual dignity. John Paul II's assertion of that truth helped undermine communism. All of a sudden the pope's fellow Poles weren't just cogs in a vast machine. They were images of their creator with dignity and rights. Evil could no longer face them down. They faced it down.

There is certainly some truth to that. Some of Europe's leaders would do well to remember it.

Unfortunately, Europe's biggest faith is in a proven falsehood: the power of the state to make everything right.

They are in for a rude awakening: the state has no morality of its own.

Is there any hope for Europe?
- posted by total @ 6/08/2005 04:34:00 AM .