January 2004
Europe's Militant Secularism Is a Bigger Threat to Western Civilization Than America's Religious Revival

In many European countries, churches fill up only on Christmas day; Europeans are so thoroughly secularized that clerics regularly question the existence of God.  In America, on the other hand, politicians habitually invoke the Almighty, and religious inspiration continues to play an important role in public life. Which of these models serves Western civilization and which threatens it? On January 20, the New Atlantic Initiative organized a debate between Janne Haaland Matlary, one of Europe's most prominent Catholic philosophers, and the journalist Christopher Hitchens, a self-proclaimed atheist.

Janne Haaland Matlary
University of Oslo

Janne Haaland Matlary

Western civilization was defined by the Judeo-Christian tradition. On the surface it retains that legacy. Many European countries still have state-churches and some of them even require public schools to have crucifixes. The majority of the Europeans continue to declare themselves to be of Christian faith. However, these are just symbols-the Christian content is missing. There is a strong trend in Europe towards privatizing Christianity. Regular mass attendance in Catholic countries such as Italy and Spain is down to about 10 percent. With time even the symbols will disappear.  

Due to this process the consensus as to what it means to be human is breaking down. There should not be any contradiction between reason and faith regarding what the human being is. Both share a belief in natural law, which is reflected in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But in Europe issues which used to be self-evident are now relativized-concerns like abortion, euthanasia and family values. Reason, like faith, is unpopular and undemocratic. European societies are going further than being secular-they are becoming nihilistic. 

In addition, the growing number of Muslim fundamentalists in Europe misuse religious freedom and thus threaten western civilization. While not allowing Christians to practice their religion freely in Islamic states, Muslims in Europe demand ever more rights for themselves. This is particularly evident in the current discussion about the head-scarfs. Western civilization will survive only when we respect natural law and revive our societies' interest in Christianity. The rightful doctrine of the separation of church and state is not about banning Christianity from the public sphere. That would contradict Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that everyone has the right to publicly "manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance."

Christopher Hitchens
Journalist

God does not exist and we are better off without him. Life in this world and the next with God

Christopher Hitchens

watching our every move would resemble permanent residency in North Korea, where people are also under total surveillance. Religion makes our lives more difficult. A good example of the destructive power of faith is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In theory that problem should be simple to solve: the land should be divided amongst the two peoples. But religion makes it insoluble. The Middle East does not need religion. What it needs is more atheism.  

The United States is a secular state. America is the only country founded on documents, and the Constitution does not mention God. Recently American soldiers intervened in foreign lands to stop religious conflicts. This was the case in Bosnia, Afghanistan, Kosovo, and Iraq. No political party in the United States would dare call itself Christian Democratic-America is the only country that welcomes any religion or race. It is inconceivable for the president to be the head of a church, as in England. America needs to maintain this secularism if it wants to be credible in the world.

The Muslim fundamentalist threat to our civilization is real. We are in a clash of civilizations. But we should not try to convert Muslims to Christianity because that would fail. We should ally with those Muslims who fight Islamic extremism, to convince Muslims who live amongst us that a secular state is the best option for everyone. Our survival depends on secularism.