Moral Breakdown Can Lead to Islamic Takeover

This post is from, Dr. Christine A. Mugridge, a friend in Rome working on various communication projects for the Catholic Church.

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I saw this article and felt it was important enough to share - perhaps it will give us insight into how far Europe is falling into its post-Christian troubles. I feel that the Netherlands are like the "canary in the tunnel" for us ... We in the US talk about tolerance and dialogue for example on our Catholic campuses - we have a false understanding of dialogue altogether. A sad example of this point is the Notre Dame president's insistence on allowing the play "The V Monologues" on campus. This is not dialogue properly understood. The Holy Father in Rome is engaged in active dialogue and scientific/theological reflection. Yet, I can't imagine the Vatican allowing a "gay club" or allowing the performance of such a play on its premises in the name of "diversity and dialogue". The issue of political "tolerance" today is too often a catch-all word to allow the legalization of immorality. As we can see from the prophetic writings of P.Paul VI in Humanae Vitae - immorality is a slippery slope which leads society to further falling into a degraded state of life, contrary to the dignity of the human person made in the image and likeness of God.

Many countries in Europe have a history of religious persecution against Christianity, against the Catholic Faith. Now, that faith is asleep and a rise of a false notion of "freedom" has dominated society and a cultural take-over of a society in a "post-Christian era" has happened already. But, peoples' hearts long for the Truth and religious definition. If the Church doesn't fulfill this need as is her mandate by Christ - there are other religious groups that long to capitalize on it. The murder of the screenwriter in the Netherlands shows us that these groups are not playing around. We need to pay attention to the downward spiral of the a-moral cultural trends circulating the world. The key point here in this article is that a Cardinal is speaking so bluntly about the topic. He's in the thick of things - he should know!

Dutch Cardinal: Moral Breakdown Has Left Holland Open to Islamic Takeover [UTRECHT, The Netherlands] November 18, 2004 (CWNews.com)

Cardinal Adrianis Simonis of Utrecht believes that the "spiritual vacuity" of Dutch society has left the Netherlands open to an Islamic cultural takeover.

"Today we have discovered that we are disarmed in the face of the Islamic danger," the cardinal told the Italian daily Avvenir. He pointed out that even some young people who were born and raised in the Netherlands have become militant Muslims. The rise of Islam, Cardinal Simonis said, is related to "the spectacle of extreme moral decadence and spiritual decline that we offer" to young people.

"Nowadays political leaders ask whether the Muslims will accept our values," the Dutch cardinal observed. "I ask, 'What values are those? Gay marriage? Euthanasia?'"

If those are the reigning moral principles on which today's society is built, Cardinal Simonis continued, he rejects them as emphatically as Islamic leaders.

The cardinal said that he did not intend to take an extreme position, insisting "fundamentalism is always a problem." But on the other hand, he said, a society must be based on a common understanding of public order and morality. "It isn't enough to learn our language," he said.

The problem for the Netherlands, the cardinal continued, is a "lack of identity." The time is long past, he observed, when Christians "would fight and die for their faith." Today Islamic radicals are prepared to fight, as was evident earlier this month when the noted screenwriter Theo van Gogh was assassinated by Muslim zealots. Cardinal Simonis added that he still holds out "hope that these tragic facts will force us to recover our identity."

Commenting on the Dutch tradition of tolerance, Cardinal Simonis observed that the notion of "tolerance" as it is understood there today is a recent development. "For three centuries, Catholics were barred from public office," he noted. The current penchant for "tolerance," he said, "came later, after a common loss of faith-- roughly 40 years ago."

Today Dutch society is known for its permissive attitude toward social issues, with laws that allow euthanasia, same-sex marriage, widespread use of recreational drugs, prostitution, and adoption by homosexual couples.

Cardinal Simonis said that the best prospect for recovery would come if the younger generation returned to Christian traditions. "That is my hope, and I do see signs that young people are rediscovering the faith," he said.

(article excerpt end)

Dr. Christine A. Mugridge
Rome, Italy
www.SacredArtsCommunications.org
Editor of: God's Call To Women