INTRODUCTION
The
influence of Christianity in Europe is hard to deny. With its beautiful
monasteries, cathedrals and religious history European culture is surrounded by
memories of a past lifetime and pious society. Yet things have changed in the
last generation or so rapidly towards a post-Christian Europe. But what has
caused this dramatic shift away from veneration, reverence and adoration for
God?
In
this essay I intend to explore four causes that have lent themselves to the
decline of Christianity in Europe. First we will look into the influence of the
Enlightenment, particularly at the work of David Hume and Immanuel Kant. Next
we shall delve into the idea of syncretism and how this has shaped the
religious milieu of the continent. Next we will survey the changing social and family
structure particularly the size of families and the role of inheritance in
strategic powers of Europe chiefly Germany. Finally we will briefly cover the influences
of the “New Atheist” and how this is shaping the landscape of European morality
and life.
The Influx of Reason[1]
Christianity
in the eighteenth century began to face some new challenges that would rock the
landscape of European thought. Beginning in the late seventeenth century the
rationalist, those whose attitudes could be typified by an interest in the
world and conviction in the strength of reason, began to influence the way
people in Europe thought and how they came to an epistemic stance.[2]
However following the initial rationalist incursion came a bright skeptic of
the rationalist position.
David Hume employed his own method of
experience and knowledge that shaped the thoughts of his day. Truth, as Hume
saw it, is not that we see an apple, rather that we perceive its attributes
such as size, color, flavor and so on.[3]
Hume also struck at the core of Christian belief by asserting that belief in
God, most notably the Christian God, is not something that comes from a pure
love of the truth but rather out of an anxiety, a desire for joy, pleasure or a
fear of death.[4] Naturally
this sort of “experience skepticism” could have a profound impact on any who
would read his work, and at this time with the aid of the printing press, was
easier to access than ever.
Following Hume came, considered by many
one the most notable philosophers of all time, Immanuel Kant. Kant, who had
been awakened from his “dogmatic slumber” by reviewing the work of Hume,
expounded upon this idea of reasonable knowledge in his work Critique of Pure Reason.[5]
Kant makes a distinction in this work between phenomenon that are spatiotemporal objects, and noumena which are neither spatial nor
temporal, thus these two worlds are separate.[6]
God falls into the realm of noumena that Kant claims we cannot have intuition
nor experience of. This means we can’t even begin to have knowledge of God let
alone be able to describe his attributes.
Though claims made by Kant and Hume are
not certain facts, what is certain is that their thoughts still impact an ever
increasingly secular Europe. This impact thus requires a response from
philosophers and theologians in the defense of knowledge and God to help turn
the cultural tides back in the favor of theism.
Syncretism: The Harmful Ecumenical
Movement
When a culture that is largely
dominated by one religion, as was the case in Europe’s past, encounters other
religious traditions or sees an influx of foreign people to their lands change
is inevitable. In this instance, the change we are speaking of is that of
syncretism. Syncretism is the idea that as new influences on society are
introduced, most principally religious views of immigrating peoples, they begin
to borrow and adapt traits from one another until you have a religion that is
not what the founders would have intended it. For example, if you have a stream
of Hindus in England you may find the Anglican Church laity adapting the same
respect of cows as do the Hindus and thus a blending of cultures would have
taken place.
Certainly
there are good things that can come from blending of cultures such as the
sharing of spices or the advancement of technologies not seen in the existing
population. However, when you begin to allow other cultures, particularly
religious cultures, into a society dominated by one sect it is likely things
will shift and a decline of the dominant faith can be expected. Nonetheless,
the case in Europe is a bit more troubling for Christians. It has been
recognized that cultures and religions, particularly Islam, who had no defined
historical heritage in Europe are now being integrated into the continent with
a certain degree of success.[7]
This success is at the expense of Christianity and the reaction to regain the
landscape in Europe for Christians has been ineffective.
A Cultural Identity and the Shrinking
Family
Another of the main issues in the
decline of Christian Europe is the changing social structure of religion. In
times past the religion of the home, in this case Christianity, was passed on
from father to son and so on. This in no way ensured the salvation of the son,
however the cultural trait of sharing the family’s faith was a major part of
the development of the church as a whole. If your parents were Christian there
was a greater probability that you too would hold this same religious
affiliation. According to Hans Joas, there is a decline in the practice of
handing down faith within families, although he notes the effectiveness of
highly religious families to succeed in this practices, nonetheless the actual
population of such highly religious groups is also shrinking.[8]
In
addition to the lessening impact of family religious heritage in Christian
Europe, there is also another trend that may be affecting this transmission of
faith. The average size of European families are shrinking and most notably
since the turn of the millennium. The birth rate in Germany for example has
been in sharp decline since 2000 and though it has recovered somewhat in 2010
and 2011 the recovery is still far short of the birthrate a decade previous.[9]
What all of this is telling us is
when you combine a falling birth rate with a declining tendency towards
families to pass on their Christian heritage the end result is a decline in the
overall cultural impact and population of Christian believers.
A
last point on the culture of Christians in decline, it may appear that some
numbers do not actually show the results of Christianity declining, however
this may be explained when you look at the cultural identity of Europeans. It
has been a joke for sometime that atheists in Northern Ireland are identified
with Christianity; they are either Catholic or Protestant Atheist.[10]
This cultural tag allows some to be lulled into thinking Christianity is alive
and well in Europe but the post-modern culture screams otherwise.
The New Atheists
Since
9-11 and the rise of Islamaphobia in the West there
has been a revival of atheism. However this is not the atheism of yesteryear,
that of Bertrand Russell and even Antony Flew (the author is aware that Flew
has recently accepted theism). This type of atheist, lead by the four horsemen
Richard Dawkins, the late Christopher Hitchens, Daniel Dennett and Sam Harris,
are a more belligerent type of atheist one who is bent on attacking
Christianity in the private sphere. Their arguments are typically recycled
rhetoric from the past and they dismiss many claims from professional Christian
philosophers with an uniformed bravado. However their audience, who are less
concerned with scholarship and more concerned with one living their own life of
cultural and moral relativity, have latched on to such elementary arguments in
support of their position.
In
order to gain a respectable footing Dawkins for instance espouses his own form
of a moral ethic. In his work The God
Delusion he declares that compassion and generosity are “noble emotions.”[11]
He rails against the doctrine of original sin claiming it to be “morally
obnoxious” and Dawkins even goes so far as to declare his own Ten Commandments.[12]
All of these efforts to show that one
does not have to hold to theism, particularly Christian theism, in order to
live a fulfilled and morally ethical life. This type of atheism is becoming
more and more attractive to a culture that has fallen asleep at the wheel in
reference to the piety of their past. This is yet another reason for the
decline of Christendom in the once robust European social structure.
CONCLUSION
From
the various influences on the culture in Europe the trend towards a decline in
Christianity is unmistaken. The Enlightenment thinkers who placed doubt on
experience and knowledge rocked the very core of thought for centuries to come.
As thoughts were beginning to grow so to was the culture of syncretism in
Europe which helped to drown out the Christian culture. Contributing to the
cultural changes were the downslide in birth rates and the influence of
families on their children to carry the torch of Christianity to the next
generation. Lastly the New Atheist with their rhetoric and attempt at ethical
living in the face of a relativist milieu has gained quite more than just a
cult following. The thoughts, habits and traditions of Europe are shifting
farther and farther from the heritage that was once steeped in piety. As the
secularization of Europe continues one cannot help but ponder when the final
sun will go down on Christianity in the continent that saw its largest growth.
Bibliography
Allievi, Stefano.
Reactive Identities and Islamophobia: Muslim minorities and the challenge of
religious pluralism in Europe. Philosophy
& Social Criticism 38, No. 4-5 (2012): 379-87.
http://ps.sagepub.com/content/38/4-5/379 (accessed July 9, 2012).
Craig, William Lane. “Richard
Dawkins on Arguments for God.” In God is
Great, God is Good: Why Belief in God is Reasonable and Responsible, edited
by William Lane Craig & Chad Meister 13-31. Downers Grove: Intervarsity
Press, 2009.
Demerath,
N.J. III. The Rise of “Cultural Religion” in European Christianity: Learning
from Poland, Northern Ireland and Sweden. Social
Compass 2000 47, No. 1 (March 2000): 127-39. http://scp.sagepub.com/content/47/1/127
(accessed July 12, 2012).
Gonzalez,
Justo L. “The Story of Christianity Vol. 1: The Early Church to the Dawn of the
Reformation.” (New York: Harper One, 2010).
Joas,
Hans. The Future of Christianity. The
Hedgehog Review 13, No. 1 (Spring 2011): 75-82. Academic
OneFile. Web (accessed July 9, 2012).
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Alvin. “Warranted Christian Belief.” New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
[1]
The
title of this section is not to imply that Christianity is devoid of reason but
rather to point to the historical time in which the foundation of reason was
challenged and took center stage
[2]
Justo L. Gonzalez, “The Story of Christianity Vol. 1: The Early Church to the
Dawn of the Reformation” (New York: Harper One, 2010), 238.
[3]
Ibid., 244.
[4]
Alvin Plantinga, “Warranted Christian Belief” (New York: Oxford University
Press, 2000), 143.
[5]
Gonzalez, 246.
[6]
Plantinga, 11.
[7]
Stefano Allievi, Reactive Identities and Islamophobia: Muslim Minorities and
the Challenge of Religious Pluralism in Europe, Philosophy & Social Criticism 38, No. 4-5 (2012): 380, http://ps.sagepub.com/content/38/4-5/379
(accessed July 9, 2012).
[8]
Hans Joas, The Future of Christianity, The
Hedgehog Review 13, No. 1 (Spring 2011): 76, (accessed July 9, 2012).
[9]
In
Germany a birth rate of 9.35 (births/1,000 population) in 2000 was in sharp
decline to 8.18 in 2009. This is a reduction of 12.5% in just nine years. Index
Mundi, “German Birth Rate 2000 to 2011,”
http://www.indexmundi.com/g/g.aspx?c=gm&v=25 (accessed July 14, 2012).
[10]
N.J. Demerath III, The Rise of “Cultural Religion” in European Christianity:
Learning from Poland, Northern Ireland and Sweden, Social Compass 2000 47, No. 1 (March 2000): 131, http://scp.sagepub.com/content/47/1/127
(accessed July 12, 2012).
[11]
William Lane Craig, “Richard Dawkins on Arguments for God,” in God is Great, God is Good: Why Belief in
God is Reasonable and Responsible, ed. William Lane Craig & Chad
Meister (Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press, 2009), 19.
[12]
Ibid.
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