Monday, February 06, 2006

It's not just Paris that's burning

I cannot bring myself to write the post I which has been forming in my head during the day, so rather I will comment on the Muslim protests in Europe (in case you weren't aware, some Danish newspaper published some cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed which ticked off all the Muslims in the Middle East and all the Muslims in Europe, in other words, a third of the European population.).

I didn't find the cartoons "funny." I got the jokes and, as a Catholic, I don't necessarily disagree with the points being expressed. However, free speech aside, the cartoonists and the newspaper editors should have used a little foresight. They might not have predicted that Danish embassies would be burned down, but, given the large Muslim population in Europe, they could have expected outrage.

The more I think about it, though, I feel less smug. So what if Europe is reaping the benefits of allowing large Muslim immigration and doing little to check radical Islam? The actions of these protesters is disheartening. Europe, whose freedom from the Turk and Muslim had been defended many times, is being successfully invaded. Albeit the European governments seem to be holding the doors open, but the results of liberalism, watered down or quasi-socialism, secularism, and multiculturalism are something to be regretted, not savored. To blow a raspberry at Europe and taunt, "You got what you deserve!" is not the appropriate response. The death and decay of Christianity in Europe is terrible. We may despise Europe's decent into secularism, but we mustn't gloat about the consequences.

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