Elsewhere in Germany and the rest of Europe, the emptying landscape provides an opening for an unlikely immigrant: the wolf. German biologists expect the growing packs to head soon toward Berlin.
Now, wolves in Berlin sounds like the stuff of science fiction, but it’s a science fact. What’s incredible is the response of the average European or East Asian. They literally shrug their shoulders; they can’t imagine changing their lifestyle to accommodate having two or more children instead of one or none. They believe against all evidence in a technological or political solution to this problem.
But, as columnist Mark Steyn writes, “there’s simply no precedent for managed decline in societies as advanced as Europe’s”—or Japan, for that matter. Throughout history, societies in demographic decline, usually as a result of disease, have faced two unattractive options: a decline in their standard of living or the replacement of their native population with a more fertile immigrant one.
Europe has, essentially by default, chosen the latter. But as last week’s bombings in London illustrate, turning millions of Islamic immigrants into “Europeans,” however you define the term, is a dubious proposition. And in Japan, where racial purity is a primary cultural value, the population faces eventual extinction.
It’s hard to imagine a better example of the importance of worldviews, and specifically in this case, the Christian one. Steyn is right when he says that Europe’s decline is directly linked to its hostility towards Christianity. Its rejection of what Christianity teaches about the family has made the continent safe for another kind of family: four-legged ones who howl at the moon.
For further reading and information:
Today’s BreakPoint offer: The “Caring for Creation” CD addresses the pressing environmental concerns today, like population, global warming, and “sustainable development,” and what Christians should do to care for creation, and what the law should address regarding the environment.
Mark Steyn, “My virility doesn’t matter—the EU’s does,” Telegraph ( London), 28 June 2005 .
Stefan Theil, “Into the Woods,” Newsweek, 4 July 2005 .
Robert S. Leiken, “Europe’s Angry Muslims,” Foreign Affairs, July/August 2005.
Michael Meyer, “Birth Dearth,” Newsweek, 27 September 2004 .
BreakPoint Commentary No. 050314, “Toys without Children: Demographic Suicide.”
BreakPoint Commentary No. 040126, “Fatal Visions: How a Bad Worldview Can Make You What’s for Dinner.”
BreakPoint Commentary No. 050414, “Unheard Voices: Environmental Responsibility and Human Well-Being.”
BreakPoint Commentary No. 050627, “Double Dutch: Evolution in Dutch Schools.” (This commentary addresses the “tolerance” extended to Muslims in Europe.”
BreakPoint Commentary No. 041117, “The Threat at Home: Europe and Radical Islam.”
See BreakPoint’s research page on the environment.