Sunday, April 05, 2015

Losing incrementally

Mark Steyn writes,
... Christians are under attack in Africa. On this Passover, Jews are under assault in Europe. And on any day of the week anyone who catches the eye of the caliph's enforcers is getting his head sawed off in the Islamic State.
A commenter at Mark's blog wrote concerning the latest savagery by al Shabaab - the mass murder at Garissa University:
Mark, these Islamic militants singled out Christians. They separated them out and killed as many as they could. This happened at Westgate Mall and this happened in Mombasa during the World Cup. Why is it we will not admit a fanatical religion is a war with us?
To which Mark replied,
Because to do so would require too much of us. Marie Harf of the US State Department thinks that this is all a problem caused by lack of economic opportunity that can be solved with more investment, more jobs programs, etc. Modern civilization is deeply committed to the pre-eminence of homo economicus: Middle-class jobs and the comforts they bring are the solution to every problem. But the rise of Islamic imperialism teaches a cruel lesson - that culture trumps economics, always. The Kenyan targets - upscale malls, higher education, elite sporting events - underline the point: They tell the infidels that you can build the attributes of a successful, materially prosperous society, and we will destroy them. Because, to us, Islam trumps everything.

But, as I said, to acknowledge that would demand too much from us. It's easier to lose incrementally but unobtrusively - as those demographic numbers above suggest we're doing.
Mark was referring to this report by the Pew Research Center:
WASHINGTON (CBS DC) — Shifts in the world's major religions will see Islam growing faster than any other faith, with the number of Muslims nearly equaling that of Christians by 2050.

A new Pew Research Center study finds that with the exception of Buddhists, the world's major religions will all see an increase in numbers by 2050, although some will make up a smaller percentage from today. Muslims are the only major religious group projected to increase faster than the world's population as a whole... If current trends continue, Muslims will outnumber Christians worldwide around 2070.

Mark concludes on an optimistic note:
And yet tides ebb and flow. And on Good Friday of all days we should know that even at the darkest hour there is the possibility of resurrection, and new life. The future promised by that Pew study does not have to be, not if the civilized world recovers its will.
More here.

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