Sickness of Europe

The Christian belief in God differs from Islamic belief in serious ways. So do Christian and Islamic ideas about the nature of the human person. These differences have far-reaching practical consequences, including political consequences. But rapid Muslim growth isn't the only reason for the identity crisis now gripping secular ... Europe. The continent's real problem lies deeper. Islam is merely filling a hole in the chest of an ailing civilization. Europe has an illness of its own choosing: a hollowing out of its spirit through pride, greed, self-absorption, the rejection of children, the exclusion of God, and contempt for its own past, including its Christian soul.

- Archbishop Charles Chaput, Render Unto Caesar