The Cube and the Cathedral: Europe, America, and Politics without God by George Weigel, (New York: Basic Books, 2005) is recommended for those concerned with secularism’s growth in Europe and North America.
What is happening in Europe could one day happen in the United States, that is, Europe is becoming more and more secular and denying its Christian heritage. An example is the proposed constitution of the European Union which makes no mention of Christianity when it refers to the history of Europe. This omission received criticism from Pope John Paul II and others.
Weigel begins his book by comparing the Great Arch of La Defense in Paris (known as “The Cube”) and the Cathedral of Notre Dame as symbols of this change. The bare, plain cube represents the secular post-Christian culture and the intricate and artistic cathedral represents the Christian culture.
Weigel points out that the movement to create the European Union was initiated by Christian leaders of Europe who wanted to bring peace and morality to Europe after the Second World War — who would be aghast to see what has developed. Around 1968, he says, things began to change. Many of the present day European leaders represent a secular viewpoint wishing to ignore Europe’s Christian heritage, either in order to be politically correct or not wanting to offend anyone. In the end they offend the Christians of Europe. This might not be a concern for long since the birth rate amongst native Europeans is falling while the birth rate of immigrants and their descendants is rising; most of these are devout Muslims. Weigel says that the Muslims tried several times to conquer Europe by force, but were defeated each time, but now they may succeed by their increasing numbers. The variance in birth rate has already started to change European politics and other aspects of European life.
In recent months the effort to ratify the constitution of the European Union has failed in France and the Netherlands and the United Kingdom decided to postpone the vote. The prime minister of France resigned since she supported the constitution and what it stood for. There may be a change happening.
Weigel says that Europe’s problem of secularism could become America’s problem. Europe needs conversion and some say that this will happen through missionaries from Africa, Asia, and South America where Christianity is growing. This holds true for the United States and Canada also. In the United States we already see missionaries coming to the U.S. because of the priest shortage. Pope Benedict has voiced similar concern and seeks to reverse the relativism and secularism of society. Weigel’s point is that Christians have to stand up for their heritage and not allow the faith to be negated or denied. Thomas Woods, Jr.s’ book How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization (2005) complements Weigel’s.
George Weigel a theologian, a senior fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C., writes a syndicated newspaper column “The Catholic Difference,” and is the author of several books: Witness of Hope: the Biography of Pope John Paul II (updated 2005), Courage to be Catholic (2004), Letters to a Young Catholic (2004), and Truth of Catholicism (2002).
Weigel cites the work of other scholars to show this crisis of secularism has been developing over time. These include Robert Kagan, Christopher Dawson, Peter Brown, Pope John Paul II, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, and Ian Buruma.
(Br. Benet Exton, O.S.B., writes from St. Gregory’s University, Shawnee, Oklahoma.)
