It’s not often senior European political leaders make
politically-incorrect statements, but Germany’s Chancellor Angela
Merkel has recently made a habit of it. The subject has been the
touchy question of Muslim immigration and the challenges it poses
for European identity. Not only has Merkel upset the European
political class (especially the Left and the Greens) by saying what
everyone knows — that multiculturalism has “utterly
failed” — but she also argued that the issue was
not “too much Islam” but “too little Christianity.”
“We have too few discussions about the Christian view of
mankind,” Merkel claimed
in a recent speech. She then stressed that Germany needs to
reflect more upon “the values that guide us, about our
Judeo-Christian tradition.” It was one way, Merkel maintained, of
bringing “about cohesion in our society.”
On one level, Merkel is surely stating the blindingly
obvious. How can Europeans ask Muslim immigrants to integrate into
European society and respect European values without Europeans
themselves being clear in their own minds about what values are at
the core of European identity and where these values come
from?
And as much as significant portions of European society
would like to deny it, it’s simply a historical fact that
the idea of Europe and European values such as liberty, equality
before the law, and solidarity did not suddenly appear ex
nihilo in the late 17th century with the various
Enlightenments. Central to the formation of European identity and
such values was the synthesis of Athens, Rome, and Jerusalem
achieved by Christianity following the Roman Empire’s collapse in
the West in 476 A.D.
Indeed there’s plenty of evidence that the antecedents of
most of the various freedoms and genuine achievements of the
various Enlightenments are to be found in Christianity. There is
increasing recognition, for example, that the idea of human rights
was first given concrete expression by medieval canon
lawyers.
Yet it is hardly a secret that the Judeo-Christian
heritage sits very loosely on many European societies. We find this
in a type of secular-fundamentalism — exemplified by Spain’s
current Socialist government — that has become fashionable among
sections of the European Left. But the ambiguity also manifests
itself in the persistence of historical legends that diminish,
distort, and denigrate Christianity’s contributions to European
civilization.
A good example is the mythology of the so-called “Dark
Ages” that permeates popular and elite discussion of European
history. Most of the moral, political, and legal foundations of
modern market economies, for instance, were established in Europe
well before the 16th century. Likewise the scientific method was
born in the Middle Ages. Medieval thinkers such as Albertus Magnus
made crucial contributions to the development of the natural
sciences. Yet despite these facts, many persist in
claiming that market economies are essentially a post-Enlightenment
phenomenon, or that Christianity is essentially
“anti-science.”
But the problem is not only with secular opinion. Since
the 1950s, many European Christians have gradually reduced their
Christian faith to a vacuous humanitarianism worthy of the best
EU-funded NGO. One difficulty with “liberal Christianity” (or
whatever’s left of it) is that it isn’t especially interested in
affirming any Christian values that go beyond sentimental
platitudes about tolerance and equality which are routinely emptied
of any specific Christian content. It’s goodbye Thomas Aquinas,
hello John Rawls.
This makes it even more ironic that increasing numbers of
secular European thinkers believe Europe can only
reinvigorate its distinct identity and values through reengaging
its Judeo-Christian heritage. This is certainly the conclusion of
one of Germany’s most prominent intellectuals, Jürgen
Habermas.
A self-described “methodological atheist,” Habermas has
been insisting for some time that Europe no longer has the luxury
of wallowing in historical denial. As Habermas wrote in his 2006
book, A Time of Transitions: “Christianity, and nothing
else [is] the ultimate foundation of liberty, conscience, human
rights, and democracy, the benchmarks of western civilization. To
this day we have no other options. We continue to nourish ourselves
from this source. Everything else is postmodern
chatter.”
It follows that any serious discussion of Europe’s
Christian values in the context of contemporary immigration and
identity debates will require many Europeans to go beyond their
often-truncated understandings of European history and
Christianity. There’s something paradoxical about this being
facilitated by the increasing numbers of Muslims living in Europe.
But such an engagement is arguably being made even more urgent by
the economic reality that Europe will need even more immigrants if
its present demographic winter persists for any significant period
of time.
What Chancellor Merkel herself understands by “the
Christian view of mankind” was not clear from her remarks. Nor is
it evident that particular Christian ideas are always compatible
with some Muslim positions. Despite all the interfaith chatter to
the contrary, there are some fundamental theological differences
between Christianity and Islam, many of which have implications for
subjects ranging from religious liberty to the nature of the state.
Merkel, however, is undoubtedly correct to insist that any
discussion of immigration in Europe should involve Europeans
worrying a little less about Islam and paying far more attention to
knowing the truth about their own heritage and Christianity’s place
in it.
The truth doesn’t just set us free. There’s no future
without it.
