Just finished the "Decline and Fall - Europe's Slow Motion Suicide" by Bruce Thornton. The first part of the book attempts to explain just why Europe is failing, and he focuses for a most part on the rejection of Christianity and Judeo-Christian principles.
Reading this from an agnostic perspective, I find it hard to stomach the constant focus on religion that American authors appear to have when discussing this subject, and I also doubt that European society is failing solely because they are less religious. However he makes the valid point that in a conflict where one side only thinks of pleasure in the here and now (played by the 'native' Europeans who demand that their governments insure them from the cradle to the grave against the random occurrences of life) versus a side that has an iron-clad conviction in the numinous and the after life, and a deeply held belief that they are carrying out God's will (played by the emerging and aggressive immigrants); which side would you put money on in a fight?
Detailing how the newly transformed anti-Semitism (anti-Zionism) and the still live hatred of capitalism that infects the political discourse in Europe, converge neatly into an overt anti-Americanism, the author plots out logically how this came about. Socialism is alive and well and has clearly never quite died.
The thesis of the book isn''t new (for anyone who may have read "The Clash of the Civilizations and the New World Order" by Samuel Huntingdon ) and the focus on Europe and why it matters is both interesting and depressing.
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