The Much Exaggerated Death of Europe

Philip Jenkins takes a less pessimistic view of Europe's future than many current observers.

Here's a lengthy report on his new book God’s Continent: Christianity, Islam, and Europe’s Religious Crisis by Richard John Neuhaus in First Things Journal.

“Nobody can deny,” writes Jenkins, “that European nations in coming decades will have to take account of aspects of Muslim culture, or rather of the north African and Asian cultures brought by Muslim immigrants; but that is quite different from envisioning wholesale Islamization. . . . Yet matters are not so terrifying [as many contend]. While sections of European Islam in recent years have acquired a strongly militant and politicized character, we have to understand this as a response to temporary circumstances; moreover, hard-line [Islamic] approaches still command only minority support. In the longer term, the underlying pressures making for accommodation and tolerance will prove hard to resist.”