WHEN VALUES DECLINE

The West, more precisely Europe, which is trying to instil its own values across the world and often accuses countries of ethno-religious intolerance, clearly suffers from xenophobia and religious hostility itself. This disease has become so obvious and threatening that some Western media write about it openly.

In late March, Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel paid an official visit to Ankara. One of the major issues discussed during the visit was the question of Turkey's accession to the EU as a full member. As is known, Berlin is offering Turkey the status of a privileged partner of the EU, which Ankara rightly rejects. This time, putting aside all political correctness, Germany's chancellor stated categorically that the positions of Berlin and Paris on this issue have not changed at all. That is, Turkey is not going to get full membership of the EU, at least in the foreseeable future. Another unpleasant surprise for Ankara was Berlin's absolute refusal to open Turkish-language schools and gymnasia in Germany, although about 4 million Turks live in the country and Turkey has long operated schools in German. Yes, Berlin is a traditional ally of Ankara but, paradoxically, the most important obstacle to Turkey's full integration into Europe is precisely the position of Germany.

What is the reason for this paradox? The frankest and most candid answer to this question was given in an article published in the authoritative American newspaper The Wall Street Journal immediately after Angela Merkel's visit to Turkey. "Although Turkey has been pressing for EU membership for 50 years, it is not being admitted. Although many European officials have not openly said that the main reason is Turkey's commitment to Islam, this is the biggest obstacle on its path to the EU. European leaders apparently fear that after Turkey's entry into the EU, it will become the second country in the organization after Germany and will have a significant vote. Moreover, as Christian values in Europe are in decline, the entry of such a large Muslim country as Turkey would change the priorities of the organization. The main argument against Turkish membership of the European Union is not the Cyprus issue or political reform, but the fact that 99 per cent of its population are Muslim, and this real reason is not being discussed. Therefore, Turkey will have to stand at the door of the EU for a long time," says the article. As you can see, the author cites two powerful arguments against Europe. And it seems that the second aspect, relating to religious realities, is becoming increasingly dominant, as the crisis of Christian values in Europe has now become a talking point.

The world is shaken almost every day by news of sex scandals which implicate the Catholic Church and the Vatican itself. Last month, Germany's two major churches (Catholic and Protestant) were at the centre of deafening scandals. The issue is one of sexual harassment of students at elite educational institutions in Germany, and not only there. As a result, according to recent polls, about 70 per cent of Germans believe that the church is dishonest.

Sex scandals also affected the family of the Pope and the pontiff personally. There are facts about abuse, sexual harassment and severe physical abuse of boys in the famous Regensburger Domspatzen church choir from 1958-1971 when the choir was led by Georg Ratzinger - the brother of the current Pope, Benedict XVI. The pope himself is being accused of concealing sexual abuse. Back in 2001, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith decided not to divulge information outside the Church about episodes involving paedophile priests. The Congregation was headed at the time by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, in other words, the current Pope Benedict XVI. His opponents argue that this was done to hide sexual crimes occurring within the walls of the Catholic Church. It should be noted that in July last year Benedict XVI demoted a 71-year-old German paedophile priest from the Catholic Order of Missionaries of the Holy Family. Back in 2002, the head of the Boston diocese, the paedophile cardinal Bernard Law, who was also accused of protecting paedophile priests, lost his position. And in March, at the insistence of the Vatican, the abbot of a monastery in Austria resigned after confessing to abuse of a 12-year-old boy more than 40 years ago. At the same time, the head of the Irish Catholic Church, Cardinal Sean Brady, refused to resign as Archbishop of Ireland over a scandal involving the investigation of sexual harassment of children by priests, which he covered up in the 1970s. Brady's answer in this case sounds more than cynical: "Honestly, I do not think this is a reason to resign."

All these facts have dealt a serious blow to the reputation of the Catholic Church in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Ireland. According to experts, Dutch bishops lead by the number of rapes of their flock. It is a vicious circle. Paedophile priests rape their wards, and they themselves eventually become mentors and sexually abuse their students. The Western media are full of articles about widespread sexual crimes in the Christian world. There are allegations that in this world, paedophilia often results in sexual abuse or sexual exploitation of children for gain. For example, children are induced to sell their body or to star in porn movies. The legalization of same-sex marriages in some countries makes the problem even less controllable. In early 2008, the opportunity to conclude such a marriage was available in the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Canada, the United States (Massachusetts) and South Africa. But France, Germany, Great Britain, Denmark, Iceland, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Hungary and several other countries have adopted laws on registered partnerships, i.e. equivalents to marriage which may be concluded by spouses of the same sex.

In the meantime, while leaders of the clergy are scratching their heads over how to remedy the situation, members of the Christian world are converting to Islam in large numbers.

It is noteworthy that such a sensitive issue even involved some Armenian provocation. For example, a certain Suren Saryan, frightening the Europeans about the spread of Islam on the continent, for some reason sees the main reason not in the crisis of Christian values, but in the natural growth of the Muslim population, although he himself, following the Pope, notes the formation of a hedonistic society (the main purpose of such a society is to enjoy life in every way) in Europe. He stridently calls on Europeans to think better of it and prevent the Islamization of Europe. A similar point of view was expressed in a recently published book by Pope Benedict XVI "Christianity and the Crisis of Cultures - The Europe of Benedict". In it, the pontiff criticized European society as one of atheists and murderers. The Pope claims that European society, which has become a wholly consumer society, has lost its religious and moral foundations. Benedict XVI is concerned that the vacuum will be quickly filled by other religions, and especially Islam, which is not acceptable. Some more sober-minded Christian ministers do not share that view. For example, a priest in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Oleg Hirnyk, notes that the "de-Christianized European world has long since lost its religious convictions", which is why Muslims who adhere to the requirements of Islam in daily life and require the creation of the necessary conditions in Europe, cause "discomfort" and "irritation". He is convinced that the strengthening of the Islamic presence in Europe is not a threat to the Christian world. Moreover, it is Islam that can help Christians answer the question of what Christianity has ceased to be in Europe. Christians who are disillusioned with the current system of Christian values and who convert to Islam agree with this sober assessment. Over the past few years, more than 100,000 people have done so. In the UK alone, there are more than 14,000 of them. Among these are large numbers of people from aristocratic families. This trend is also observed in Scandinavian countries. At the same time, in this period of globalization one can find plenty of examples where everything is the opposite. There are Muslims who have converted to other religions, including Christianity. But there are several significant differences here. First, very few Muslims have converted to Christianity. Second, while many of them take this step for financial gain and become marginalized, the Christians who convert to Islam represent mostly the elite strata of the population. About 90 years ago, the German philosopher and culture expert, Oswald Spengler, warned in his work "Decline of the West" that the dehumanization of European culture was inevitable and technicalism would grow as a new source of power, which would ultimately lead to a crisis of culture and Christian values in Europe. But unlike many of today's Christian apologists, the German philosopher saw ways to save the "old continent" by integration with the East and Eastern culture. We note that long before him, this truth was foretold by his great compatriot and founder of classical German philosophy, Immanuel Kant, who wrote the following Arabic words on his diploma: "Bismillahi r-Rahmani r-Rahim" (In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate"). Doesn't the statement of the great Russian writer Count Leo Tolstoy "please take me as a Muhammadan" prove that many well-known Christians were, and still are, highly sympathetic to the Islamic system of values? These three wise men issued their verdict back in those days, and history has confirmed their prophetic statements. To verify this, just look at the ranks of those who found true human values in Islam. These include the legendary boxers Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson, the living legends of basketball Lew Alsindor and Chris Jackson, the renowned French soccer coach Philippe Trousseau and his wife, the no less famous French footballers Nicolas Anelka, Thierry Henry and Franck Ribery, the world-famous British pop singer Cat Stevens, the famous British film director, Ovidio Salazar, Austrian statesman Leopold Weiss, German diplomat and missionary Herbert Hobohm, the Italian ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Torquato Cardeilli, Russian monk Michael, Russian scientists Yevgeniy Savelyev, Andrey Podgurenko and Aleksey Tarushkin, singer Julian, American actor and singer Will Smith, German sociologist and diplomat Wilfried Hofmann, Catholic Church preacher Yusuf Estes (along with his entire family), French writer, philosopher and member of the Communist Party of France, Roger Garaudy, well-known French surgeon Maurice Bouquet, and, of course, the inventor of the aqualung Yves Jacques Cousteau. And the most famous former preacher of Christianity in Canada, Dr. J. Miller, converted to Islam and became the famous preacher of Islam in Canada.

Listing the names of these celebrities, we do not claim the role of Islamic propagandists. It is not the faith itself, be it Islam or Christianity - any peace-loving religion is good, if you follow its provisions. But people who have adopted Islamic values are convinced that the Muslim world remains more loyal to its spiritual and moral principles than the West. This is the most adequate response to all orthodox people who frighten the world with false threats about Islam and fundamentalism. Even the initiator of the referendum to ban minarets in Switzerland, the right-wing politician and famous anti-Islamist, Daniel Stretch, as it turned out, had concealed for two years the fact that he had converted to Islam. His recent admission shocked the Swiss population, particularly his colleagues in the party. He said that he was forced to come clean and talk about his new faith by his own party's mass information campaign to demonize Islam: "I could not accept this. Islam answered all the questions that I had asked all my life. I could never get these answers anywhere else. This legislative initiative will leave a deep mark in my heart. I wonder why I, a professional politician for 30 years, worked for this political system, while Switzerland, by contrast, needs more mosques. It is not good for Muslims to pray in the backyard." Now he recognizes that he is ashamed of his past attitude towards Islam, and as atonement for his sins, he wants to build Europe's most beautiful mosque in Switzerland.

Of course, during such a crisis in the system of Christian values, major European countries and clerical Europe are not in a position to offer society anything in return. Perhaps that is why they are so worried about the prospect of integration with Turkey. Although everybody knows that Turkey has long taken the secular path of development and that this process is irreversible, regardless of who is in power. Therefore, in order to maintain its system of values, which is so appreciated by the most enlightened Christians, perhaps Turkey should not rush into the EU.