Besides their hatred, they are missing an important point about Europe: we’re smart enough here to have figured out some time ago that religion is an obvious hoax, and a quite ridiculous one at that. It has been transparently used as a mean of political control in the last centuries and we resent that quite a bit. Most French muslims I know hold religious beliefs as relics of a retarded past. You know things you would care about in such places as Iran, Israel, Afghanistant and the US of A.
Give us a break with this retarded outlook on the world.

The first review in the NYT, basically agreed with everything Caldwell apparently, had to say. It conjured up the usual nightmare-ish visions of an Islam-dominated Europe because secular liberals are too scared of fighting back this ‘backward culture’ etc., that I find propagated by American conservatives.

The second, by the Economist, found it thought-provoking but misleading in the sense that Caldwell selectively used and interpreted evidence. From reading these two reviews, I got the impression that Caldwell had never met a European Muslim and decided to instead judge them from the sidelines.

If women have to right to wear whatever they want and some decide to wear a Burqa, is that a victory or defeat for Secularism? I would say the former.

Contrary to the article above, the demographic trends show no such ‘Islamification’, with birth-rates of Muslims aligning themselves with their white counterparts, and declines in the rates of immigration as political opposition stiffens. The amount of ‘Islamist’ political activity is also greatly exaggerated, with many Muslims embracing liberal secularism, with yet more understanding that free inquiry and speech is the cornerstone of European values.

“Western Europe has become so culturally and demographically listless that perhaps only the pressure of Islam can inspire it to assert itself as a civilization worth preserving.”

The “exceptional”, pushing the demographic argument, seeking to bind support by arousing fear that dominant status will be lost.

Not everyone thinks the same way, thank goodness. Not everyone considers their religion, heritage or status a quality that can be preserved only through patterns such as class loyalty, patriarchal authority, marriage within the tribe, a high birth rate, and the dominance, exclusion or eradication of others different from them in some way considered significant.

Not everyone shares the same nightmare.

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A fairly consistent problem with secular liberalism is that secular liberals do not reproduce at replacement rates.

They more than make up for that in conversion rates though, and of course there are plenty of liberal theists as well.

It’s good that you point out the demographic issues. A fairly consistent problem with secular liberalism is that secular liberals do not reproduce at replacement rates.

Western Europe has become so culturally and demographically listless that perhaps only the pressure of Islam can inspire it to assert itself as a civilization worth preserving. The alternative may be serious ethnic/religious conflict between right-wing Europeans and Moslems, with a liberal elite despised by both caught in the middle.