La dolce vita vs. Islam

An unpopular truth

[Reprinted from Issues & Views December 10, 2001]

If a clash of civilizations is coming, how stands the balance of power? In wealth and might, the West is supreme--though wealth did not prevent the collapse of the Western empires and did not prevent the collapse of the Soviet empire. Rome was mighty, and early Christianity pathetically weak. Yet, Christianity triumphed.

If belief is decisive, Islam is militant, Christianity milquetoast. In population, Islam is exploding, the West dying. Islamic warriors are willing to suffer defeat and death, the West recoils at casualties. They are full of grievance; we, full of guilt. Where Islam prevails, it asserts a right to impose its dogma, while the West preaches equality. Islam is assertive, the West apologetic--about its crusaders, conquerors and empires.

Don't count Islam out. It is the fastest growing faith in Europe and has surpassed Catholicism worldwide. And as Christianity expires in the West and the churches empty out, the mosques are going up. To defeat a faith, you need a faith. What is ours? Individualism, democracy, pluralism, la dolce vita? Can they overcome a fighting faith, 16 centuries old, and rising again?

-- Pat Buchanan, excerpted from "Is a War of Civilizations Ahead?," syndicated columnist, author of A Republic, Not an Empire (Regnery).

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