The Cube and the Cathedral by George Weigel

As the European Union struggles to establish its bona fides as a world power in its own right, there is another battle underway--the battle to define Europe's history, and, consequently, its future. On one side of the debate stand those who place their faith in man, while the others place their faith in God. From that basic starting point, two radically divergent models for civil society emerge--one built on tolerance (or, more accurately, indifference), the other on private and public morality. In his new book, The Cube and the Cathedral, American Catholic theologian George Weigel lays out the case for a Europe that acknowledges Christianity's contributions to Western culture, rather than minimizing them, as the EU constitution seeks to do.

Mr. Weigel is at his best when he correctly identifies that many of Europe's current woes (dwindling birth rates, stagnating economies, disconnected and disillusioned populations) stem from a crisis of civilizational morale. Even while being pressed from the Muslim south, Europe seems unable to even define what Western civilization even is. The most heated public debates are not over how to best defend Western civilization, but whether it is worth defending at all. It is unknowable if the deep hostility toward Christianity leads to a rejection of traditional Western values--or if it's the other way around--but what is more clear is that the two schools of thought feed off each other to create a culture that is inherently narcissistic and unstable, and hardly a solid foundation for a civil society. As the French scholar Jean-Francois Revel has noted, "A civilization that feels guilty for everything it is and does will lack the energy and conviction to defend itself."

Because of the all the atrocities that have been committed in the name of God through the centuries, European (and American) secularists view religion as, at best, an outdated system of morality that bears little relevance to the modern world, and at worst, a dangerous superstition that enslaves men's minds and renders them unfit to have any influence on secular government. This deep suspicion of religion--and Christianity in particular--can already be seen in America, most notably when liberal Democrats thoroughly question conservative judicial nominees about their privately held religious views, and their willingness to uphold abortion rights, special rights for homosexuals, and all the other pillars of the modern secular temple. The religious litmus test first feared by the Founders has returned, but in a totally different form.

From an American strategic standpoint, Mr. Weigel quotes the eminent historian Donald Kagan, who writes that withdrawing America's umbrella of protection from over Europe would, by forcing the continent to face the harsh realities of international politics and security on its own, do much to squelch some of the secularists' more unrealistic utopian fantasies. Europeans have been able to live in an inconsequential "posthistory," Kagan writes, precisely because Americans have remained firmly grounded in real history. Treating Europe as an equal partner in defense and foreign policy matters may motivate it to become more responsible, and less prone to idle delusions of grandeur. This strategy, of course, is based on the assumption that Europe is willing to be an equal partner with America, which is not at all clear.

The most noticeable flaw of the book is that Mr. Weigel does not spend much time explaining the arguments of European secularists; instead, he focuses on the Catholic church's goal of a revitalized Europe that respects the public role of religion as an equal to secularism. While I agree with this conclusion, the book could have been more convincing had it more carefully examined the historical and philosophical basis for state-enforced secularism. Mr. Weigel also tends to gloss over the crimes committed by the Catholic church over the centuries; crimes that, in no small measure, directly led to the secular backlash that begun in the 18th century and continues to this day. A more thorough searching of the roots of secular humanism may provide a useful lesson for a church seeking to atone for the excesses of the past.

But this is only a minor quibble. Mr. Weigel has written an important and much-needed book for both sides of the Atlantic. Culturally and philosophically, America tends to follow a few decades behind Europe, but in some ways, we are already seeing the early signs of the crisis of civilizational morale that has crippled Europe, and left it seemingly unable to rouse itself, even in the face of an energetic external enemy. As Mr. Weigel's well-written book makes clear, if there were ever a time when the West needed to be firmly rooted in its rich, unique heritage, that time is now.