Europe without Roots

An article by that title, by Marcello Pera, the former President of the Italian Senate posted over at the Acton site, Pera specifically cites the dictatorship of relativism as the cause of Europe's loss of confidence in itself.

Relativism has debilitated our Christian defenses and prepared or inclined us for surrender. It has convinced us that there is nothing worth fighting for or risking. It does not even object when others attempt to remove the crucifix from our schools (this happened in Italy). It presumes to see itself at the foundations of the secular state while it actually changes (or deconstructs) into a secular state religion of the state that prohibits Muslim girls in a European country from wearing the hijab to school (this happened in France). It shirks the educational burden of true integration, and one fine day it decides to separate these same boys and girls of Islamic faith from other boys and girls in a scholastic ghetto (this also happened in Italy).

Nothing worth fighting for or risking.... There is a problem if you only have one child: is there anything worth risking that child's life in a battle? Italian fertility rate is down around 1.3 baby per woman.