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Book Review - America Alone
- 03/31/07
- 16
Mark Steyn is a brave guy. It takes a certain kind of bravado to write a book criticizing Islam. Just a few days ago I heard an author mention a book he has written dealing with Islam, but suggested that it will only be released posthumously. Other books on the subject have been released anonymously. This is a topic many people are concerned about but which they are afraid to address. Not so, it seems, for Mark Steyn.
Bemoaning the fact that Europe has fallen under the influence of Islam and is almost certainly too far gone to recover, Steyn suggests that if any Western nations are to survive, the future will belong to America standing alone against an Islamic world. The book’s central points go something like this (and I have borrowed these from another reviewer who managed to encapsulate them very neatly):
1) In the ongoing conflict between the West and Islam, both the demographics and the will to power favor the Islamists. That a country like Spain, with a birth rate of 1.15 children per adult women, will extinguish itself in a few generations, while immigrants from countries such as Pakistan (birth rate 4.53) will move in to fill the vacuum.2) That as an aggressive, unassimilated minority edges closer to a majority (as in France, with an estimated 30% Muslim population in the under 20 age group), the character of the democratic institutions will become more closely aligned with Islamic law and culture.
3) That the post-Christian welfare state is largely to blame for the pessimism and failures of will demonstrated by Europe.
4) That America represents the primary exception to this trend, if only by degree, and that only a concerted effort to save our society stands a chance of reversing these trends.
Though agreement with these points is far from unanimous, I found it interesting that of the nearly 300 reviews at Amazon, the majority are positive (with an average rating of 4.5 stars out of a possible 5). This tells me that people are intrigued by this topic and are concerned by what they see as a growing threat to their way of life. Europe is extinguishing itself through a very low birthrate and through extremely high rates of immigration. While native Europeans seem to have little interest in having children, they are inviting millions of Muslims to the continent and these people are maintaining high birthrates. Needless to say, something is going to have to give. It will probably not be long before most of Europe is predominantly Muslim.
As far as I could tell, the book does not flow from the first chapter to last. Rather, like a Coulter book or any number of other “issues” books, the chapters seem somewhat like essays that have been compiled into the book. I will grant that the book is comprised of three sections, each with several chapters, and there is flow from one section to the next, but not so much from chapter-to-chapter. Of course this is more observation than critique.
Steyn, a Canadian who now lives in New Hampshire, has a quick wit and one that appeals a lot to my Canadian sense of humor. And though he makes many jokes, he avoids the vulgarity of Ann Coulter and other commentators. And all the while he keeps the book focused on the dead seriousness of the topic.
Interestingly, Mark Steyn is the obituarist for The Atlantic Monthly. This book reads like an obituary, not for a person, but for a civilization. It is one that continues to exist, but one that seems to Steyn and many others to be hurtling headline to oblivion. While I may not buy into the “doom and gloom” tone of the book, it does seem the Islam is on the rise and that Christianity is on the decline in much of the world. It may be Europe is already destined to fall under the crescent. Steyn is not the first to suggest this and will certainly not be the last. It is wise for us to at least consider the possibility and prepare ourselves accordingly.
I am a follower of Jesus Christ, a husband to Aileen and a father to three young children. I worship and serve as a pastor at 
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Comments (16)
How is it exactly that Europe is under the influence of Islam? I hear that from a lot of Republican stuff, but I lived in/spent significant time in/know a lot of people in Italy, England and the Czech Republic. And there is a discernible presence of muslims in Italy and England, but how is it influence? To say that seems to fall into participating into a fear tactic thats not as real as it sounds. The communists were coming, now its the muslims? I think thats overblown
I tend to agree with Bill Melone. I don’t know whether Europe has “fallen” under the “influence” of Islam, but I am certain that a large portion of mainstream Christianity has developed an intellectual dependency on the talking points of the Republican party. As a result, we’ve got a vast number of Christians who have taken a very anti-Christian us-against-them mentality regarding Muslims.
Think about this: What does Christianity have to gain from this militant approach to confronting the political, social, and religious conditions imposed by Islam? Nothing. Christianity is not threatened, and, if you believe the Bible, it isn’t going away any time soon. It’s not our duty to defend Christianity— God can handle that.
While the Christian community has nothing to gain (and nearly everything to lose) from adopting an anti-Islamic mentality, the Republican party has quite a significant amount of political capital that they can glean off of preaching an anti-Islamic message. Seems to me like the Church has been taking her talking points from the state, and there is nothing more troubling— and reminiscent of Nazi Germany— that such a scenario.
David Mays (Book Notes) also provides a great review of this book, and he only read 78pages! It was enough for me! Check out his downloadable book note here: http://www.davidmays.org/BN/SteAmer.html
The one thing that stands out in this review is possiblilty of Muslims taking of the world through biological warfare. The historic Roman Catholic policy against birth control enabled their roles to grow faster than any evangelical outreach ever dreamed. If there truly is a plan to dominate the world through baby bombing there is credible precedence. Ask China, India and Mexico…dominating the manufaturing world by way of cheap labor. Of course there is the Japanese way of taking over economically through producing better products. Or the Amercian way of…lets see what is it that we were so good at…oh yeah, setting the capitives free via civil war. God help us.
I’m going to try making one comment, having been around the block numerous times discussing ‘Europe under the influence of Islam’, on US blogs (not Canadian ones). Generally this has been with people who have little if any interaction with muslims, but read books like this (and Melanie Phillips - Londistan etc ).
I live in a city in the UK (in Europe) with a significant muslim presence - I work close to the biggest mosque and can hear the call to prayer from my office. I have muslim work colleagues and work with many muslim young people in my profession and in my church youthwork.
I don’t currently see the takeover - maybe if the rest of the 98 % of the UK population, all stop having children, maybe ! Sections of the muslim population in my land are in trouble - their young men are the fastest rising prison population and do poorly in schools. Many live in inner city areas with high unemployment and poor housing. I can assure you there are some extremists, but the people I meet are more concerned about day to day life than taking over !
And if people are concerned about the negative social conditions being a breeding ground for extremism, please pray our government does their bit, but more importantly our churches do theirs in seeking to witness, and be involved in these communities, which of course is harder work and more costly than reading these unhelpful books, and moaning about muslims taking over.
Also if it is that dangerous to say negative things about Islam, why isn’t Le Pen in France dead, or Nick Griffin of our UK BNP. Neither of these horrible men have exactly been kind to muslims.
Colin
PS - I just read Phillip Jenkin’s ‘The New Christendom’ - it puts a different slant on ’ it does seem the Islam is on the rise and that Christianity is on the decline in much of the world.’
Putting all this in a perspective: what if the Islam ‘takeover’ really happens? Is there anything Christians have to lose? Our heads? Maybe…but that wouldn’t be bad at all…because Jesus said “Fear not those who can kill the body but Him who can cast body and soul into hell”…just keeping things within the big picture
What is ironic is that liberals who favor post-modern relativity, and who are the ones (by and large) not bearing children, might be among the first to go if an Islamic regime was imposed.
I married the beautiful woman who wrote this review:
http://www.alexchediak.com/blog/2007/03/america_alone_steyn.php
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And this slant forces us then to distinguish between the ‘Christianity’ that is western cultural christendom (which, in fact, very well may be facing decline - even coming judgment - and which we too often identify with, as suggested above by other contributors) and the ‘Christianity’ which is the real deal, growing and thriving very well elsewhere in the world, even in some very noxious composts or soils that are the host cultures.
Royce Douglas
(previous comment was supposed to include this quote:)
“PS - I just read Phillip Jenkin’s ‘The New Christendom’ - it puts a different slant on ’ it does seem the Islam is on the rise and that Christianity is on the decline in much of the world.’”
Royce Douglas
The comments rejecting this as all ‘doom and gloom’ represent the majority of people both in Europe and North America. Sadly, we are typically reactionary in nature and usually fail to see rising threats before it’s too late.
There are slow moving indicators of social change (ie: declining birthrates, moral collapse) that cannot be fixed or altered overnight. Momentum is gained gradually thereby appearing deceptive at first.
If we fail to evangelize the muslim world, they will indeed bring the religion of the sword to America. But we will have lost much of our precious freedom by that time, therefore let us hearken to the warnings and awaken from our slumber of ease. Let us cry out to God for a fresh awakening among the western Church.
Jim, what exactly are the ‘rising threats’? That sounds much like the rhetoric of the recent past about communism. Its too easy to note the different birthrates and point all the way to doom. I think Tim is right when he mentions that we should adjust accordingly—we need to reach muslims differently than other people groups but thats about it. I don’t think we don’t need political change necessarily, and you seem to be implying that.
Our concentration should be on the fact that King Jesus is coming soon to take over, not the Muslims, and that “Post-Christian” Europe needs to hear this as much as the Muslim world.
I completely agree with Francisco, and any “threat” does need to be considered in its true context. But there is still a ‘rising threat’. It can be dismissed as just the next conservative Republican “threat of the month,” but the truth is that many Islamic schools and mosques are teaching a type of Islam that is intolerant of our basic freedoms: freedom of religion, freedom of the press, etc. While there is no guarantee this will happen, it makes sense to be aware of the fact that if those who appreciate these freedoms are not reproducing literally nor intellectually, and many immigrants are coming and reproducing in all senses of the word, eventually those freedoms could be threatened. While in many ways the church might grow stronger if it were threatened a bit by the culture and the state, and while our ultimate allegiance is to God’s kingdom, not the US or the UK or Canada, as citizens we still have a responsibility to care for and seek the welfare of our nations: Jer 29:7 “Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf; for in its welfare you will have welfare.”
It’s 1938 all over again, and yet people ignore the signs all around them.
A few have written their skepticism regarding “rising threats” and are doubtful of the need for alarm.
Does anyone remember the recent riots in France and how long they lasted? How widespread the damage was? And how delicate a situation it was for France’s government to deal with?
The commenter from England mentioned the rising Muslim prison population. Isn’t that a pretty strong danger signal?
And what about the Danish cartoon riots? The rioting was incredibly widespread. Over mere cartoons, for goodness’ sake—an expression of opinion, an exercise of freedom of speech.
No doubt those cartoon riots have significantly muted future expressions of speech that might slight Muslims lest there come more riots, more violence and perhaps even more deaths. No doubt, in the aftermath of the France riots, European governments are walking on eggs lest they again offend Muslim sensibilities.
Change takes time to happen, but it’s definitely happening.
Anyone check out the headlines from London saying that they will not teach about the Holocost so as not to offend Muslim students? Is this scare-mongering? Just wondering?