Given the general somewhat-negative emphasis of this blog, I feel duty-bound to begin with some rare good news - Catholic or secular - coming out of Europe. These news come from Poland, perhaps not entirely surprisingly.
I have my misgivings about the apparent re-Catholicisation of Poland, being generally wary of the nationalistic bend it seems to have. Anyone who knows me will know that I support nationalists in all their stripes, so long as they don't bring with them baggage of ethnic or racial ideologies. I can't claim that I have seen much of that in Poland, but I am still suspicious that the modest but noteworthy increase in Catholic social life in Poland has more to do with the Poles trying to craft out a national identity. In this context, turning to Catholicism works very well since it unites a large chunk of Poles - presumably even German Poles - given that it is not on purely ethnic lines, and they can be unified in Catholic grandeur, which built all that is good about Europe. It also manages to differentiate Poland from its secularist/atheist enemies to the West and North - primarily Germany and the Nordic countries - and it's long-time Orthodox adversaries - in the form of Russia - to the East. It also allows them to keep out Muslims on the culture card, without getting into issues of Islam itself.
Credit where credit is due though, and the news that Poland was going to phase out Sunday trade by the year 2020 was some of the best news that I have heard or read in a very long time. It is something which wreaks of a true religious revival - which whatever the intentions from the political class - might actually end up being long-lasting, regardless of who comes to or stays in power in the country. Naturally the leftists, or so I have been informed, were opposed to it, but it would seem as though the cultural marxist's general treachery to the Polish people will not be soon forgotten and it would seem as though the Law and Justice party or some similar nationalistic entity in Poland will be there for a while.
Furthermore, it is politically difficult to get rid of Sunday as a day of rest given that I am pretty sure that the Sunday rest was abolished by the communists, and one does not make many friends in Poland by making oneself a defender of Soviet policies. It's a very shrewd political move, and I applaud it unhesitatingly.
Sticking to Europe, we have more proof of its downfall in a handful of stories. In Germany and other places they have started decorating their 'diversity barriers', wrapping them up as Christmas presents. That's the most appropriate term for the barriers that they have put up on pedestrian walkways and roads leading to Christmas markets. Since we all know why they have to be put up in the first place, it would be much more honest to just paint a picture of Mohammed on them rather than pretend that they are part of the Christmas attire. I should point out that the town centre close to where I live has also put up diversity barriers - presumably to protect its Christmas market -, but alas has not gone to the trouble of wrapping up.
We were also informed that the Muslim population in Europe is set to grow, up to 25% of the population in some places, by the year 2050, and that is with zero immigration.
The Muslims do the right thing in having children, and that is to be applauded. It is the West which is to be chided for deriding the miracle of procreation. That snobbery may well prove to be its downfall, and it will be just reward for its open-armed embrace of the culture of death.
In the U.K. there was a feminist march, and feminists did what they do best which is to display their stupidity and entitlement. One of them even took the trouble to inform people that the Bible is more violent than the Koran. She should know, she told us, being a former Catholic herself. It has featured as one of my day's comments, but I'll reproduce 2 very poignant parts of the analysis from Tantumblogo. The first one clearly lays the blame for the woman's ignorance for the Novus Ordo, and I naturally agree:
“I’ve read passages [of the Koran] and the Bible is a lot more violent. I should know, I’m a former Catholic.” Another triumph for the post-conciliar Church!
The second one was his take on feminism itself, and feminists in general:
Which brings me to my final point – I will probably offend some in saying this, or how I say this, but I have long had a sense that many feminists are really little more than out of control teenage daughters who keep acting more and more outrageously in the increasingly forlorn hope that “dad” – society, males at large, whatever – will rein them in. And the longer they are allowed to continue acting out, the more hurt and upset and, subsequently radicalized, they become. It’s like they are a toddler constantly trying to find some boundary that daddy will set for them. In their rage in finding none in the collectively weak Western men of the past 60 years, they will even turn to the cruel, draconian authoritarianism of islam to find some entity that seems to care about them enough to tell them no, to set firm limits, and make them turn over the dang car keys.
It is difficult to disagree with that either. As I wrote in my comment to the bizarreness of the whole spectacle:
I am also at a loss to understand what these women are marching for, given that the laws in most formerly Christian countries can hardly favour women more. The
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