Italian President Giorgi Napolitano warned this week that the country could be on the verge of violent social uprising following more than a week of protests in several cities. This discontent in Italy comes at the same time as Ukraine is witnessing the largest civil unrest since the 2004 Orange Revolution.
Important questions:The protests highlight the significant political instability that has characterized international relations since 2008, as was predicted by some. For instance, in February 2009, U.S. Director of National Intelligence Admiral Dennis Blair asserted that "the financial crisis and global recession are likely to produce a wave of economic crises."...In the European Union, for instance, millions have taken to the streets and administrations in more than half of the 27 member states fell or were voted out of office from Spring 2010 to 2012 alone. Within the core eurozone, 11 of 14 governments collapsed or were turfed out during that same two years.
Even more eye-catching, however, have been the political revolutions and popular uprisings in emerging economies. This includes Ukraine and June's demonstrations in Brazil (the largest in the country for two decades); through to what has been called the "Arab Spring" in North Africa and the Middle East, including the civil war in Syria; revolutionary changes of power in Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya; transfer of power in Yemen; plus demonstrations and uprisings in Turkey, Iran, Algeria, Bahrain, Jordan, Morocco and Oman.
1. Will social unrest in Europe alter its religious landscape? If so, to what degree?
2. Is Europe's current financial and other difficulties going to get worse? How worse could it get?
3. Will men turn to God in Europe as a result of social unrest in Europe?
4. Is biblical creation belief growing in Europe? Are there factors which point to it growing in the future in a significant way?
5. How can the Question Evolution! Campaign with its 15 questions for evolutionists and other initiatives best capitalize on future changes in Europe?
Social unrest in Europe altering its religious landscape
Below is a relevant excerpt from the article in relation to the creation vs. evolution issue:
The Protestant state church is fairly dead. The percent of committed Christians in Germany is maybe at 3 or 4 percent. Eighty percent belong to a church nominally, Protestant or Catholic. A mere 0.5 percent belong to a free evangelical church. The percent of people believing in life after death is fewer than 50 percent. It's what a German philosopher, Ruediger Safranski, calls "cold religion," very left-brained, very cognitive, focused on rituals and membership but not on personal commitment. Sometimes the mainline bishops say we need to be more mission minded. But they don't put any money into it.So is there about a 100 year cycle of social unrest in Europe?
Is there something about German culture that keeps churches from growing?
Part of the problem is that German institutions are more important than they are in America. Unlike America, we don't have a history of being nonconformist, of doing "our own thing," of risking failure. We try to abide by the rules of the dominant system. And systems are slow to adapt. I like to put it this way: Europe is a legacy, whereas America is a project. Europe is about looking at what you have, not what you could have; it's about position, not potential, which makes change so much more difficult...
Every hundred years or so, you have major social unrest in Europe. You have people longing, looking for new solutions. And at that situation God anoints or calls people who are good with communicating and meetings those needs. People are so lonely these days, and relationships are so fragile. We are living in pretty revolutionary times.
One gentleman wrote about European history:
One may imagine that after the Reformation and Religious Wars of the 16th century, and The Thirty Years War in the first half of the 17th century, that the remainder of the century would see a calm period of recovery. Yet a consistent level of great change and tension caused this to be a period of transition and crisis. This is actually the main theme for the entire Early Modern Period of the course from 1348-1715, as we move from medieval to modern. The 17th century is at the very heart of this transition, and we examine the critical changes which took place in all phases of life; political, intellectual, and economic.Also, here is a list of economic recessions/depressions in the UK from the period of 1857 to present from the pro-evolution and politically left website Wikipedia (which is currently seeing a loss of editors): List of economic recessions/depressions in the UK
In the 20th century, Europe had World War I and World War II which brought many changes to Europe so the 100 year periods between social unrest idea put forth by the above cited Christianity Today article is a conservative estimate in the modern era.
To be more precise, it is safe to say that the pace of change and social unrest in Europe can certainly accelerate in Europe. Why is this so? In the information age and in the global economy with global competition, one could easily argue that the pace of change and the resulting social unrest occurs at a more rapid pace. Many people hate change and no doubt it can be a contributor anxiety and social unrest - especially among those who lack foresight and plan poorly for the future. A prime example of this would be college students who received degrees in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies (LGBT Studies) and are angry protestors decrying their joblessness. There are only so many jobs requiring degrees in perversity!
The Bible declares that the end times will be perilous times and a time when men's love would grow cold. (2 Timothy 3:1, Matthew 24:12). When one reads the papers, it does seem as if we are living in the end times.
Eurozone financial crises
The total amount of debt in Europe is enormous. The Eurozone crisis and the other upcoming problems that Europe faces is going to cause an enormous amount of hurt in Europe. There is no guarantee of future prosperity in Europe. History teaches that sometimes countries and empires fall and many times it is due to internal factors rather than external factors. People are often their own worst enemies.Maybe Europe will eventually bounce back, but there is no guarantee.
The United States is about 17 trillion dollars in debt and if the United States economy goes down it will drag the world economy down due to the sheer size of the United States economy which is second only to Europe in its total size.
The investment advisor Harry Schulz, who predicted the 2008 financial crisis, wrote about the current global economic problems of the United States:
Roughly speaking, the mess we are in is the worst since 17th century financial collapse. Comparisons with the 1930’s are ludicrous. We’ve gone far beyond that. And, alas, the courage & political will to recognize the mess & act wisely to reverse gears, is absent in U.S. leadership, where the problems were hatched & where the rot is by far the deepest.In 2012, legendary investor Jim Rogers who regularly appear on CNBC's financial shows and other financial news shows said that if the United States goes into recession again it is going to be far worse than in 2008 because the United States is deeper in debt. He also indicated that after Germany has its elections in 2013 that Europe could see some very bad economic times (politicians tend to kick economic problems down the road before their elections).
Lessons from the Great Depression and from Latin America
Henry More wrote: "In agony or danger, no nature is atheist. The mind that knows not what to fly to, flies to God." Some people may stubbornly refuse to deny the existence of God during times of extreme difficulty. However, there is no denying that many people turn to God in times of trouble.
During the Great Depression in America churches which emphasized holiness grew and so did pentecostal Christianity (I realize there can be considerable overlap as many pentecostal church also emphasize holiness).
Both of these types of protestantism tend to support creationism. In Latin America, where many people are of modest means, evangelical Christianity is growing very fast. During these tough times, many Europeans could turn to God. I certainly hope so. Many of the problems of Europe could have been avoided if they heeded what the Bible said about the value of hard work and the problems associated with excess debt.
Question Evolution! Campaign and the future of biblical creation belief in Europe
We published a number of article pointing out that biblical creation belief in Europe is growing in some areas of Europe and that the future of Darwinism looks bleak due to number of factors. We encourage you to read our articles on this subject via our resource: A collection of our articles on European creationism
These are exciting times for creationists with secular countries like France currently having their fastest growing religion being evangelicalism. Of course, since evangelical immigrants to Europe tend to be creationists this means creationism is growing fast in France.
The Canadian creationist Ian Juby declared:
"The Question Evolution! Campaign is an innovative, grassroots anti-evolution campaign which I believe will have a lasting and far reaching impact. The campaign is worldwide in scope and I hope to see it serve as a uniting force within the biblical creation community. I heartily recommend getting involved in this grassroots anti-evolution movement."
We are in the midst of translating the campaign into various languages. We want to translate the campaign into at least 10 languages. Ideally, in some of these 10 languages, such as the countries of modest means, we want to distribute e-books and videos which could have a big effect in terms of helping to collapse Darwinism in the world. E-books can be priced very competitively compared to print books.
Preparation, the Question Evolution! Campaign and opportunity
Capitalizing on opportunities often requires having enough foresight to capitalize on trends so when opportunity presents itself you are ready.
Creativity and having your team work collectively faster and more efficiently than the opposition can work miracles in advancing causes.
Christianity has a great deal to gain by defeating Darwinism and the timing is excellent to crush the pseudoscience of Darwinism. See: Timing is right to combat Darwinism
Get involved in the Question Evolution! Campaign and topple Darwinism in your community!
Related post
Surefire signs that 2014 will be the WORST year in the history of Darwinism and atheism
Related resources:
Question Evolution! Campaign
15 questions for evolutionists
Responses to the 15 Questions: part 1 - Questions 1-3
Responses to the 15 Questions: part 2 - Questions 4–8
Responses to the 15 Questions: part 2 - Questions 9-15
Refuting evolution
