THE FAITH VACUUM

An historical old church in the country town of Clitheroe, England is now slated to become a mosque:

On a chilly night this winter, this pristine town in some of Britain’s most untouched countryside voted to allow a former Christian church to become a mosque.

The narrow vote by the municipal authorities marked the end of a bitter struggle by the tiny Muslim population to establish a place of worship, one that will put a mosque in an imposing stone Methodist church that had been used as a factory since its congregation dwindled away 40 years ago.

The battle underscored Britain’s unease with its Muslim minority, and particularly the infiltration of terrorist cells among the faithful, whose devotion has challenged an increasingly secular Britain’s sense of itself.

Britain may continue to regard itself as a Christian nation. But practicing Muslims are likely to outnumber church-attending Christians in several decades, according to a recent survey by Christian Research, a group that specializes in documenting the status of Christianity in Britain.

Britain, along with the rest of Europe, has shown it does not have the political will to stand up to Muslim immigration, but their lack of faith for the past several generations has made impotent their ability to combat Islam,secularism not having the strength to stand before it. The progression from church to factory to mosque is not a coincidental one. A secular industrialized West that has abandoned the Christian roots from which it sprang is no match for the vibrant faith of Islam. In our own generation we are witnessing the transformation of western Europe as we know it.