Tangled in the Secular

Writing at Stratfor, George Friedman offers a sobering, pessimistic view of the future of Islam in Europe: “We are entering a place that has no solutions. Such a place does have decisions, and all of the choices will be bad.”

At the moment, he admits, “It is difficult to imagine another outcome save for another round of ghettoization and deportation. This is repulsive to the European sensibility now.” But that may change: “Unable to distinguish radical Muslims from other Muslims, Europe will increasingly and unintentionally move in this direction.” 

The choices are made more difficult because of the secular assumptions that guide current policy. Secularism doesn’t allow us to assign responsibility to a religion for the violence in Paris and elsewhere. Because it “eschews stereotyping,” secularism “leaves unclear who is to be held responsible for what. By devolving all responsibility on the individual, secularism tends to absolve nations and religions from responsibility.”

Friedman doesn’t this is wrong in principle, but it creates a huge practical problem: “you have paralyzed your ability to defend yourselves. It is impossible to defend against random violence and impermissible to impose collective responsibility.”