While the church must be generous to "individuals that are not able to find a way of living in their own country," this is not the case for many Muslim migrants "who are opportunists," he said.

As evidence that Muslim immigration is having an effect even in the United States, he cited the book "No Go Zones: How Sharia Law is Coming to a Neighborhood Near You," written by former Breitbart News reporter Raheem Kassam.

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breitbart_Newsis a far-right syndicated American news, opinion and commentary website).

He then went on to tell those at the conference that Islam "believes itself to be destined to rule the world.

"You don't have to be a rocket scientist to see what has happened in Europe," he said, pointing to the large Muslim immigrant populations in France, Germany and Italy.

Burke's comments add to the debate among Catholics about applying Gospel precepts to the large numbers of migrants arriving in Western nations from Africa and the Middle East.

While the church must be generous to "individuals that are not able to find a way of living in their own country," he said this is not the case for many Muslim migrants, "who are opportunists."

A cause of Europe's Muslim influx can be attributed to Christian nations' abandonment of traditional moral norms, Burke continued.

"Muslims have said that they are able today to accomplish what they were not able to accomplish in the past with armaments because Christians no longer are ready to defend their faith, what they believe; they are no longer ready to defend the moral law," the cardinal said.

Another reason for the demographic shift Burke noted is that "Christians are not reproducing themselves," referring to the widespread use of contraceptives.

In this context, Burke said Catholics have a duty to instruct migrants on "what is bankrupt in the culture" into which they are received.

They should even to try to work with migrants "to recover what is true culture," which includes recognising the dignity of life, respect for sexual morality and proper worship of God.

In view of these considerations, limiting "large-scale Muslim immigration is in fact, as far as I'm concerned, a responsible exercise of one's patriotism," Burke added.

Burke's views differ from those of Pope Francis, who has made a generous attitude toward migrants a cornerstone of his pontificate.

Francis stresses the Christian duty to "welcome the stranger" over political and demographic considerations.

At the same time, he has repeatedly added that government leaders have a responsibility to assess how many migrants their countries truly can integrate. This includes considering including the financial costs of helping immigrants learn the local language and customs.

Source

• Catholic Herald
• Image: National Catholic Register

Recently, however, this long-standing distance between religion and politics has been threatened. Migration is one factor that has helped religion to return to centre stage in public life. While Muslim minorities have protested over questions of blasphemy and free speech, Catholic leaders have intervened in political debates about gay marriage and abortion, and conservatives have lamented that European societies are losing touch with their Christian past. The political scientist Eric Kaufmann has argued that religious believers have a demographic advantage in birth rates that will see Europe's secularisation reversed by the end of this century.

Religious justifications for terrorism might be the most visible and dramatic threat to liberal states from increased religiosity, but the separation of religion and politics has recently been challenged in multiple ways and in many countries, not just in Europe. Both the US and Canada have experienced controversies over the attempted use of religious law in family arbitration, while Islamic leaders in Australia have provoked intense debate after giving sermons denouncing gender equality. However, the renewed visibility of religion in public affairs provokes particularly intense challenges in Europe since it undermines well-established, but often tacit, conventions on the limits to religious influence on public life. Continue reading

Sources

• Aeon Magazine
• Image: Mystagogy