France, UK, Germany and other Western liberal democracies are busy trying to find legal ways to ban protests in support of Hamas and Palestine. Neither country is willing to accept the quote wrongly attributed to Voltaire: “I do not approve of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” This comes 13 years after the German Chancellor Angela Merkel recognized that multiculturalism does not work, and after European states, in an attempt to fight conservatives, introduced numerous laws prohibiting the “glorification of terrorism,” “hate speech,” “homophobia” and even “transphobia,” that is, a discourse that recognizes that men cannot become women. What happened?

State religion

It is becoming increasingly clear that any society will have a state religion, and that state religion will use the legal system for protection. In the West, which calls itself secular, the dominant state religion is progressive liberalism, or awakening, which, unconsciously, is another Christian heresy. This fanatical heresy replaces Christ with collectives of holy victims – non-whites, women, queers, etc. -; takes the form of original sin – colonialism, slavery, “homophobia”, etc. – but only Westerners bear the stain of this sin.

Like all fanatics, woke people see their internal enemies as a greater threat than their external enemies.

There’s the end-of-the-world eschatology in “climate crisis” in “Awakening” and heaven in “Clear Zero.” It replaces the soul with a sexualized “gender identity.” And in cancel culture, wokeness has its own version of excommunication. Cancel culture is reserved for those who blaspheme against woke dogma, such as questioning gay pride, the “climate crisis,” or immigration. Common sinners such as terrorism suspects are spared the wrath of the law and are often given welfare instead of deportation in the hope that they will repent and join the rainbow alliance.

And the theocrats who adhere to this awakened religion have repeatedly demonstrated that they will go to any lengths to impose their dogma on their rivals: evidence of their desire to suppress free speech under the banner of protecting us from “hate speech.” Like all fanatics, woke people view their internal enemies—those who share the Christian model of values ​​but reject some of their specific demands—as a greater threat than their external enemies, such as conservative Muslims or Chinese communists.

Religious conflict

However, the pro-Palestine and Hamas protests have shown that Muslim immigrants in the supposedly secular West do not accept the liberal and progressive awakening religion as readily as they accept their new European passports. Woke religion can be imposed on a Christian society because it is based on Christian premises and sentiments, but it will not work in a Muslim society. Muslims have never apologized for slavery, and if they did so for colonialism, it would be like inviting the Turks, Egyptians, Iraqis and Persians to apostatize.

Diversity undermines the ability to agree on the common good

Instead of accepting the idea of ​​awakening, the Muslims of Europe have shown that they will retain their original loyalty no matter what progressive leaders want. This is quite reasonable and expected. Muslims have their own scriptures that define their culture, establish their values, and limit acceptable speech. They have their own idea of ​​friend and enemy. They have their own personality. And this identity, while certainly complex and open to nuance and variation, is not transformed simply by being on European soil or holding a European passport.

Despite this, the woke refuse to acknowledge the obvious and predictable costs of diversity, of which I will name only three.

First, diversity undermines the ability to agree on the common good. In a truly diverse society, where different groups have different loyalties and priorities, it is difficult to determine what is common: Keir Starmer wants to be with the Jewish community, and Sadiq Khan wants to be with the Muslim community. Moreover, given different values, it is difficult to agree on what is good. Hamas’ terrorist attacks are clearly glorious retribution for some and a cowardly act of terrorism for others. How can there be a definition of the common good if we cannot agree on what is common and what is good?

Secondly, trust has been undermined. How can Jews and Muslims in the West trust each other if their interests are diametrically opposed? How can Westerners trust one group or another if each group seeks Western support for its own causes and interests?

Third, liberal democracy dies with diversity. It is possible to be liberal and democratic when there is a society that is fairly homogeneous, in which values ​​and interests are widely and deeply shared. In such circumstances, parties can peacefully succeed each other in power as long as they continue to trust their rivals enough to pursue the public interest because they share identity and values. However, without a certain degree of homogeneity, without trust, without a shared concept of the common good, there is only irreconcilable conflict. As political competition becomes more intense, those in power impose ever more draconian laws on their rivals.

On the way to honesty

The “woke” progressive liberal takeover of Western institutions paved the way for mass emigration from Muslim countries. The people who have been brought in to diversify Europe are increasingly making their voices known based on their own loyalties, values ​​and beliefs that have not changed since they arrived in Europe, and in some cases have even become bitter.

The progressive establishment did not expect such a challenge to its ideology and values ​​from the new Europeans it helped bring. And, having found that the new Europeans do not accept the values ​​of Woke, the establishment can only counter them with repression, just as it faced repression against European conservatives, using laws against “racism”, “hate speech”, “homophobia”, etc. e. The ruling class, having succeeded in imposing their Woke religion on the institutions of Europe and the West, having succeeded in driving true conservatives out of public life, now faces a religious rival far more dangerous than the traditional European Christian conservatives: Islam. .

Now that Muslims across Europe are making it clear that their identity determines their loyalties, that their definition of what is common and what is good does not align with what the woke believe, or with what conservative Christians believe, It’s time for a little humility. and honesty. Multiculturalism has not only failed, it has created a hostile and destabilizing element in the heart of Europe that will become increasingly difficult to contain. Are woke believers ready to admit their mistakes? Will they accept the fact that the only reason their scam was so successful is because it was based on a Christian model? And will they recognize that containing Islam will require a more illiberal Europe, open to Christianity as its true state religion? I doubt it. After all, humility is a Christian virtue, but worship has awakened at the altar of pride.

Fashion Fairs He is an independent adviser on political and security issues. @ModadFiras