Beyond the "Clash of Civilizations"

George Weigel

Although a bit overconfident, George Weigel correctly points out that the "skepticism, moral relativism, and nihilism" that inevitably results from the loss of religious faith may compel the Catholic and Orthodox to work more closely together.

One of the most intriguing proposals for thinking about the post-Cold War world is Harvard professor Samuel Huntington's suggestion that global politics in the twenty-first century will be channeled along cultural, not national, fault-lines.

But John Paul II may well have laid the groundwork for a renewed East-West ecumenism in which Catholics and Orthodox begin from a new premise--that working together to challenge the moral relativism, skepticism, and nihilism of the global MTV culture is of the essence of the new evangelization...perhaps the Orthodox can now begin to see that the new Babylon is not Rome but Hollywood and the shopping mall. Re-evangelizing Europe together in the face of that challenge, it may be suggested, will make it easier to solve outstanding theological questions between East and West, like the primacy of the Bishop of Rome, the "procession" of the Holy Spirit, and the nature of Christian marriage.

For the complete article go to the Ethics and Public Policy website.