At the same time that the Vatican is pressing for recognition—and power—for Christianity in the new Europe, European nations are becoming increasingly Islamic. Those who profess Christianity are practicing it less and less. Presently, more Muslims worship in their British mosques than members of the Church of England do in their churches.

Author Oriana Fallaci, in a new book, La Forza della Ragione ("The Force of Reason"), warns: "Europe becomes more and more a province of Islam, a colony of Islam."

European Christians are having fewer children than ever—not enough to sustain their numbers. Common in Western nations, they have their children later in life, and women are having an average of 1.5 children each. However, to sustain a population a birthrate of 2.1 children per woman is required. So, old Europe is dying out.

Of course, workers are needed to pay taxes and maintain the economy, so Europe is bringing in millions of immigrants. Approximately 1.6 million are needed every year to keep the working population even. But if Europe wants to maintain the current ratio of workers to retirees, with more of its aging population retiring all the time, it will have to bring in a staggering 13.5 million immigrants every year.

Many of those are Muslims. They join the 20 million Muslims now in Europe, about 5 percent of its population. Muslims tend to have their children when young, and to have many of them, in contrast to the native Europeans. Birthrates and immigration will put the Muslim population of Europe at 10 percent by 2020.

If people then begin to flee areas with sizable Muslim populations, as has happened in other regions, Europe could be majority-Muslim within decades. Time will tell whether that will happen, but the sure consequence is that Muslim views will have an increasing influence on EU policy decisions. That will translate into even stronger pro-Arab and anti-Israel stands, as the EU takes a greater hand in foreign affairs than it has for many years.

—Source: Daniel Pipes, "Europe en Route to Islamic Takeover," Chicago Sun-Times, May 12, 2004.