Why Europe?
When you think of Germany and Christianity, what comes to mind? Martin Luther? The Reformation? Despite its rich theological history, a 2012 University of Chicago study has confirmed that East Germany is actually one of the least religious places on the entire planet. It is no wonder then, that the city of Berlin has been famously dubbed “the atheist capital of the world”. With only 2% of the city’s 3.9 million population identifying as Christian, that leaves 3,822,000 individuals who do not have a relationship with Jesus Christ. The hard truth is that Berlin’s statistics reflect a wider reality that expands beyond the city, into Germany, and throughout the rest of Europe.
Europe’s Strategic Importance
Europe is the intellectual center of the world. For the last 500 years, the world’s leading intellectual movements came out of Europe: Renaissance, Reformation, Counter-Reformation, Enlightenment, Scientific Revolution, Industrial Revolution, Romanticism, Existentialism, Marxism, Nazism, and Post-modernism. Historically, Europe is a wellspring of intellectualism that has shaped global worldviews.
Europe is the leading educator of the rest of the world. Twice as many international students are being educated in Europe than the U.S. Post 9/11 restrictions are shifting this number higher. Europe has a high influence on tomorrow’s intellects and leaders.
The fastest growing religion in the world comes from Europe. Growth in atheism and agnosticism has set the stage for the religion of ‘Unbelief’ to be the strongest influence in the western world in the last century. The spread of atheism typifies European influence. In early 1900’s, atheism had 225,000 adherents worldwide with 90% living in Europe. Today that number is over 150 million, yet only 18% live in Europe. In that same time period agnostics have grown from 3 million to 750 million. Europe’s intellectual movement has flooded the world with the influence of Unbelief. (Source: World Christian Encyclopedia)
Europe is the place where the global battle for the Gospel is being fought. The U.S. is facing a challenge to orthodox belief. The greatest challenger is not Islam, Hinduism, etc., but rather the influence of Unbelief (atheism & agnosticism). Europe is proving once again to be the source of a global tide. To counter this push in Europe and the U.S., the antidotes to Europe’s intellectual unbelief must be found in Europe and dispersed around the world. Ground-zero is here in Europe.
For Further Information See: “Why Invest in Europe”, by Dr. G.A. Pritchard
