Multiculturalism is Dead

An Egyptian Coptic Christian icon.

Okay, all hell is now officially breaking loose. Angela Merkel has declared publicly that multiculturalism has not worked in Germany and is dead. A few years ago, that would have been unthinkable, would have put her well outside the mainstream, had her tagged as a racist right-wing extremist. In fact, it was an article saying precisely this that got Mark Steyn haled before the Canadian Human Rights Tribunals a couple of years ago, facing a prison sentence if convicted. Now we have the unspeakable spoken by probably the single most powerful politician in Europe. My guess is that nobody's going to prosecute Merkel.

Unfortunately, if the tide is turning against immigration, this leaves Europe and the rest of the developed world somewhere between a rock and a hard place. Demographics still say the rich world cannot maintain itself without an influx of workers from somewhere, and babies are no longer being made in sufficient numbers.

I submit that the problem is not immigration, but ingratitude and a lack of commitment to the new country among immigrants. Immigrant societies have often been both strikingly peaceful, and strikingly prosperous: Singapore and the USA come to mind.

As we speak, and as many worry about the “Islamification” of Europe, others are lamenting the troubling situation of Christians throughout the Middle East, and in Ethiopia, due to the rise of Muslim militancy.

Here Europe, and North America, have an opportunity to do a good deed to others while also doing a good deed for themselves. Leave aside even any thought of duty to “co-religionists”: such Christian populations, feeling embattled by a surrounding majority, are just the sort of immigrants who would identify with, and feel some gratitude to, their adopted lands. Why not throw the doors open, specifically, to Christians emigrating from Muslim-majority nations? No, let's not leave it at that, either. There is no reason to single out Islam. Why not throw the doors open to Christians emigrating from any nation in which Christians are a minority?

One might argue that this is religious discrimination; but there is a large moral difference between religious discrimination in choosing citizens, and religious discrimination among citizens. States have always reserved the right to choose who is accepted to citizenship, and have the right to do so on the basis of freedom of association. Racial qualifications for citizenship are commonly used, by many states, even though they could not be considered in those countries' courts. Linguistic qualifications are also commonly used, without being considered discriminatory. Religion is no different in principle from race or language in this regard.

I would have no problem, actually, in principle, with a European country actually barring Muslim immigration, except that I think it would miss the point. But I certainly see no problem with an open door, or a more open door, for Christians from minority-Christian countries. Many probably have an ipso facto claim to refugee status in any case.

Accepting Christian minorities would work far better, here, than accepting some other, random minority, in that they would feel that the one thing that most defined their experience was something held in common with the majority of their new compatriots. That would automatically make them prone to give their allegiance to their new country.