Spring Break
Pipes lectures to calm crowd
by Claire Moses
News | 4/24/07
Posted online at 10:55 PM EST on 4/23/07
/ Last updated at 6:44 AM EST on 4/23/07
Despite the buildup to Middle East scholar Daniel Pipes' campus lecture Monday, his talk did not meet any protests or angry outbursts.
Pipes addressed a crowd of over 200 in the Shapiro Campus Center Theater and spent the majority of his lecture discussing the "Islamization of Europe" from both the European and Muslim perspective, a subject on which he said he does not usually lecture.
"Europe is an open door, through which Muslims are walking right through," he said.
Pipes lined out three scenarios for the future of Europe. The first scenario is that Muslims will dominate Europe; the second scenario would be the rejection of Muslims; and a third, more hopeful scenario, is that everyone will coexist in peace. Pipes referred to many quotes from other scholars and built his argument with many examples.
Pipes said he could not identify which scenario would be most likely.
"I'd like to leave it as an open question. It's not clear which way it's going, and to whichever way it does go, it looks pretty bad," Pipes said.
According to Pipes, one of the main reasons Islam is gaining so much ground in Europe is because of the continent's high level of secularization and the decline in the popularity of Christianity. He said other important reasons are declining birth rates and a weakening of national pride in European countries.
Low birthrates in Europe are causing a shortage of labor, resulting in the need for more immigrants to fill the jobs. Most of these immigrants come from nearby Islamic countries, both because they are close and because they are connected to Europe through historic ties, Pipes explained.
"Europe will be Islamized because the yin of Europe and the yang of Islam fit right perfectly," Pipes said.
Because the event was planned under the Union's former Campaign for Peace, the organizers were required to hold a discussion afterward to reflect on the event, according to event organizer Jacob Olidort '07. Pipes was not expected to attend. No one stayed for this portion of the program.
Pipes addressed a crowd of over 200 in the Shapiro Campus Center Theater and spent the majority of his lecture discussing the "Islamization of Europe" from both the European and Muslim perspective, a subject on which he said he does not usually lecture.
"Europe is an open door, through which Muslims are walking right through," he said.
Pipes lined out three scenarios for the future of Europe. The first scenario is that Muslims will dominate Europe; the second scenario would be the rejection of Muslims; and a third, more hopeful scenario, is that everyone will coexist in peace. Pipes referred to many quotes from other scholars and built his argument with many examples.
Pipes said he could not identify which scenario would be most likely.
"I'd like to leave it as an open question. It's not clear which way it's going, and to whichever way it does go, it looks pretty bad," Pipes said.
According to Pipes, one of the main reasons Islam is gaining so much ground in Europe is because of the continent's high level of secularization and the decline in the popularity of Christianity. He said other important reasons are declining birth rates and a weakening of national pride in European countries.
Low birthrates in Europe are causing a shortage of labor, resulting in the need for more immigrants to fill the jobs. Most of these immigrants come from nearby Islamic countries, both because they are close and because they are connected to Europe through historic ties, Pipes explained.
"Europe will be Islamized because the yin of Europe and the yang of Islam fit right perfectly," Pipes said.
Because the event was planned under the Union's former Campaign for Peace, the organizers were required to hold a discussion afterward to reflect on the event, according to event organizer Jacob Olidort '07. Pipes was not expected to attend. No one stayed for this portion of the program.
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