Godless Europe

Mark Lilla in The New York Times reviews Earthly Powers: The Clash of Religion and Politics in Europe From the French Revolution to the Great War by Michael Burleigh.

The Old World is different: though Christian belief remains strong in some European countries, like Poland, and Islam is a potent force among Muslims across the Continent, contemporary Europe is the closest thing to a godless civilization the world has ever known. Does this place it in the vanguard of world history? That is what many Europeans think, which is why they have been caught off guard by the challenge of radical Islam even in their own backyard.