West v Islam: China Wins

It is pretty obvious that Islam v West will only accelerate the rise to dominance of China, just as WW1 did for America. "For three hundred years round eyes around the Atlantic have run the world - but now it is returning to normal"

For those (mainly American) arguing that the decline of Europe and its awful demographics is due to lack of religion, some thoughts. Yes there has been religion in China, but of the personal pick-and-mix variety closer to New Age than the patriarchal G_d of the Middle East. Meanwhile the state ideology/ethics was always pretty secular, Confucian gentlemen regarding Buddhism and Daoism as a bit vulgar

Confucian ethics did however focus on the primacy of the family, and the Chinese did not die out, indeed they bred at an indecent rate for most of their history. This does not affect China today - as the one child family policy is relaxed their demographics will still look bad, look at Hong Kong and Singapore today, but then there are an awful lot of Chinese . But does this suggest that a secular ideology that encourages reproduction may be possible? G_d or her absence forbid that we should all become Confucians, but the problem may simply be that liberal secular Western values are dysfunctional, but other secular ethics may not be.

We will still feel nostalgic for America when China takes over, however. At the moment it is the most successful fascist state in history (after all, what do you call a ruthless one-party state with a thriving capitalist economy? Certainly not communist). Even if democratic, China may still be a pretty cruel and amoral place, it has been for most of its history: obey your parents and the state does not leave much room for charity. There's something to be said for Christian ethics, even if you cannot believe in the stuff