World Youth Day and the London Riots

Ben Akers contrasts two very different youth gatherings:

Recently there was another gathering of youth in another capital city in Europe, although this gathering did not lead to anything remotely resembling the scenes of destruction broadcast from London. Over a million young people from the 193 countries of the world gathered peacefully in Madrid, Spain to celebrate World Youth Day. These triennial events began in 1985 to offer the youth of the world an opportunity to encounter each other and deepen their own personal sense of faith. The theme for this year’s event was “planted and built up in Jesus Christ, firm in the faith” (cf. Col 2:7).

In each World Youth Day message from the past, the Roman Pontiff has been the only world leader to consistently call youth to a high moral standard of living. He is the lone voice entreating the young to pursue greatness. In his message inviting the youth to participate in this year’s event, Pope Benedict XVI speaks directly to the attendees recognizing that the world has offered them the easier way, the choices which are “ultimately deceptive and cannot bring you serenity and joy.” He observes that the “eclipse of God” and moral relativism do “not lead to true freedom, but rather to instability, confusion, and blind conformity to the fads of the moment.” Not a bad description of the events in London.

The pope’s phrasing here highlights a common theme of his assessment of Europe’s moral crisis. By untethering the anchor of Judeo-Christian values, society has no moral grounding and begins to drift. If moral relativism is allowed to be the centering principle of one’s life and society all decisions are equally valid and “truth and absolute points of reference do not exist.” The economic and social “causes” for the riots in London (and now the “flash mob” crime scenes here in the U.S.) are really manifestations of a moral crisis in society.