Beyond the economic and governance levels that became entrenched in secularism in Europe, the secularization of European society and morality has also occurred. This was perhaps the most dangerous and influential aspect of the decline of the West and Europe. This process led to the disappearance of the last traces of religion and religious beliefs from their lives, leaving Western individuals free and unrestrained from all forms of religious teachings concerning morality and social manners.
Although in previous centuries European society did not have significant religious and moral lives—so much so that during the Middle Ages, this society and its people fell into a terrible state of decline and chaos, unprecedented anywhere else in the world—especially during the first three centuries of the Middle Ages, referred to by historians as the “Dark Ages,” no matter how dark those periods are portrayed in the history of the West and Europe, they still cannot strip the people of that time of their humanity. However, what has happened to Western society today, in regard to the moral and lifestyle issues they have adopted, is undoubtedly a prime example of moral decay. The Western individual has become an “animal” that only thinks of desires and whims.
Thus, one can say that the Western man of the Middle Ages was a backward individual, but the modern Western individual is a descending animal, falling into the pit of destruction and deviation.
Western society in the Middle Ages upheld specific moral and human values promoted and implemented by the Church. Although these values lacked valid scientific documentation, they had become accepted truths that no one doubted or denied. Adherence to them was a sign of dignity and high status for the Western individual, while failing to follow them brought dishonor and questioned one’s masculinity.
The Church was responsible for safeguarding values, ethics, and social teachings, with the Pope and the clergy tasked with preserving them. However, due to the Church’s distortions of Christianity and the innovations it introduced, it committed a grave offense, unintentionally dismantling the foundations of morality. The Church imposed standards of virtue and high ethics that were beyond human capability, and, in practice, even the clergy ignored them. A clear example of this can be seen in the monks and popes who renounced marriage; although they did not marry, their temples became centers of immorality, and many popes had more mistresses than ordinary individuals.
Similarly, the Church condemned the accumulation of wealth to the extent that even earning legitimate wealth was considered sinful. It promoted asceticism and the endurance of hardships.
Forgiveness and leniency towards others are indeed virtues, but the Church led its people to a state of humiliation in this regard, instructing its followers that if someone strikes your right cheek, offer the left cheek as well; if someone forces you to walk one mile, walk two miles with them; and if someone sues you for your shirt, give them your coat as well!
All these moral teachings came at a time when the Church itself did not adhere to them and exercised deep and widespread oppression over its people, surpassing even the most tyrannical kings in injustice. There was a stark contradiction between the Church’s teachings and its actions.
Despite this, European society still adhered to family values, dignity, and marital commitment. They also maintained religiously inspired individual practices. It can be said that before the spread of secularism, European society largely adhered to moral principles and social rules.
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