The sound of the choir's perfect voices faded. A lone bell began to toll. The plain wooden coffin was carried slowly up the steps. The crowd, millions strong, began to cheer even as they wept. And perhaps two billion people watched around the globe...
 
Began to cheer?
 
Why do people believe in religion? I refer to the real believers, not the dabblers and dilettantes who espouse the popular religion du jour. Some of these fly-by-nights change "faith" more often than I rearrange my furniture, and sometimes with less reason (like, for instance, the bike path dispute that sparked Howard Dean's conversion). Most Liberals keep telling us that religion is all about fear and hatred, but that's what makes them tick; that's the lens through which they view everyone else. I saw no evidence of either fear or hatred from the people celebrating John Paul's life and mourning his death this past week -- just the opposite. The love and esteem in which the Pope was so widely held was simply amazing. The number of believers willing to endure what amounted to a pilgrimage to Rome for his funeral was staggering. Who knew, in this day and age, that so many would be so willing to show their faith? Non-religious people around the world wondered, What do they possibly get out of it?

Religion, it seems, gives the believer two things that secularism can't: the hope that there's more to life than what we can see and touch, and the chance to be a part of it. The idea that there's something after death is central to all major religions. The farewell to Pope John Paul II brought out all of the best the Catholic faith has to offer for the entire world to see, in a spectacle lasting over a week. But John Paul was more than just a leader of Catholics -- he was a religious leader in the true sense of the word. Under his guidance, the various divisions of Christianity came closer together than anytime in the last thousand years. The solemn pageantry and unapologetic public display of faith is something that hasn't been seen since... well, since the last Pope died (two of them!) in 1978. And I don't recall representatives of so many countries and religions, including Iranian theocrats, attending those funerals.

Oddly enough, the once stodgy and boring Church has become something new and different to many young people. A generation of creeping secularism has left many with nowhere to turn for moral guidance and principles. Popular hedonistic philosophies like, "if it feels good, do it," and "he who dies with the most toys, wins," become deeply unsatisfying once you pass your teen years. Anyone mature enough to consider his own mortality wonders whether there just might be something more than the physical life. The secularist answer to this question has usually been, "No! Nothing! Shut up and enjoy yourself! Don't waste time!" Could it be that Leftist suppression of religion and morality over the last quarter century might be the main reason Pope John Paul II held such appeal for so many of the world's youth?

Many seemed surprised at the sheer number of people who turned out around the world to mark the passing of the Pope. The real surprise would be if this event doesn't mark the beginning of a low-key religious resurgence, especially among young Europeans disillusioned with the bleakness of secularism. With all the "glories" of demi-Socialism -- including soaring unemployment rates (especially in France and Germany) and the near-death of family life in some places (like Scandinavia) -- Europeans have become mired in a sort of moral quagmire of their own. Ennui has become the national disease of the European Union.

If John Paul's death actually helps rescue the next generation from their secular decline, perhaps he deserves the title of "Saint" so many want conferred on him by his Church.