Reproductive Justice

Amanda at Pandagon reported about the Reproductive Justice panel at the Women, Action and the Media Conference at MIT. I said:

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I just finished reading E.J. Dionne’s Souled Out. Dionne is a liberal Catholic of a sort that is very familiar to me, many of whom are/were heavily involved in the social justice movement. He doesn’t talk about “reproductive justice” by name, but he does talk favorably about the basic approach.

To what extent do you think Catholics can or will become part of a reproductive justice movement? Do we have to try to make people *consciously* aware of how their anti-abortion platform is

a stand-in for a series of anxieties about sexuality and ego

(which is IMHO certainly true), or is it possible to move them without forcing those issues into consciousness? Can we get them to agree consciously to the importance of empowering women *even though* that is the the thing they’re unconsciously afraid of?

Question about European social & religious history

Dear Euro-friends (or other knowledgable persons):

One of the most significant differences between Europe & the US right now is that the USans are extremely religious by comparison. This is particularly striking because most USans have ancestors from Europe, speak a European language, and have a substantially European ("Western") culture -- we think of pre-1600 European history as "our" history, for instance.

What is your understanding of the time frame in which European religious practice faded away? What historical events were most important? Do you think European religiousity was similar to USan levels before WWI? WWII? Or did the change start further back?

I am currently reading James Sheehan's Where Have All the Soldiers Gone?: The Transformation of Modern Europe. He does *not* mention religion (or its lack) as being a factor in the post-WWII transforation of Europe into a civil state, defined by non-military institutions; do you think religion was involved? What do you (or the older people in your family) think about what caused the change?

References to sources available in English are especially appreciated, of course.