Thousands of Germans demonstrated in four cities on Monday in opposition to the weekly rallies in Dresden against the perceived ‘Islamisation’ of Europe that have attracted growing numbers of supporters. Organizers of the demonstrations in Berlin, Stuttgart, Cologne and Dresden said they were rallying against racism and xenophobia to promote a message of tolerance instead. Businesses, churches, Cologne’s power company and others kept their buildings and other facilities dark in solidarity with the demonstrations against the ongoing protests by the group calling itself Patriotic Europeans against the Islamisation of the West, or Pegida. The square around the Cologne Cathedral was plunged into darkness as thousands joined the demonstration. Cologne Cathedral provost Norbert Feldhoff told n-tv that shutting down the lights was an attempt to make the Pegida demonstrators think twice about their protest.

In the heart of Europe in 2015, the killing of cartoonists and journalists for allegedly insulting God still comes as a shock, despite the rising number of such attacks in recent years. The battle within Islam itself between Sunni and Shia, so evident in the wars of the Middle East, and the fight between extremist interpretations of Islam such as those of Islamic State and Muslims who wish to practice their religion in peace, is now being played out on the streets of Europe with potentially devastating consequences for social cohesion. These latest shootings may be the work of "lone wolves" but their consequences will ripple across Europe and provoke much soul-searching about the failure of integration over the past decades. Immigrant communities are already being viewed with increasing suspicion in both France and Germany, with their significant Muslim populations, and even in the UK.

French police launched nationwide raids early on Monday to dismantle a network that was sending jihadists to Syria, a police source said. Elite and anti-terror police units descended on around a dozen targets, mostly in the southern region of Toulouse, but also around Paris and in the northern region of Normandy, the source told AFP, on condition of anonymity. It was not immediately clear how many people were arrested. In recent months in France - which has Europe's largest Muslim population - there has been growing concern over the hundreds of nationals joining jihadist groups in Iraq and Syria. The new reality was driven home in a video from the Islamic State (IS) group, released in mid-November, showing three Kalashnikov-wielding Frenchmen burning their passports and calling on Muslims to join them or stage attacks in France.

A Swedish Christian writes, ‘Here in Sweden the 'Roma people' from Romania is quite an issue. Hundreds of them beg on the streets in the cities. In many places churches are arranging overnight places for them. We also have an influx of refugees especially from Syria. We receive many, many more than other EU countries. For this reason the party in Sweden similar to your UKIP received 13.9% in the recent general elections and this has caused a political crisis. This party, The Swedish Democrats, were able to vote down the new government, so we will need to have a new election in March.' We enjoy lots of lights and candles in our communities and homes during this very dark time of the year, during Advent and Christmas. We've had wonderful Christmas concerts giving out the message of the Light coming into the world. George Verwer has said: 'Let's not fight the darkness, let's spread the Light!'

A new type of anti-immigration appears to be taking hold in Germany with protests against what’s been called the ‘growing Islamisation’ of the country. In Dresden members of PEGIDA or ‘Patriotic Europeans against the Islamisation of the West’ held a rally against extremism and perceived abuses of Germany’s asylum system. 'Political refugees are very welcome, but look at our asylum seekers’ homes here. There are only men living there. Where are their families? They are criminals who left their families behind in the war,’ said one PEGIDA demonstrator. Critics of PEGIDA who held their own counter demonstration accused the group of drawing support from the far-right Neo-Nazis. PEGIDA says it is not against Muslims in general but wants to preserve the country’s Judeo-Christian culture. Germany is now the second most popular destination for migrants after the US and is struggling to cope with an unprecedented influx of asylum seekers.

Islamic supremacists are becoming increasingly violent in Europe. If we do not stop them effectively, where will it end? ‘Immigrant gangs’ is Danish media's euphemism for Muslim gangs. Islamic extremists use immigrant gangs to enforce religious Sharia laws in residential areas throughout Denmark. There is an unholy alliance is between religious extremists and hardcore criminals in residential areas where especially younger people are  to behave in certain ways and women are to dress in particular ways. Gang members typically support individual extremist imams and mosques with a strict interpretation of Islam. People are more afraid of the extremists when they are backed by gang members. This can be seen for example in Tingbjerg. The consequence is that people do not dare to stand up against the extremists, because they know that they will get beaten up by hardened criminals. National Police Research Centre (NEC), which monitors gang activity at home, confirms that the gangs are flirting with religious environments.

Hundreds of young German Islamists have travelled to Syria to fight with the terrorist group Islamic State. Der Spiegel explored the extremist scene in Germany and the fascination with jihad in order to find answers about what drives people to join the murderous cult. Whenever Ismail Cetinkaya runs into one of those young men who want to leave Hamburg to fight in Syria, he asks: ‘Have you ever slept without heat in the winter? Do you know what it's like to live without electricity and running water? Do you think a Kalashnikov works like the controller for your PlayStation 4?’ He also asks whether the young man is leaving his mother behind. And then he quotes the words of the Prophet Mohammed, and says: ‘Paradise lies at the feet of your mother.’ The implication being that those who leave their weeping mothers behind won't enter paradise.

In the middle of October the petition ‘No Education Policy under Rainbow (Gay) Ideology’ signed by 192,000 supporters was rejected by the petition commission for no good reason and the state parliament (in Stuttgart) confirmed this rejection in the middle of November with its ‘green-red’ majority. However protest action is now gaining further momentum and has entered a new phase. 3000 citizens in Stuttgart took a stand for the protection and strengthening of the family at one of the ‘Demo for everybody’ demonstrations which are now taking place regularly.  Last month significant articles appeared in the media exposing the background to this ‘Pornographisation’ of the school system. The link between today’s sexual education and the thinking of paedophiles was disclosed to a shocked public.  Radical unchristian teaching, to be incorporated into the new Education Policy is now increasingly coming under criticism. Give thanks for growing resistance. (1 Pe.5:8-9

Child soldiers appear to be playing a part on both sides of the conflict in eastern Ukraine. A boy as young as 15 has been shown training pro-Russian separatist recruits in how to handle weapons, while Ukrainian media have told the story of a 17-year-old volunteer sapper. It is a development that particularly worries the UN children's agency, Unicef, which is investigating ‘anecdotal evidence that children have been recruited and may be directly involved in the fighting’. The fighting, which erupted in April, has claimed more than 4,300 lives and left some 10,000 people wounded. ‘Armed groups should not, under any circumstances, recruit or use in hostilities people under the age of 18 years,’ says the agency's Ukraine representative Giovanna Barberis.

Pope Francis has told European leaders to do more to help thousands of migrants risking their lives to get to the continent. Addressing the European Parliament for the first time, the pontiff referred to an estimated 3,200 migrants who have drowned this year trying to get to Europe. ‘There needs to be a united response to the question of migration. We cannot allow the Mediterranean to become a vast cemetery,’ he said. ‘The boats landing daily on the shores of Europe are filled with men and women who need acceptance and assistance,’ he added, calling on European powers to work together to protect immigrants from human traffickers.  The Pope’s address comes just days after 600 migrants were rescued in the Mediterranean between Sicily and North Africa.