The International Herald Tribune reports this week that young people in Iraq appear to be losing faith in their religious leaders.

The conclusion was based on interviews with a number of young people, not on any study remotely bordering on being scientific.

Nevertheless, it has a ring of truth and the truth it rings to ought to be one we take into consideration when we look at Iraqi society -- and at ours.

Why would young Iraqi Muslims question their leaders?

"When they behead someone, they say 'Allah Akbar,' they read Koranic verse," said a moderate Shiite sheik from Baghdad. "The young people, they think that is Islam, so Islam is a failure, not only in the students' minds, but also in the community."

In other words, a religious faith used to destroy the entire fabric of society, perpetuate ghastly cruelties and propel mundane leaders into positions of influence and wealth does not inspire the hearts and minds of the young. Imagine that.

Why does this have a ring of truth when applied to Islam? Because we have seen the same thing happen in the lands of Christianity.

Europe, for example, is a continent of beautiful, empty churches. Centuries of wars featuring Christians killing Christians, of clergy blessing despots, of endless, mindless bickering between branches of the faith all led the young to conclude that church was, at best, irrelevant and, at worst, diabolical.

When Mitt Romney pulled out of the presidential race, he blamed Europe's problems on some lack of family values. Romney was wrong. Religion in Europe suffers because religion in Europe betrayed the young.

In most of the world's Muslim communities, the young are the most fervent defenders of the faith and there is an undercurrent of thought in this country that that will always be the case.

Not likely. When Muslims are in a minority, as they are in many European countries, they may well turn to religion to protect their interest and buttress their identity. But, in the Middle East, where tyrants rule in the name of Islam while the people suffer in poverty, sooner or later, the young will lose faith. In Iraq, where Shiites and Sunnis drill holes in one another's heads all in the name of Allah, sooner or later, young people will begin to question just what is so great about God.

That doesn't mean, necessarily, they will lose their faith in Islam, but they will surely lose their faith in many who speak for Islam.

We don't always get that here. Each week, I receive dozens of messages from readers convinced that the West must battle Islam as a religion, lest its zealot wing reign triumphant. All that we'd accomplish if we did that would be to drive young Muslims ever further into the embrace of those who would betray God for personal gain.