The term the West masks that the civilization is historically European and Christian

Evidence

Catholicism and Protestantism. Western Christianity, first Catholicism and then Catholicism and Protestantism, is historically the single most important characteristic of Western civilization. During most of its first millennium, indeed, what is now known as Western civilization was called Western Christendom; there existed a well-developed sense of community among Western Christian peoples that they were distinct from Turks, Moors, Byzantines, and others; and it was for God as well as gold that Westerners went out to conquer the world in the sixteenth century. — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 186 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Those Europeans found Europe morally distasteful, with constant internecine wars between so-called Christian princes; with heresy rife, and schism a fact for almost forty years; with confused relations ever apparent between ecclesiastical and secular authority; with charity often non-existent; with marriage made a mockery, and adultery widespread; with lying and unvarnished thievery apparent on every side. — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 482 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: European civilization persists through secularized Christian institutional heritage even as belief declines; Modern European colonial ideology has medieval Christian origins — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1378; Western identity was defined by Christianity before and during its global conquest. — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 186 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Western identity was defined by Christianity before and during its global conquest. #corroborates (0.95) — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 186
• Europeans saw their own Christian civilization as morally corrupt and war-torn #complicates (0.72) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 482