The following article, which appeared in yesterday's USA Today, is adapted from my new book What's So Great About Christianity:
We seem to be witnessing an aggressive attempt by leading atheists to portray religion in general, and Christianity in particular, as the bane of civilization. Finding the idea of God incompatible with science and reason, these atheists also fault Christianity with fostering a breed of fanaticism comparable to Islamic radicalism. The proposed solution: a completely secular society, liberated from Christian symbols and beliefs.
This critique, which comes from best-selling atheist books, academic tracts and a sophisticated network of atheist organizations and media, can be disputed on its own terms. What it misses, however, is the larger story of how Christianity has shaped the core institutions and values of the USA and the West. Christianity is responsible even for secular institutions such as democracy and science. It has fostered in our civilization values such as respect for human dignity, human rights and human equality that even secular people cherish.
Consider science. Although there have been many civilizations in history, modern science developed in only one: Western civilization. And why? Because science is based on an assumption that is, at root, faith-based and theological. That is the assumption that the universe is rational and follows laws that are discoverable through human reason.
Science is based on what James Trefil calls the principle of universality. "It says that the laws of nature we discover here and now in our laboratories are true everywhere in the universe and have been in force for all time." Moreover, the laws that govern the universe seem to be written in the language of mathematics. Physicist Richard Feynman found this to be "a kind of miracle."
Why? Because the universe doesn't have to be this way. There's no particular reason the laws of nature that we find on Earth should also govern a star billions of light years away. There's no logical necessity for a universe that obeys rules, let alone mathematical ones. So where did Western man get this idea of a lawfully ordered universe? From Christianity.
Christians were the first ones who envisioned the universe as following laws that reflected the rationality of God the creator. These laws were believed to be accessible to man because man is created in the image of God and shares a spark of the divine reason. No wonder, then, that the first universities and observatories were sponsored by the church and run by priests.
No wonder also that the greatest scientists of the West - Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, Boyle, Newton, Leibniz, Gassendi, Pascal, Mersenne, Cuvier, Harvey, Dalton, Faraday, Joule, Lyell, Lavoisier, Priestley, Kelvin, Ampere, Steno, Pasteur, Maxwell, Planck, Mendel, and Lemaitre - were Christians. Gassendi, Mersenne and Lamaitre were priests. Several of them viewed their research as demonstrating God's creative genius as manifested in his creation.
If modern science has Christian roots, so do our most basic political institutions and values. Consider Thomas Jefferson's famous assertion in the Declaration of Independence that "all men are created equal." He claimed this was "self-evident," but one only has to look to history and to other cultures to see that it is not evident at all. Everywhere we see dramatic evidence of human inequality. Jefferson's point, however, was that human beings are moral equals. Every life has a worth no greater and no less than any other.
The preciousness and equal worth of every human life is a Christian idea. We are equal because we have been created equal in the eyes of God. This is an idea with momentous consequences. In ancient Greece and Rome, human life had very little value. The Spartans, for example, left weak children to die on the hillside. Greek and Roman culture was built on slavery.
Christianity banned infanticide and the killing of the weak and "dispensable," and even today Christian values are responsible for the moral horror we feel when we hear of such practices. Christianity initially tolerated slavery- a universal institution at the time - but gradually mobilized the moral and political resources to end it. From the beginning, Christianity discouraged the enslavement of fellow Christians. Slavery, the foundation of Greek and Roman civilization, withered and largely disappeared throughout medieval Christendom in the Middle Ages.
The first movements to abolish slavery completely occurred only in the West, and were led by Christians. In the modern era, first the Quakers and then the evangelical Christians demanded that since we are all equal in God's eyes, no man has the right to rule another man without his consent. This religious doctrine not only supplies the moral justification for anti-slavery but also for democracy. Yes, the idea of self-government is also rooted in the Christian assumption of human equality. One reason the atheist philosopher Nietzsche hated democracy is because he understood its religious foundation.
Consider finally modern notions of human rights - the right to freedom of conscience, or to property, or to marry and form a family, or to be treated equally before the law - as enshrined in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The universalism of this declaration is based on the particular teachings of Christianity. The premise is that all human lives have equal dignity and worth, but this is not the teaching of all the world's cultures and religions. Even so, it's appropriate that a doctrine Christian in origin should be universal in application. Christianity from the start promulgated its message as one for the whole world.
There are some atheists and even some Christians who admit that theism and Christianity have shaped the core institutions and values of America and the West. But now that we have these values, they say, why do we still need God and Christianity? Oddly enough, the answer is supplied by Nietzsche.
Nietzsche argued that since the Christian God is the foundation of Western values, the death of God must necessarily mean the erosion and ultimate collapse of those values. Remove the base and the whole building will slowly crumble. For a while, Nietzsche conceded, people would out of custom or habit continue to respect human life and treat people with equal dignity, but eventually there would be ferocious assaults on these values, and practices once unthinkable such as the killing of people deemed inferior or undesirable would once again occur. This is precisely what we have seen in our time, and Nietzsche predicted that it will only get worse.
If we cherish the distinctive ideals of Western civilization, and believe as I do that they have enormously benefited our civilization and our world, then whatever our religious convictions, we will not rashly try to hack at the religious roots from which they spring. On the contrary, we will not hesitate to acknowledge, not only privately but also publicly, the central role that Christianity has played and still plays in the things that matter most to us.
What's So Great About Christianity, Regnery, 2007
Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 15)
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vaenlewste at 10:54AM on Jan 24th 2009
2. You know, if Dinesh keeps pimping his book like this, eventually no one will buy it, since it's all been posted on the net.
Knight_of_BAAWA at 8:46AM on Oct 23rd 2007
3. Why does this guy hate atheists so much?
Eddie Vedder at 9:07AM on Oct 23rd 2007
4. The problem with these anti-atheists is that they fail to realize that religion USED TO be about the protection of human rights, but has outlived its purpose and now actually threatens to tear the world apart. Unless we can learn to say "To hell with doctrine, we'll live as we will", then there is no hope for America. As I am often fond of saying, "Imbeciles will be imbeciles. You cannot teach someone who WANTS to be ignorant, for they will just cover their ears and shout 'LALALALALALALAICANTHEARYOU!"
Alaras at 9:26AM on Oct 23rd 2007
5. First of all... When did Nietzsche say he hated democracy? He may have, I just don't remember reading that about him. I know he was stateless, but that was because he didn't believe in nationalism.
Secondly, slavery still exists today through imperialism brought on by Western countries, though it's masked by being locally lead by oppressive governments or by extremely ow wages (hey... it's not FREE labor, but close).
Thirdly, sure the religions of the Northern states were the first to abolish slavery in the US, but that didn't mean they respected blacks or natives. There was still intense hatred towards non-whites in the north and still pretty much exists systematically throughout this White Christian nation of ours. Don't believe me? Go to East New York. Go to East LA. Go to Atlanta. Go to Detroit. Go to Boston which is somehow segregated, but not talked about. Equality. Right.
And lastly, why do you assume that things will go to shit without religion? Are Christians moral just because they're afraid of getting in trouble with their god? If god wasn't looking, would you rape and steal and kill? My friends and I are all atheists and I think we're some of the most moral people I know. We feed the homeless regularly, we respect and promote human rights, we cry out for racial and social equality. We want everyone to enjoy this life because we believe it's our only shot, so it might as well kick ass. Everyone has that right. Christianity is, believe it or not, selfish. It's all about YOU getting to heaven. Do what YOU can to increase YOUR heavenly resume so YOU don't suffer in hell. How about we stop suffering here, first.
Andrew at 9:26AM on Oct 23rd 2007
6. As an historian, I wouldn't give the credit for our scientific advancements to Christianity. In fact, much like today's stem cell reseach, the Christian establishment has normally stood in the way of those advancements, unless they pertained to weaponry.
gshort3011 at 9:29AM on Oct 23rd 2007
7. amazing-when common sense is used-it actually makes sense here! Thank you Dinesh for not being like the rest of of the amoral,idiotic media who think it strange to beleive in somehting else other than themselves.
cayuga2572 at 9:32AM on Oct 23rd 2007
8. I'm sorry, but it seems once again you have not only incorrectly evaluated the issue, you have lied to the general public. Christianity has not helped to foster science, nor is science in any way faith based. You seem to want to make Christianity the reason that universal constants and laws are standard, when that is far from the truth. Christianity has always been the largest counter-intuitive obstacle for science to overcome, and many of the laws and constants you feel your God is responsible for were persecuted as heresy by the Church. Furthermore, I hope you do realize that Thomas Jefferson was in no way Christian, and today would have been classified as an atheist. Overall your examples are lacking. The United Nations Decleration on Human Rights? Of course it has the appearance of CHristian influence, but might I remind you it also has influence from all other religions. Jesus wasnt the first to say "love thy neighbor", believe or not, morales exist outside of religion. I do not feel religion is the bane of society, but I do feel people such as you that feel the need to spout propoganda about both atheism and your own religion to attempt to recruit even more lost minds to your cause are just terrible.
Chris at 1:15AM on Oct 24th 2007
9. gshort3011,
it's kind of funny- how many times does science prove that adult stem cells work, while embryonic stem cells have caused tumors. The "christians" aren't against stem cell research-it's embryonic stem cell research which creates life at it's earliest stages to destroy it-that they have a problem with...
cayuga2572 at 9:39AM on Oct 23rd 2007
10. Weren't all the guys in the Southern Rebellion die-hard Christians?
Robert E. Lee, Thomas Jackson, Jefferson Davis, Pierre Beauregard, Braxton Bragg, Don Buell...
Stupid argument refuted.
String at 9:31PM on Oct 25th 2007
11. As much as I agree that people should find God, Dinesh is bending the truth about what Christianity is responsible for. There are many great morals that Christianity brought but they aren't the ones he mentioned. He should really consult Noam Chomsky.
I think through his writings his feelings of enmity and anger come out which are things that Christianity does not promote. He should really work on making himself a better Christian before preaching to others. His zeal comes off as fanatical which he tries to defend and justify. His views can be intolerant at times which is something Christianity also does not promote.
His blogs show a desire for fame and are self serving and very un-Christian like.
Lord Voldemort at 10:06AM on Oct 23rd 2007
12. Dinesh is so full of it!! This is the 5th anti-athiest blog in a row trying to push his book like crack. NO ONE CARES Dinesh! Your "facts" are so biased its comical. Atheists should thank Christianity for proving their point against a personal god! Atheists should thank Christianity for the way too many horrible examples to how religion does terrible things! That is about all atheists should be thankful for from Christianity...
Ross at 10:15AM on Oct 23rd 2007
13. Once again.....wrong, wrong, wrong. Christianity has respect for human dignity? Equality? For whom? The millions of African slaves, both before and after Emancipation? The half of the population that is female, who are STILL taught in evangelical circles that they are to "submit to their husbands, as to Christ"? The Declaration of Indenpendence may have stated that "all MEN are created equal"--but it left out women, slaves, Native Americans, the poor who could not vote...and non-believers, who were definitely beyond the Pale.
And we have Christianity to thank for freedom of conscience? Please. Try the Enlightenment. Christians only wanted tolerance extended to their own sect, and as soon as that was obtained, set about persecuting everyone outside of it. Christianity came to the tolerance dance quite late, and even now, especially in the South, has not quite learned the steps.
Lastly, you say that "The universe didn't have to be this way." How in the world could you possibly know that? (A) It may be that the universe could only arise and stay in existence in one of a finite number of stable configurations, and (B) if the Universe were not stable, we wouldn't be having this conversation.
Please, please quit trying to give Christianity credit for all things bright and beautiful. Your faith's heritage is a mixed bag, and your credibility suffers when you fail to acknowlege the "sins" of Christianity.
Greg at 10:17AM on Oct 23rd 2007
14. Where does one begin to explain GOD to an atheist?!? Doing "Good" is satan's comfort thought to keep people busy from actually seeing that any one human being CANNOT and will never be able to make this world a better place since satan and sin destroyed it from what God originally created. Feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, fight for equality and "justice", do whatever you feel is right, just remember an imperfect human will not make a perfect world. God made a perfect world and satan destroyed it and now wants to fool man again by telling him that a good world is achievable without God and through our own intelligence and efforts. It is not religions that destroy civilizations it is sin and man's departure from GOD. Satan comes in many shapes and colors to pull the wool over peoples eyes but one thing he is consistent at is lying. He lied in the garden of Eden and he keeps on lying to people that they don't need God, they can govern themselves and their wisdom is enough. Didn't satan tell Eve that if she disobeys God she will become just as wise as Him!?! Isn't that the same lie he uses today! To all the atheists out there I would recommend to pick up a Bible and read it out of curiosity as any other "fictional" book and then look around and see if anything takes on a different meaning!
dlaz at 10:20AM on Oct 23rd 2007
15. The preciousness and equal worth of every human life is a Christian idea. We are equal because we have been created equal in the eyes of God. This is an idea with momentous consequences. In ancient Greece and Rome, human life had very little value. The Spartans, for example, left weak children to die on the hillside. Greek and Roman culture was built on slavery.
More nonsense. Thomas Jefferson, who's idea of freedom only extended to white people. He owned slaves, and had this idea that the displaced American Indians were "savages".
And then there's the bit about western science, being superior.... The Chinese had gunpowder, paper, and printing long before us. Not to mention that Copernicus and Galileo were told that their "science" could get them killed. Much like the fundamentalist's now refuse to see the untold good that could be done by individual cells - but these cells have a god element to them, so they can't be touched...
Ken at 10:21AM on Oct 23rd 2007