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 15 of 15)
211. This guy is such a FUCKING IDIOT. This article is so stupid that I couldn't even finish reading it. He says "where did Western man get this idea of a lawfully ordered universe? From Christianity.". That is completely illogical because even if Christianity did not exist, creation of scientific thought was inevitable. One way or another, we would have found a way to solving our problems using science and not fucking pointless Christianity which tells you to wait for freaking death. Also, by talking about abstract things or "what could have been", he proves nothing.
People like him should be shot in the head so that our gene pool isn't screwed over by their inferior traits.
rohansingh2 at 1:23AM on Oct 26th 2007
212. Unfortunately, Dinesh could make the perfect argument, but proud people will not accept the truth. In Jesus' own day, he was despised and rejected by the majority. He was the answer standing in front of them, but they were too proud to admit that they could possibly be wrong.
Our culture despised the absolutes that God's Word creates, even though those absolutes were the force behind the emergence of America as the global power in such a short history. It is sad for me (31) to already see the destruction of our rank in the world in so many areas as I also watch the removal of the reverence of God from our society.
Please - step back and look at it from an absolute stand point. What would America look like if there were no more Christians who believed in God's Word as direction for life? It would look like every other nation in the world that shares those sentiments. Liberals love the freedom that Godfearing men fought and died to preserve, and now demoralize everything that America once stood for in an effort to prove that everybody and everything should be "accepted" in our society. Paraphrasing George Washington in his inaugural address - he stated that there is no morality separate from Biblical truth.
If you don't want to embrace Christianity, then enjoy watching the decline of America.
jayamyadkins at 3:26AM on Oct 26th 2007
213. people need to let go of religion if you want to make any progress in
the world... religion only causes conflict cuz not everone is going to
be right but everyone has "faith" that they are so that will only
cause you to fight for what you belive is right... the only thing that
is right is that we are here, we all live on one planet and need to come
together to live the best possible life we can.... it dosnt matter if we are diffrent, it dosnt matter were we came from we are all part of the big picture and all play a part...and to clear things
up i do belive in "god" or a higher power.. we didnt just pop out of
nowere something had to give us a start.... what it is i cant say
for sure but i bet what ever it is it dosnt care if we worship it or
not it only wants us to be happy and fighting over religoin dosnt
make anyone happy :p
dosnt matter at 11:08AM on Oct 26th 2007
214. Please - step back and look at it from an absolute stand point. What would America look like if there were no more Christians who believed in God's Word as direction for life?
---------------------------------------
Well, the average IQ of an american would jump by around fourty points, politics would actually work for the common good, people wouldn't be so uptight and would be nicer to each other since the divisionistas were gone, oppressed minorities would finally get their voices heard, Islam wouldn't be as pissed off at us since their sworn enemy christian soldier crusaders weren't here any more.
The percentage of egotists in this country would be cut by about 75%.
It would be like paradise. Heaven on earth. People reasoning together, listening to logic, THINKING about life rather than trying desperately to cling to illogical blind beliefs. Solving problems rather than arguing about them.
There would be SO MUCH less sexual frustration, what with the HUGE CHRISTISN GUILT TRIP finally out of here. People would learn not to fear their sexuality, and would be happier in general.
Laws would make more sense without christians trying to bend the law to their belief system.
Research into diseases would grow, and no semi-literate morons to tell us that we can't cure diseases by researching in stem cells.
Many, many more people would be science-literate. We'd soon catch up and pass other countries in this, and america would once again be a mecca of science on this world.
We'd be a shining city on a hill, as it were.
Thanks for the dream of paradise there. It was nice. Too bad it's only a dream, huh?
Brian at 11:39AM on Oct 26th 2007
215. Damn it. I don't want to comment on Dinesh's bile... or people's responses to that bile... ugh...
Folks. Getting rid of Christianity ISN'T a solution. ALSO! Making every one in the world a Christian ISN'T a solution.
Some people are just wired for faith. I know. I sleep with one of them every night. They like God. It's not just a question of needing religion, they like having the religion. The act of believing is just as pleasurable to them as the act of eating chocolate brownies is to me. And it doesn't matter how you argue that they "can't prove God." They don't care. They have faith, they don't need proof. And it doesn't matter how much you insult them or express your contempt for their faith. The amount of pleasure and security they get from their faith easily and contemptuously trumps your arguments. Faith and religion is saturated in humanity, and not just christians. Every nation on the planet is comprised of people who believe in something, be it Allah, Yaweh, Buddha, Kami, the divine relationship, spirits, UFO's, or Elvis! It's not going away.
Nor should it. Almost every religion, even Islam for you Islamophobes, has moral guidance that can be helpful such as charity. I know that most atheists would rather help people en mass through social programs, but lets face it... a blanket given through charity or a blanket purchased through a homeless program is still a blanket, and the former is achieved a whole lot faster. Religions also contain guidelines for how to treat other people. I don't care if it's because of secular or sectular reasons, but I really don't want people to kill me (as happened to my sister), rape me (as happened twice), steal from me (countless times) or lie about me (I can only imagine). If people don't do this because they're following common law out of a fear of coporeal punishment, thanks. If people don't do these things out of a spiritual obligation, thanks. What matters is what they don't do, and what they do do.
And for the Theists... We're not going away. Sorry but your religion doesn't work for me. I don't see God's hand behind the mysteries of the universe. I see just unknown theories for us to discover, but no supreme hand behind it all. Your holy books are largely meaningless to me. I don't believe in the prophesies. I don't believe in the miracles. I don't believe in many of the rules, like how if I eat a hamburger on friday then I am going to hell. Or how the fact that I'm a lesbian I'm a bad person deserving of having her knee broken. But I know that believing in things matters to you. I know that your belief matters more than probably anything else in the world, save I hope your spouces and children.
So please stop playing your music so loud. That's a metaphor, by the way, but it fits. Theists who constantly try to make my beliefs yours. I'm not going to believe in God because you knock on my door. It's annoying. And when folks like Robertson say 'We believe marriage is between a man and woman so we want to make that belief applicable to everyone.' and try to make it federal law, then it becomes threatening. And yes, I know you think America was founded by God and used the bible to make all its rules. I've heard that hashed out ad nauseum. Even if that were so, I'm pretty sure that the founding fathers never envisioned we'd be a nation with millions of muslims, Jews, Catholics, Buddhists, Wiccians, Agnostics, and Atheists and would favor the laws to reflect the belief of one of those.
Also... please stop trying to teach what you believe as fact. You believe God created the world? Fine. I don't care. But when you tell me that it's fact, then you have to prove it. And saying 'well you can't disprove it' doesn't count. You can't disprove that the world was dreamed into creation by celtic faeries or that the universe is the inside of an egg. So stop trying to present God and the beliefs you have associated with God as fact. You can't. You can't prove God exists, and your feelings on how you see him in all the wonderful parts of the universe are just that... feelings.
As for atheists trying to teach your kids that God doesn't exist in public school, there's a real good reason for that. Schools teach facts. Verifiable truth. God, whether you think he's true or not, can't be verified. Evolution is verifable fact, and has been for about two hundred years. What your kids are getting in biology class is the latest and most accurate version of that theory. It doesn't prove there is no God. It doesn't prove that the universe isn't the inside of an egg. It just explains a biological mechanism for how species change. That's it. If your kids write down 'God said so' on the test, then they are going to fail the test. Because verifiable fact proves otherwise. My lover recently tried to explain to a child that rainbows were caused by the refraction of light through water droplets and was corrected on the spot by the child who adamantly said 'Rainbows are God's promise that there won't be another flood.'
Is that the world you really want to create?
Somber at 12:19PM on Oct 26th 2007
216. Religion should stop trying to discredit atheism by saying "you can't prove there is no God" just as atheists should stop trying to discredit religion by saying "you can't prove there is a God". Religious and atheist doctrines are fair game to tear apart, but the existence of gods can't be satisfactorily proven or disproven by either side, and no one has a monopoly on truth. Pseudo-proofs and half-truths only earn my disrespect. I can't stand this guy.
Mokele Mbembe at 3:25PM on Oct 26th 2007
217. No one should take Mr. D'Souza too seriously. It's fairly obvious he's only talking up Christianity because he knows there's a lot of money in it. His books are bought by Christians who want to know what's good about Christianity . . . because they're secretly aware of just how absurd it is.
Fred Glynn at 9:52PM on Oct 26th 2007
218. Religion only started to keep peace and order. Just like how parents make up stories from keeping little children doing something they shouldn't do. I am an atheist. There are many reasons why I don't believe in God. Did we all come from 2 single people or did we evolve from apes which we have a substantial amount of proof that we did. Was Mary really a virgin? Yea, right. Jesus can heal people? Please. All these religious stories are ridiculous and hard to believe. Most people are whatever religion they are because of their parents. Years ago, when everyone was polytheistic, we now laugh at them. Years later, when people wake up, they will laugh at us for believing a god at all.
Jonathon at 2:27PM on Oct 28th 2007
219. Hey, hey Dinesh, mind if I call you Dinesh? I've wondered after scanning your assaults on people who don't believe what you do how you feel being a bigot. Sure athiests attack religious thought, but really aren't you all about taking the high moral ground? So why, as a free thinking Christian are you going out of your way on your attacks? It's not as if you're actually creating any form of solution. As far as I can tell, if there was only Christianity then .. you'd be out of a job. Maybe, here's a really radical idea, you should come out with a comment such as, "Athiests are what they are, Christians are what they are, Muslims are what they are, Jews are what they are, and in the end we are all equal people." Does that make too much sense for you to comprehend? That maybe, maybe, at the end of the day no one honestly cares about your philosophy of denial and spite. Because, at the end of the day, regardless if you believe what you preach or not, you're going to sleep in a warm bed. In a safe home. With a bank full of cash. More than can be said for a great many of your Christian peers. Many of whom have no problems with athiests. Many of whom would tred on arguing that YOU, Dinesh, are a bad Christian. That YOU, Dinesh, do nothing but dig for gold out of moral belief. That YOU, Dinesh, are a greater danger to a loving religion that even an entire world filled with non-believers. You depress me. Because you are part of the contemporary face of Christianity. And as long as people like YOU, Dinesh, sit on your podium and demand to be heard this religion, along with a dozen other faith-sets, are in danger of never being trusted again. How about lay down your swords and pick up some plowshares. Or is that way to complicated of an idea for you wrap your mind around?
Tsol at 11:47PM on Oct 28th 2007
220. FREEDOM OF RELIGION ALSO MEANS FREEDOM TO BELIEVE WHATEVER I CHOOSE TO BELIEVE. IT REALLY IRRITATES ME TO HAVE ANYONE TRY TO RAM CHRISTIANITY OR ANY FORM OF RELIGION DOWN MY THROAT BY THREATENING ME WITH SOME FICTITIOUS CONSEQUENCES BECAUSE THEIR OWN FEARS DRIVE THEM TO DO SO.I MADE MY CASE EARLIER.
DANIEL GOMEZ at 6:16AM on Oct 29th 2007
221. Why do these atheists fail to understand what D'Souza says? They consistently misinterpret everything. They are willfully blinded to the truth.
I can't wait to buy and read D'Souza's book!
Mary K. N. at 3:38AM on Oct 30th 2007
222. Dinesh sounds like Christians invented intelligent thinking... Science, mathmatics, schools, and the like were all around long before christianity. I would say that the Greeks and Egyptians would be the ones to thank here.
Nick420 at 2:46PM on Oct 30th 2007