What is the source of that liberty, equality and fraternity that are now the guiding principles of the West, if not the modern world?
Historians note the anomaly that these principles originated and developed only in Western civilization. In this sense, they are not universal. Of late, however, these principles are being exported to the rest of the world. One may say they are Western in origin but universal in their application.
But where do the principles come from? With the death of Heidegger and Sartre, Jurgen Habermas is now regarded as perhaps our leading living philosopher. Habermas is also an atheist. Yet when Habermas found out that the European Union in its charter gave full acknowledgement to ancient Greece and Rome, but none to Christianity, he erupted in learned outrage.
Habermas's argument is that it is philosophically illiterate to locate the roots of the West in Athens but not in Jerusalem. In fact, Habermas argues that Jerusalem--by which he means Judaism and Christianity--is far more responsible than Athens for the modern principles of liberty, equality and fraternity. In "A Time of Transition," Habermas writes:
For the normative self-understanding of modernity, Christianity has functioned as more than just a precursor or catalyst. Universalistic egalitarianism, from which sprang the ideals of freedom and a collective life in solidarity, the autonomous conduct of life and emancipation, the individual morality of conscience, human rights and democracy, is the direct legacy of the Judaic ethic of justice and the Christian ethic of love.
Habermas's point is that there is too much arrogance in contemporary atheism. Even the atheist is standing on mountain erected by Christianity. How ungrateful it is to scorn the mountain that is still holding you up! How ridiculous the posture of the man who cannot acknowledge the very foundation that sustains him from below!
This is what Christians mean when they say that America is a Christian society. This is not a call for theocracy or "rule of the priests" but rather a call for a public acknowledgement of the historic role of Christianity in shaping our institutions, our values and our culture. The opinions of several leading Supreme Court justices on church-and-state issues would benefit greatly from a slight familiarity with the history that Habermas is talking about.
Habermas's argument would have struck a chord with the greatest atheist of modern times, the philosopher Nietzsche. Nietzsche argued that if you want to get rid of the Christian God, at least have the honesty and the guts to repudiate the Christian ideals of human dignity, human equality and human liberty.
Yet our village atheists want to have it both ways. They want to reject God but preserve at least certain core aspects of the Christian legacy. Nietzsche would have had nothing but scorn for these little men of unbelief, Lilliputians hurling their tiny javelins at the Christian God while they continue to live off His inheritance.
Reader Comments ( Page 29 of 29)
421. Jesse; see my previous posts. The holocaust was wrong relative to human culture, society and general humanness. But in the grand scheme of the cosmos, it was a completely neutral event.
A dying star or an asteroid can kill billions.
Ryan Anderson at 7:10AM on Aug 12th 2008
422. Also, the holocaust example is a bad one because it implies that the German culture at the time (which was predominately Christian) collectively felt it was "right" to murder millions of Jews. Most of the Germans didn't know what was happening and the ones that did were too scared to do anything about it.
This is evident in that most of the industrial execution centers had to be moved out to occupied lands, away from the German population centers.
So, the holocaust is really only an example of a few psychotics and the power of fear.
Ryan Anderson at 9:47AM on Aug 12th 2008
423. Not-pboy post 406 - How about justice and judgment? Applying the right punishment for the crime.
Man_in_Wilderness at 4:29PM on Aug 12th 2008
424. Botts 412 - Wow - - what is this about a meeting? And you are a murderer? Anyhows.... I reckon I need to read some back posts.
Man_in_Wilderness at 4:33PM on Aug 12th 2008
425. Also, the holocaust example is a bad one because it implies that the German culture at the time (which was predominately Christian) collectively felt it was "right" to murder millions of Jews. Most of the Germans didn't know what was happening and the ones that did were too scared to do anything about it.
This is evident in that most of the industrial execution centers had to be moved out to occupied lands, away from the German population centers.
So, the holocaust is really only an example of a few psychotics and the power of fear.
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Most German's didn't know what what was going on? Get real. People talk. While you may try to argue otherwise, they really do! When you consider the logisitics of killing 6 million people, there were many involved in the process who knew what was going on. Because Hitler never talked about it doesn't mean that everybody else just shut up about it.
If you saw people being horribly mistreated, had their homes and stores taken away, and then saw them herded into boxcars, maybe the good christians thought they were just being relocated. Despite all the "rumors."
ex-christian at 5:29PM on Aug 12th 2008
426. Not-pboy post 406 - How about justice and judgment? Applying the right punishment for the crime.
Not a very good answer. A bag of weed can land you in jail for a year. White collar crime, which can amount to hundreds of millions of dollars, with the taxpayers ending up in billions to repair, nobody goes to jail.
Punishment fit the crime? A half an ounce of a substance that god supposedly created will send you to jail, yet stealing the life savings of thousands isn't really a life sentence crime?
Try again.
ex-christian at 5:31PM on Aug 12th 2008
427. ex-christian; I think the average German had some idea that something bad was going on, but not full knowledge of what was happening in mostly outside of Germany (Auschwitz-Birkenau, Chelmno, Belzec, Majdanek, Sobibor, Treblinka and Theresienstadt).
Ryan Anderson at 6:15PM on Aug 12th 2008
428. X post 426 - I said justice and judgment. I will agree 100% it needs to be fair across the board.
Man_in_Wilderness at 5:21PM on Aug 13th 2008
429. Also, the holocaust example is a bad one because it implies that the German culture at the time (which was predominately Christian) collectively felt it was "right" to murder millions of Jews. Most of the Germans didn't know what was happening and the ones that did were too scared to do anything about it.
This is evident in that most of the industrial execution centers had to be moved out to occupied lands, away from the German population centers.
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Let's not forget the prototype:
http://hatemonitor.csusb.edu/images/dartmouth/DachauBodiesApril_45.jpg
Still think there were no concentration camps in Germany?
Dachau....the first, the model for all the others.
mac at 10:47PM on Aug 13th 2008
430. Mac; of course there were concentration camps in Germany. I've been to Dachau. Dachau was not an industrial killing center, like Auschwitz and Treblinka were.
Look, I'm not making excuses for the Germans in WWII, I just don't believe it's an inherent part of Germanic culture to think it's ok to kill 10 million innocent people.
Ryan Anderson at 3:14AM on Aug 14th 2008
431. Look, I'm not making excuses for the Germans in WWII, I just don't believe it's an inherent part of Germanic culture to think it's ok to kill 10 million innocent people.
Ryan Anderson
You are astute Ryan, that's why I love you. No, the Germans are a lovely people - one of my BFF's is German born and is so sweet and loving. I think in some ways they were victims on one man's insanity too.
Don't taze me no-more bro
TJ at 11:42AM on Aug 20th 2008