Is Religion Good for Society?
Today, the New Atheists like to spend much of their time talking about the evils of religion, Christianity in particular. Many will tolerate religion in the private sector, but reject any trace of religion in politics or the public sector. But the fact is, Christianity has been a strong influence on Western culture, law, and politics for over 1,500 years. Some would argue that America is now a secular nation, and while that may be true, the Christian influence is evident anywhere you care to look. Christianity has not only been an influence, but the foundation on which much of Western Civilization was built, and therefore an atheist complaining about the evils of religion while living in the Western world is as hypocritical as lecturing someone about the evils of capitalism from their IPhone, while sitting at Starbucks. It is truly ironic, because everything good about the West has its roots in the Christian religion, from human rights, to the concept of democracy, to public education, to the scientific revolution. None would have emerged had it not been for Bible believers following God.
The question; "is religion good for society", is a bit more complicated than people think. Religions are so vastly different in the way they impact society that it is naïve to lump them all together. As an example: if we were looking for a very peaceful effect on society, Buddhism would be among the top three religions. We’ve seen how warring tribes have become peaceful monks over just one generation with the introduction of Buddhism. Most economists agree that the caste system of Hinduism has kept millions in poverty throughout India. Islam appears to be at odds with democracy. Therefore, in order to answer the question, you must look at each religion individually. Here we will look briefly at Christianity and contrast that with atheism.
Is Christianity Better for Society than Atheism?
Is Christianity better for society than atheism; is a question that needs answering because secularists are succeeding at erasing Christianity from our culture, under the premise that secularism is better for society. We can answer the question in two ways, empirically and logically. Empirically, all we have to do is look at the last century and the atheistic societies of North Korea, China, Russia, and Cuba, and compare those to the Christianized West, and we can make clear distinctions. The Communist worldview is purely atheistic, founded on atheistic and evolutionary philosophy. They prohibited all religions and pursued a legal and political system based on secular principles, rather than Biblical or other religious principles. And of course, the result was the mass killing of over 100 million citizens, and for those who survived, chronic poverty, oppression, and servitude. Atheism proved its worth when it controlled half the population of the world, and now secularists want to lecture us on how they don't want religion in politics.
Using the logical argument, it is obvious that Christianity is better for society because with Christianity, you have clear incentives to be good, something you don’t have with atheism. Several incentives work to mold better citizens. They include: a clear moral law, eternal reward and punishment, marriage as a sacrament, and if that’s not enough, God is always watching. In an atheistic society, no such incentive exists. That is, everyone makes up their own moral standards and while some may choose good moral behavior, others may choose violence without any discrepancy in their worldview.
The atheistic response is to point out the misdeeds of a few Christians, or even the child molestation scandal at the hands of Catholic priests. But of course, these are examples of people who departed from the teachings of Christ, not people who followed them, and therefore cannot serve to indict the Church. History is bursting with examples of priests who brought immeasurable good to their communities. Why the Catholic Church, which teaches sexual restraint, took all the criticism rather than the gay community, which does not, is incomprehensible.
The reality is that some who hear the message of the Gospel will follow and others will not. Many do follow Christ’s teachings and for those who don’t, it is likely that they would have committed their crimes without the teachings of the Church, seeing nothing in the Bible would promote such bad behavior. In order to make a case against Christianity, atheists would have to show how teaching love, forgiveness, fidelity, honesty, charity, and so forth, everyday in churches around the world, hurts society, and this has never been done. Because we cannot measure the impact of Christianity on the billions of people who did stop doing drugs, lying, and committing adultery, it is wildly irrational for anyone to make the claim that Christianity has a negative impact on society. That is, you must have an accurate account of that impact to make such a determination, otherwise it is bad conjecture.
Of course, atheists will come back and claim that nothing within atheism would inspire someone to rape or murder. That’s how they distance themselves from Stalin, Pol Pot and child rapists. And that is true, atheism does not teach anyone to rape, kill, steal, or lie. What atheism does do is remove the barriers to a given set of morals, giving each individual the option to embrace their own morals, with no limitations. And as mentioned, many, particularly here in the West, where they live under Christian laws, will choose to do good and some will make poor moral choices without any sense of guilt.
Is Western Civilizations Better than other Civilizations of the World?
When we say Western Civilization, we generally refer to European Civilization or the Christianized Western world, primarily Europe, America, Canada and Australia. The West emerged under Greek or Hellenistic philosophy which was incorporated into Roman culture. It was St. Augustine who, during the fifth century, developed classical Christian philosophy and the whole of Western thought by synthesizing Hebrew and Greek philosophy. By the fifteenth century, Greek philosophy began to unravel, leaving behind a Biblical philosophy which would go on to shape Western life for the next six hundred years. Though many aspects of Western culture had been secularized by the end of the twentieth century, societies cannot throw out their past like the weekly paper. The past remains embedded in social life by the laws, traditions, and norms that are followed every day. For example, in India, many believe it’s immoral to kill livestock; in China, dishonoring your ancestors is wrong; while in America, we value things like a fair trial and ownership of property. In Europe, freedom is a right; in some Arab countries it is a crime. The foregoing issues have been entrenched in these great civilizations over a long period of time, having roots in the underlying philosophy of that culture. Most of the occupants just assume they are a given, rather than something of a historical struggle.
Today, it is relatively clear that the West has progressed well beyond all other regions, evidenced by the fact that we have a net increase in immigration, while very few Westerners migrate to foreign nations. It is also evident by the fact that the West provides aid to other societies, while very few bring their aid here during a disaster. Finally, we have the highest standards of living, along with the lowest level of real poverty. We have the best healthcare, the most freedom, the best roads, national defense, legal system, and we continue to turn out the best inventions. The West gave birth to the university system, the hospital system, democracy, the automobile, polio, hepatitis and smallpox vaccines, personal computers, aviation, and so forth.
When I say the West is better than other societies, I don’t mean this culturally, as that is a subjective matter. I do think it is incumbent upon sociologists and academics in general to ask the question: Why is the West superior? Why did all the great innovations in politics, human rights, economics, science, education, art, and architecture happen here, rather than elsewhere? Is this a great coincidence or the deliberate product of our belief system? To answer these questions we need not some university professor to give us his opinion on the matter. Rather we simply have to look at the origins of those remarkable developments that built Western Civilization and determine the motivation behind them. For those who want to jump to the conclusion that perhaps Europeans/Americans are just smarter than other races, I would ask you to compare the aptitude test scores of Asian countries against those of Europeans and Americans, to end that argument. The West is superior for one reason, because we are Christian and only in Christianity do we find the proper framework for the best kind of society.
Articles
Christians Must Not Retreat from the Culture, We Must Work for its Conversion Keith Fournier
"Is Christianity Good for the World?" Christopher Hitchens and Douglas Wilson debate.
Did America Have a Christian Founding? Mark David Hall
The question; "is religion good for society", is a bit more complicated than people think. Religions are so vastly different in the way they impact society that it is naïve to lump them all together. As an example: if we were looking for a very peaceful effect on society, Buddhism would be among the top three religions. We’ve seen how warring tribes have become peaceful monks over just one generation with the introduction of Buddhism. Most economists agree that the caste system of Hinduism has kept millions in poverty throughout India. Islam appears to be at odds with democracy. Therefore, in order to answer the question, you must look at each religion individually. Here we will look briefly at Christianity and contrast that with atheism.
Is Christianity Better for Society than Atheism?
Is Christianity better for society than atheism; is a question that needs answering because secularists are succeeding at erasing Christianity from our culture, under the premise that secularism is better for society. We can answer the question in two ways, empirically and logically. Empirically, all we have to do is look at the last century and the atheistic societies of North Korea, China, Russia, and Cuba, and compare those to the Christianized West, and we can make clear distinctions. The Communist worldview is purely atheistic, founded on atheistic and evolutionary philosophy. They prohibited all religions and pursued a legal and political system based on secular principles, rather than Biblical or other religious principles. And of course, the result was the mass killing of over 100 million citizens, and for those who survived, chronic poverty, oppression, and servitude. Atheism proved its worth when it controlled half the population of the world, and now secularists want to lecture us on how they don't want religion in politics.
Using the logical argument, it is obvious that Christianity is better for society because with Christianity, you have clear incentives to be good, something you don’t have with atheism. Several incentives work to mold better citizens. They include: a clear moral law, eternal reward and punishment, marriage as a sacrament, and if that’s not enough, God is always watching. In an atheistic society, no such incentive exists. That is, everyone makes up their own moral standards and while some may choose good moral behavior, others may choose violence without any discrepancy in their worldview.
The atheistic response is to point out the misdeeds of a few Christians, or even the child molestation scandal at the hands of Catholic priests. But of course, these are examples of people who departed from the teachings of Christ, not people who followed them, and therefore cannot serve to indict the Church. History is bursting with examples of priests who brought immeasurable good to their communities. Why the Catholic Church, which teaches sexual restraint, took all the criticism rather than the gay community, which does not, is incomprehensible.
The reality is that some who hear the message of the Gospel will follow and others will not. Many do follow Christ’s teachings and for those who don’t, it is likely that they would have committed their crimes without the teachings of the Church, seeing nothing in the Bible would promote such bad behavior. In order to make a case against Christianity, atheists would have to show how teaching love, forgiveness, fidelity, honesty, charity, and so forth, everyday in churches around the world, hurts society, and this has never been done. Because we cannot measure the impact of Christianity on the billions of people who did stop doing drugs, lying, and committing adultery, it is wildly irrational for anyone to make the claim that Christianity has a negative impact on society. That is, you must have an accurate account of that impact to make such a determination, otherwise it is bad conjecture.
Of course, atheists will come back and claim that nothing within atheism would inspire someone to rape or murder. That’s how they distance themselves from Stalin, Pol Pot and child rapists. And that is true, atheism does not teach anyone to rape, kill, steal, or lie. What atheism does do is remove the barriers to a given set of morals, giving each individual the option to embrace their own morals, with no limitations. And as mentioned, many, particularly here in the West, where they live under Christian laws, will choose to do good and some will make poor moral choices without any sense of guilt.
Is Western Civilizations Better than other Civilizations of the World?
When we say Western Civilization, we generally refer to European Civilization or the Christianized Western world, primarily Europe, America, Canada and Australia. The West emerged under Greek or Hellenistic philosophy which was incorporated into Roman culture. It was St. Augustine who, during the fifth century, developed classical Christian philosophy and the whole of Western thought by synthesizing Hebrew and Greek philosophy. By the fifteenth century, Greek philosophy began to unravel, leaving behind a Biblical philosophy which would go on to shape Western life for the next six hundred years. Though many aspects of Western culture had been secularized by the end of the twentieth century, societies cannot throw out their past like the weekly paper. The past remains embedded in social life by the laws, traditions, and norms that are followed every day. For example, in India, many believe it’s immoral to kill livestock; in China, dishonoring your ancestors is wrong; while in America, we value things like a fair trial and ownership of property. In Europe, freedom is a right; in some Arab countries it is a crime. The foregoing issues have been entrenched in these great civilizations over a long period of time, having roots in the underlying philosophy of that culture. Most of the occupants just assume they are a given, rather than something of a historical struggle.
Today, it is relatively clear that the West has progressed well beyond all other regions, evidenced by the fact that we have a net increase in immigration, while very few Westerners migrate to foreign nations. It is also evident by the fact that the West provides aid to other societies, while very few bring their aid here during a disaster. Finally, we have the highest standards of living, along with the lowest level of real poverty. We have the best healthcare, the most freedom, the best roads, national defense, legal system, and we continue to turn out the best inventions. The West gave birth to the university system, the hospital system, democracy, the automobile, polio, hepatitis and smallpox vaccines, personal computers, aviation, and so forth.
When I say the West is better than other societies, I don’t mean this culturally, as that is a subjective matter. I do think it is incumbent upon sociologists and academics in general to ask the question: Why is the West superior? Why did all the great innovations in politics, human rights, economics, science, education, art, and architecture happen here, rather than elsewhere? Is this a great coincidence or the deliberate product of our belief system? To answer these questions we need not some university professor to give us his opinion on the matter. Rather we simply have to look at the origins of those remarkable developments that built Western Civilization and determine the motivation behind them. For those who want to jump to the conclusion that perhaps Europeans/Americans are just smarter than other races, I would ask you to compare the aptitude test scores of Asian countries against those of Europeans and Americans, to end that argument. The West is superior for one reason, because we are Christian and only in Christianity do we find the proper framework for the best kind of society.
Articles
Christians Must Not Retreat from the Culture, We Must Work for its Conversion Keith Fournier
"Is Christianity Good for the World?" Christopher Hitchens and Douglas Wilson debate.
Did America Have a Christian Founding? Mark David Hall