Whatever humane advances we might attribute to Jesus, his followers did not adopt them for an awfully long time. For some 1,400 years that separated Constantine’s embrace of Christianity in the early 4th century to the rise of the Enlightenment in the 18th, most Christians remained untroubled by slavery, the persecution of heretics, and brutal colonial conquest.(The full article is behind a paywall.)
Notice that he does not compare Christianity to other belief systems. Christianity is actually quite tolerant of heretics. The Enlightenment itself was very much a Christian movement, and made possible only by Christianity.
It is ridiculous to complain about Christianity and older economic systems. Christianity had no power to change these systems. Someday it might be considered immoral to have employment without a retirement plan, and someday atheists will blame Christianity for that.
It’s notable that Kingsnorth, in his essay railing against modernity, consistently cites the Christian, never the “Judeo-Christian,” tradition.No, this is crazy Jew talk. Jews hate Chrstians much more than Christians hate Jews.America was founded on the secular Enlightenment principles of equality, rights, flourishing, and democratic governance. It’s no coincidence that Jews thrived here. Nor can it be a coincidence that a movement founded on parochial Christian theocracy would be accompanied by a recrudescence of the world’s oldest hatred.
Gaza had three Christian churchs -- Catholic, Greek Orthodox, and Baptist. Israel has now bombed all three. American Christians have strongly supported Israel anyway.
There is no Judeo-Christian tradition. The term originally meant Jewish converts to Christianity. Only recently has it been used in the sense that Pinker uses it, which is to undermine Christianity. America was founded on Christian principles. Not Jewish.
No comments:
Post a Comment