Contributions of Christianity: Preface

Not long ago, I watched a recorded debate between a Christian and an Atheist during which the Atheist asked a question along the lines of "What moral act could a Christian do that an Atheist could not?" In one sense, his challenge was a good one. There is no moral act that a Christian can do that an Atheist cannot. There is no immoral act that an Atheist can do that a Christian cannot. The difficulty is that the issue at hand is not about the people, but about the philosophies or worldviews. The question is not "What can a Christian do that an Atheist cannot?" The question is not even "What can Christianity do that Atheism cannot?" though that is a better question. Still better questions are "What has Christianity done that Atheism has not?" and "What have Christians done that Atheists have not?"


Even these are not the best questions because Christianity has never existed in a vacuum. There have always been non-Christian influences in society in competition with the Christian influence. There are times when non-Christian influences appear to be gaining the upper hand; when even those who call themselves Christians are drawn to and into non-Christian ways. There are also times when the Christian influence appears to be gaining the upper hand; when even those who reject Christianity are drawn to and into Christian ways. The result is that both Christian and non-Christian influences or worldviews are contaminated. Followers of any of them fail to live purely according to the standards of their worldviews to varying degrees. [As a side note, this is the technical definition of sin.]


Another difficulty is the fact that society is not a unit, but a conglomeration of units, each of which also feels varying degrees of the same influences as the society as a whole. Within that part of the society which calls itself "Christian" and which fails to live up to the Christian standard, there are individuals who call themselves "Christians" who fail to live according to that standard to degrees and in ways that are not identical to that of the society. There is not a one-to-one correspondence between a society's failure and a person's failure either in quality or degree. The same is true of the various non-Christian segments of society and non-Christian individuals.


With this in mind, it should be expected that there will be aberrations and failures within the histories of both the societies and the individuals. Some may choose to focus on those aberrations and failures as if they are the whole record, the whole truth. In this series of posts, I hope to present evidence that the overall record of the influence of Christians and Christianity is vastly different from the claims being made by some of its competitors and opponents.


If you have evidence that either supports or refutes my claims, I'll be glad to receive it. I will include the references I have used plus any references they have used that I believe worthy of special note.