How Christianity saved civilization

[Shogun]

they'd have been....

jewish

I realize that you'd assume that jews would be taking over any culture they come into contact with but i dont recall any othe source that indicates that ROMANS were JEWISH or had any plan to convert.

 

[Gunny]

What a bunch of living in denial, intellectually dishonest bullshit this thread has become. Christianity is one of the base elements of Western civilization. That isn't saying other civilizations didn't/don't exist. It isn't saying Western civilization could NOT have been reached by a different route.

Love 'em or hate 'em, the Church indeed molded the basis for our current civilization. Only when one reaches a state of supreme arrogance does the meaning behind who and what we are as a civilization disappear.

Arguing otherwise is just making excuses attempting to justify the hate.

 

[Ravi]

Christianity is one of the base elements of Western civilization.

Couldn't agree more.

 

[roomy]

Agosticism is the new religion and it is fast becoming Atheism, give it another century or so and I expect christianity to be a tolerated cult and Islam almost non existent due to the fact that the middle east and all in it is completely destroyed.

 

[Gunny]

Agosticism is the new religion and it is fast becoming Atheism, give it another century or so and I expect christianity to be a tolerated cult and Islam almost non existent due to the fact that the middle east and all in it is completely destroyed.

Is THAT what it says on bottom of your pint?

 

[BrianH]

Civilization was

Great news!

Did they store it in tupperware or something for the last century?

When, pray tell, do they plan on bringing it back out so that we can see what Western Civilization would actually look like?

I hope this is sarcasm.....or you're misinterpreting "saved"

 

[BrianH]

Agosticism is the new religion and it is fast becoming Atheism, give it another century or so and I expect christianity to be a tolerated cult and Islam almost non existent due to the fact that the middle east and all in it is completely destroyed.

Actually, Islam is the fastest growing religion....from what I've read.

"Data for Islam reveal that the growing number of Muslims is due primarily to immigration (in the West) and higher birth rates (worldwide).[9]

In 2006, countries with a Muslim majority had an average population growth rate of 1.8% per year (when weighted by percentage Muslim and population size).[10] This compares with a world population growth rate of 1.12% per year.[11]
According to the "Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life"[12]
“ Islam is already the fastest-growing religion in Europe. Driven by immigration and high birthrates, the number of Muslims on the continent has tripled in the last 30 years. Most demographers forecast a similar or even higher rate of growth in the coming decades. ”

"According to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the World Christian Database as of 2007 estimated the six fastest growing religions of the world to be Islam (1.84%), the Bahá'í Faith (1.7%), Sikhism (1.62%), Jainism (1.57%), Hinduism (1.52%), and Christianity (1.32%). High birth rates were cited as the reason for the growth.[13]
Monsignor Vittorio Formenti, who compiles the Vatican's yearbook, said in an interview with the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano that "For the first time in history, we are no longer at the top: Muslims have overtaken us," He said that Catholics accounted for 17.4 percent of the world population -- a stable percentage -- while Muslims were at 19.2 percent. "It is true that while Muslim families, as is well known, continue to make a lot of children, Christian ones on the contrary tend to have fewer and fewer," the monsignor said.[14] "

Claims to be the fastest growing religion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There are others that claim this, but I think Islam takes the cake IMO.

Foreign Policy: The List: The World’s Fastest-Growing Religions

 

[BrianH]

What a bunch of living in denial, intellectually dishonest bullshit this thread has become. Christianity is one of the base elements of Western civilization. That isn't saying other civilizations didn't/don't exist. It isn't saying Western civilization could NOT have been reached by a different route.

Love 'em or hate 'em, the Church indeed molded the basis for our current civilization. Only when one reaches a state of supreme arrogance does the meaning behind who and what we are as a civilization disappear.

Arguing otherwise is just making excuses attempting to justify the hate.

Couldn't have put it better myself. Whether you hate Christianity or Not, it has played a crucial part of our history. While I will not argue whether or not it "saved" civilization...you cannot deny it's importance and contributions to the way we and others around the world live. This is not to say that other religions have not played a critical role...but to argue that Christianity did not have a decisive and important role in the devlopment of Western Society is kind of ignorant. It would be similar to argue that Islam has had no effect on Middle Eastern society....

 

[roomy]

Is THAT what it says on bottom of your pint?

No, it came out of the top of my head and it should have read agnosticism

 

[BrianH]

No, it came out of the top of my head and it should have read agnosticism

agnosticismation is a bad thing...lol. (Bushism)It is practiced by agnosticismationists.

 

[roomy]

agnosticismation is a bad thing...lol. (Bushism)It is practiced by agnosticismationists.

Don't you mean agnosticmationistists?

 

[BrianH]

Don't you mean agnosticmationistists?

LOL....yeah, how'd you know?

 

[editec]

Of course Christianty played a vital role in making Western Civilization what it is today.

Christendom WAS the bedrock principle upon which our civilization existed from about 5th through about the 16th century. Generally speaking even as late as the 1700s in Europe, the KING was also the leader of the religion, yes?

The whole reason the Founding Fathers went so far out of their way to separate church from state was because for a long long time there religion and state were essantially the same thing.

 

[jillian]

Of course Christianty played a vital role in making Western Civilization what it is today.

Christendom WAS the bedrock principle upon which our civilization existed from about 5th through about the 16th century. Generally speaking even as late as the 1700s in Europe, the KING was also the leader of the religion, yes?

The whole reason the Founding Fathers went so far out of their way to separate church from state was because for a long long time there religion and state were essantially the same thing.

Actually, the Church brought us the Dark Ages. It was separation from the church that brought us the enlightenment.

And there was plenty of civilization prior to christianity.

 

[editec]

Actually, the Church brought us the Dark Ages. It was separation from the church that brought us the enlightenment.

Well, the decline of the Western Roman Empire brought us the Dark ages, but one supposes that one might argue (and lose the argument) that Christiantity played a role in causing Rome's collapse.

And there was plenty of civilization prior to christianity.

And plenty of civilization during the "dark ages", too.

Not a civilization as you and I have come to define it, perhaps, but a viable civilization nevertheless.

I'm not defending Christendom, here, I'm just pointing out that it WAS the ONLY GAME IN TOWN.

Remember the question is did Christiantiy save civilization?

My response is merely that it BECAME what we thought of a civilization.

Not that it was better or worse, merely that it WAS.

 

[manifold]

Christianity is one of the base elements of Western civilization.

Couldn't agree more.

Ummm, this wasn't lost on me dillhole! And it wasn't very nice either.

 

[Ravi]

Ummm, this wasn't lost on me dillhole! And it wasn't very nice either.

I figured if no one else got it, you would.

 

[Anguille]

I figured if no one else got it, you would.

"Base" as lowly?

 

[Ravi]

"Base" as lowly?

He probably meant to say basic. Maybe it's another of those terms that's lost in translation? I'll ask my Mexican homey.

 

[editec]

He used an ambiguous word which could mean either lowly or foundational

It was a clever retort, actually.

Ironically both meanings work historically, too.

When Rome was falling, Bishops often were the base upon with those local communities rested.

Bishops in those days were typically well heeled Romans, the only people who could read and write, and the person that the people looked to for advise and to settle disputes.

The fragmentation of the Roman empire left local governments to make it on their own, and the only other reasonably organized groupx of people to take on that task were the local parishes.

The early church wasn't nearly the monolithic power it became by the 14th century, ubt it was the BASE upon which that more complex Christendom civilization was built.

So that remark was funny AND right.