Positive influence throughout history
D’Souza, a research scholar at Stanford University, who authored “What’s So Great About Christianity”, says that Christianity had a fundamental positive impact on many areas throughout human history.
This influence includes:
= preservation of learning and science during the Roman Empire invasion by barbarians
= enormous contribution in art, literature and music
= putting the basis for Western politics and the respect of each person’s conscience through the teaching of separation between church and state
= human dignity & rights, democracy through the respect for the poor and lowly
= social accountability for leaders who are called to be servants
= major importance given to the notions of family and marriage
= development of institutions like hospitals, churches, schools, charities, orphanages, homeless shelters, and universities
= development of capitalism; the Christian principles of work excellence, love, honor, team spirit, wisdom, trust etc stay at the basis of capitalism’ prosperity
= development of modern science through Christianity’s emphasis on the importance of reason as well as the tremendous work of some famous Christians scientists (see Famous Adopters)
etc
Rick Wade said: ‘It is obvious that in the area of medicine, as in a number of others, Christians have made a major contribution. Thus, those who deride Christianity as being detrimental are either tremendously biased in their thinking or ignorant of history.’
(Sources: ‘Christianity’s contribution. Positive effects of religion abound’ by Father John Flynn, http://www.catholic.org/featured/headline.php?ID=5250&page=1 ‘How Christianity changed the world’ by Dr Alvin Schmidt)
An atheist view:
Keith Parsons in ‘Why Not Christian’ said: ‘In this century the Christian religion will become 2000 years old. Christianity has inspired a rich cultural and intellectual tradition. Many of the greatest paintings of the Renaissance masters represent Christian themes. Christian music from Amazing Grace to the Missa Solemnis achieves a beauty and depth seldom reached by other music. The King James Bible is one of the treasures of the English language; its sound resonates in many of the great works of British and American literature. Some of the greatest intellects of the Western world have been Christian theologians and philosophers. St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to name only two, are among the handful of thinkers who may be mentioned in the same breath as Plato and Aristotle. Christian charities have alleviated want and brought education and medical care to many needy areas. Yet Christianity has a Janus face.’ (Read more at Criticisms of Christianity)
You may read more on Christianity influence on human history here
See below a video, ‘We are called’, about a Christian ministry -Joyce Meyer’s ministry ‘Hand of Hope’- reaching out to other people from all over of the world. A ministry that provides nutritious meals to over 67,000 children every day, donated nearly $10 million to disaster relief efforts worldwide, provided nearly 800,000 people with free medical dental care, is involved in rescuing women and children from human trafficking and distributing fresh water and food all over the world. Read more here.
