Posted on 07/10/2008 2:12:48 PM PDT by Recovering_Democrat
For Americans the Fourth of July marks national independence, but the holiday has become symbolic of a more universal cause: human liberty. The development of human freedom, in theory and in practice, is in large measure the story of Christianity.
How we understand the past influences how we live in the present, which is why debates about history can be so rancorous. Whether Christianity is a vehicle of oppression or a force for liberation is a question whose answer has remained contentious for two millennia.
For many, Christianity is oppressive. For them, the Christian religion is associated with the Crusades, the Inquisition, and Puritanical moralism. It conjures images of witch hunts, the scarlet letter, and “Hitler’s pope.”
Contemporary Christians cannot ignore these associations. What truth they contain must be acknowledged. But the critics of Christianity cannot have it both ways. If evil done in the name of Christ is to be highlighted, then so must the good. Antislavery crusades, orphanages and hospitals, protection of the weak and innocent—these too have marked the historical record of Christianity.
(Excerpt) Read more at acton.org ...
The Acton Institute is a bright light fighting for Christian liberty.
read later
John 8:32
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
(NKJV)
The United States could not have been founded without Christianity, and will surely go down without it.
“History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes.” -Thomas Jefferson to Alexander von Humboldt, Dec. 6, 1813.
Sadly, histories such as Frothingham's have been eliminated from the public libraries and from the minds of historians of the 20th and 21st Century.
On Page 558, Frothingham states:
"The Declaration embodied the doctrine of the fundamental equality of the race, and thus clothed abstract truth with vitalizing power. Its mighty sentences aver as self-evident 'that all men are created equal: that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. . . .'" "This is the American theory," he says, "expressed 'in words the memory of which can never die' (Buckle's History of civilization). It includes far more than it expresses: for by recognizing human equality and brotherhood, and the individual as the unit of society, it accepts the Christian idea of man as the basis of political institutions; and by proclaiming the right to alter them to meet the progress of society, it provided for the results of a tendency to look, not to the past, but to the future, for types of perfection that were brought into the world by Christianity. To maintain such a theory were fought the battles of the revolution. To build on it a worthy superstructure of government and law, was the work entered upon by heroes and sages, and bequethed to posterity."
Judeo-Christianity v islam. Secularism loses.
"Peace I give to you, not as the world gives.."
We tend to associate freedom with having a pleasant experience. Christ's freedom included undergoing the crucifixion. The Acton Institute is preaching right-wing liberation theology, repeating the many flaws of its left-wing flavor.
I think Christianity has done a great deal to civilize man. I liked the movie BlacRobe (netflix). It deals with a Catholic priest converting Indians. It was neither preachy or condemning, but seemed pretty matter-of-fact.
Christianity has also done a lot to promote respect for individuals and individual liberty. I understand that the Greek republics that had political democracy had little individual freedom. For example, they could choose and establish their religion at the level of the city-state. That choice was then compulsory for all members of the city-state. That is not our idea of freedom of religion, freedom of conscience.
Rummaging around the Acton website, I found the following radio broadcast about John McCain, energy, the environment, and man's place as understood by Christians vs. the understanding of earth worshiping pagans:
http://bonhoeffer.acton.org/acton_media/mp3/2008-05-20_Miller.mp3
Too often clerics of a leftist persuasion have rejected free-markets. It think that is bad religion. It comes from not understanding economics. They don't think about the real economic consequences of policy. Those darned unintended consequences. Karl Marx claimed that under capitalism, the poor got poorer. But consider China today. Markets are bringing millions out of poverty every month, something that communism never did. Our vast middle class exists because of capitalism, as does every middle class. I commend those who bring economics to theology, and a more valid and complete theology to the world.
Priests are NOT the government. We have separation of church and state. And Jefferson was hardly a moral authority.
I was talking with some young folks last week who brought up the notion that our being in Iraq created instability, especially for non-Muslims. I reminded them that the two largest factions of Muslims are fighting each other, so it’s not just Muslims against Christians. Sadaam was gonna die sometime, and if we HADN’T been there to provide some stability in the transfer of power to someone else, Iraq could have devolved into an enormous morass, and NO one would have been safe, Muslim, Christian, or any follower of any other faith.
Yes, well, it is better than the alternative.
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