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The Bible teaches that believers bring God's blessings to even the
unbelievers who live around them. For example, the Lord blessed
Potiphar's entire household because Joseph was placed in charge of it.
Yet, enemies of Christianity, especially secular humanists, almost
never grant that Christians bring blessings to those among whom they
live.
Recently, Guenter Lewy of the University of Massachusetts set out to write a book entitled Why America Doesn't Need Religion. He wanted the book to be "a defense of secular humanism and ethical relativism." Lewy is not a Christian and does not believe in God. But he was determined to offer his results as objectively as possible.
As Lewy assembled his extensive research, he received a surprise. He
found himself forced to conclude that Christianity has a record of
strong support for social justice and human dignity. Other research
forced him to conclude that Christians at that time constantly showed
a lower rate than non Christians of the behaviors associated with
social ills and moral failure. These include divorce, domestic
violence, out of wedlock births, adult crime and juvenile delinquency.
He finally concluded, from other studies, that people who actually
live the Christian life have higher rates of happiness and are
healthier. The final title of his book is Why America Needs
Religion.
Christians should not be fearful about living out their faith, even
among unbelievers. As they live out their faith, God is not only
blessing them, but also the unbelievers who surround them.
References: Charles Colson, "The Gospel according to Jesse: Is
religion a crutch?" Minnesota Christian Chronicle, December 2, 1999, p.
16.
[FONT=Verdana]Thanks, but I'll stick with Bertrand Russell:[/FONT][FONT=Verdana]
I mean by intellectual integrity the habit of deciding vexed questions in accordance with the evidence, or of leaving them undecided where the evidence is inconclusive. This virtue, though it is underestimated by almost all adherents of any system of dogma, is to my mind of the very greatest social importance and far more likely to benefit the world than Christianity or any other system of organized beliefs.
In "Can Religion Cure Our Troubles?" (1954)[/FONT]
His research is flawed. Christians have supported slavery. They also have the highest divorce rate in the entire country. The predominately christian bible belt has the highest rate of adultry. The belief that christians have a lower rate of juvenile delinquincy and adult crime/domestic violence is complete nonsense. I attended a reformed christian highschool(you had to be a christian to attend) and there were as many drugs, teen pregnancy, fighting, violence and weapons as all of the public schools did. We also had the biggest drinking problem in the county. That seems to make the idea of christians having a lower rate of juvenile delinquincy to be rather questionable. Also, christians make up 75% of American prison inmates while atheists/agnostics make up less than 1%. If christianity led to less adult crime/domestic violence then christians would make up the least number of inmates. This is to the contrary though. The idea that christians are healthier and happier than unbelievers is rather suspect. There are studies that say that unbelievers are healthier and happier. The truth is that they're both probably about the same.
Last edited by agnostic soldier; 04-20-2010 at 08:57 PM..
The Bible teaches that believers bring God's blessings to even the
unbelievers who live around them. For example, the Lord blessed
Potiphar's entire household because Joseph was placed in charge of it.
Yet, enemies of Christianity, especially secular humanists, almost
never grant that Christians bring blessings to those among whom they
live.
Recently, Guenter Lewy of the University of Massachusetts set out to write a book entitled Why America Doesn't Need Religion. He wanted the book to be "a defense of secular humanism and ethical relativism." Lewy is not a Christian and does not believe in God. But he was determined to offer his results as objectively as possible.
As Lewy assembled his extensive research, he received a surprise. He
found himself forced to conclude that Christianity has a record of
strong support for social justice and human dignity. Other research
forced him to conclude that Christians at that time constantly showed
a lower rate than non Christians of the behaviors associated with
social ills and moral failure. These include divorce, domestic
violence, out of wedlock births, adult crime and juvenile delinquency.
He finally concluded, from other studies, that people who actually
live the Christian life have higher rates of happiness and are
healthier. The final title of his book is Why America Needs
Religion.
Christians should not be fearful about living out their faith, even
among unbelievers. As they live out their faith, God is not only
blessing them, but also the unbelievers who surround them.
References: Charles Colson, "The Gospel according to Jesse: Is
religion a crutch?" Minnesota Christian Chronicle, December 2, 1999, p.
16.
There is almost as much manure it this post as the one you posted in the R/P forum...The find the truth Charles, one must leave the bias behind before doing the research.
Quote:
The CDC says that southern states, where there is often the greatest emphasis on abstinence and religion, tend to have the highest rates of teenage pregnancy and STDs.
In addition, about 16,000 pregnancies were reported among 10- to 14-year-old girls in 2004 and a similar number of young people in the age group reported having a sexually transmitted disease.
I'd also add that if Christianity(or religion in general) is needed to stop/lower the behaviors that you listed then more secular countries like Norway, Britain or Japan would be hell on earth full of people in despair while the U.S is a utopia of happy citizens. This is not so. God fearing America is the worst while Japan is the best. Most people in secular countries also live moral lives of contentment.This doesn't mean that religion necessarily makes a society worse while secularism would automatically make it better.
Last edited by agnostic soldier; 04-20-2010 at 10:53 PM..
Well, for myself, I would like to know reputable historians who have come to a conclusion, as to whether Christianity in the West has been principally a boon to peoples who came under its influence or a bane, compared to peoples elsewhere which never came under its influence.
Well, for myself, I would like to know reputable historians who have come to a conclusion, as to whether Christianity in the West has been principally a boon to peoples who came under its influence or a bane, compared to peoples elsewhere which never came under its influence.
Ryrge
Reputable historians would not put it as simply as that and, even if they did come to conclusion that Christianity had brough more benefits than otherwise to society, that does not do a single thing to show it to be believable. And, in the end, we should believe what is shown to be true, not what is shown to make us feel better or even behave better.
Still. Thanks for popping up on the atheist thread and putting these points. It gets a bit dull here sometimes because the squabbling mainly goes on in the religion/philosophy forum.
I mean by intellectual integrity the habit of deciding vexed questions in accordance with the evidence, or of leaving them undecided where the evidence is inconclusive. This virtue, though it is underestimated by almost all adherents of any system of dogma, is to my mind of the very greatest social importance and far more likely to benefit the world than Christianity or any other system of organized beliefs.
In "Can Religion Cure Our Troubles?" (1954)
Perhaps Ol Bertrand just didnt want to see the evidence due to his apriori-philiosophical bias ? I think so. You are aware that Atheism is a secular religion of organized beliefs right ? Secular Humanism is seen as a Religion according to our U.S. GOvernment., and even its spokesperson , Prof. Paul Kurtz, stated so. Good to have you aboard as a Religionist. Bertrand was one too . We ALL are .
The Bible teaches that believers bring God's blessings to even the
unbelievers who live around them. For example, the Lord blessed
Potiphar's entire household because Joseph was placed in charge of it.
Yet, enemies of Christianity, especially secular humanists, almost
never grant that Christians bring blessings to those among whom they
live.
Recently, Guenter Lewy of the University of Massachusetts set out to write a book entitled Why America Doesn't Need Religion. He wanted the book to be "a defense of secular humanism and ethical relativism." Lewy is not a Christian and does not believe in God. But he was determined to offer his results as objectively as possible.
As Lewy assembled his extensive research, he received a surprise. He
found himself forced to conclude that Christianity has a record of
strong support for social justice and human dignity. Other research
forced him to conclude that Christians at that time constantly showed
a lower rate than non Christians of the behaviors associated with
social ills and moral failure. These include divorce, domestic
violence, out of wedlock births, adult crime and juvenile delinquency.
He finally concluded, from other studies, that people who actually
live the Christian life have higher rates of happiness and are
healthier. The final title of his book is Why America Needs
Religion.
Christians should not be fearful about living out their faith, even
among unbelievers. As they live out their faith, God is not only
blessing them, but also the unbelievers who surround them.
References: Charles Colson, "The Gospel according to Jesse: Is
religion a crutch?" Minnesota Christian Chronicle, December 2, 1999, p.
16.
From a purely scientific view even the most hardcore atheist would have to accept religion has actual real world value or it wouldn't have survived the evolutionary process.
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