Few religions take as many shots on op/ed pages as Christianity. As a reader, I enjoy the exchange of opposing views, but as a Catholic, I have noticed that too many of my fellow Christians respond to attacks on our faith by ceding terms of the argument to people we argue with.
More Offense and Less Defense
In most newspapers, this surrender improves the odds of getting Christian viewpoints published, but over the long haul it also weakens debate where we need it most.
Christians should play more offense and less defense. Despite the failures of its adherents through the ages, Christianity remains the greatest force for good the world has ever known.
Quoting the Bible or comparing atrocities committed by Christians with atrocities committed by non-Christians will not do. The Bible is not self-interpreting, and although anti-Christian ideologies like communism and fascism killed far more people than the Spanish Inquisition and the Salem witch trials, few people find that reassuring. It is likewise pointless to remark that the crusades were the West’s belated response to the Muslim conquest of two-thirds of the Christian world (for more on that, see Thomas F. Madden’s Concise History of the Crusades). One does not make friends by quibbling about the difference between offensive and defensive wars. Fortunately, there are more encouraging things to think about.
People who regard Christianity as a repressive and intolerant religion are not likely to ask themselves why tolerance matters more to them than truth, but you might get them to ponder big questions by starting with little ones. Many such people do not realize that their anti-Christian prejudice cannot be reconciled with Jesus or with the profound Christian influence on art, music, literature, sculpture, and architecture.
Arenas of Excellence and Achievement
To pick three examples from among many, Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel on commission from the pope, genius composer J.S. Bach was a church organist, and “Peanuts” creator Charles Schulz began his cartooning career at a Catholic magazine.
The Christian record on human rights is less distinguished. Even so, Christians were among the first to exalt the separation of church and state that Americans now take for granted. Popes advanced the cause of liberty by serving as checks on state power. Other Christians opened the first universities and the first hospitals for the poor. Their descendants assumed leading roles in the anti-slavery and civil rights movements.
Christian contributions to the growth of science should not be overlooked, either. Although conventional wisdom calls the 17th-century trial of Galileo a conflict between faith and reason, that view oversimplifies a fascinating story while obscuring the work of the scientist whom Galileo championed, a Catholic cleric named Copernicus. In fact, the Christian belief that the universe was created in time by a rational God who exists independently of His handiwork gave people permission to study nature without fear of committing blasphemy, and the Christian view of history as linear rather than cyclical kept scientists from despairing about the futility of their experiments, as Benedictine physicist Stanley L. Jaki has been saying for years. Scientific achievements of civilizations that did not share Christian theological assumptions were assimilated and then surpassed by the Christian West.
Environmentalists who think Christianity encourages the rape of the earth may not realize that subjugation of nature has Greek rather than biblical roots. Contrary to stereotype, Christian faith calls humans the stewards rather than the masters of creation. Anyone can verify this caretaking role by viewing circumstantial evidence in garden supply shops, where the likeness of Saint Francis of Assisi adorns birdbaths and lawn ornaments.
Countering a Dishonest View
If you make these points to honest friends and get a “yes, but…” response, fear not. You live in a time when several authors have done yeoman work to correct the aggressively secular and entirely dishonest view of Christianity as all bad, all the time. Much of my argument here is based on two excellent books: Six Modern Myths About Christianity and Western Civilization, by Philip J. Sampson, and Christianity on Trial: Arguments Against Anti-Religious Bigotry, by Vincent Carroll and Dave Shiflett.
Let me explain…no, there is too much. Let me sum up: Christianity has a bloody history in the sense that Christ himself died a violent death and Christians are no more perfect than anyone else. Given the many ways that Christianity empowers people rather than degrading them, however, it should be clear that the Christian record of achievement is longer and more significant than the Christian rap sheet.
Patrick O'Hannigan is a technical writer and self-described “paragraph farmer” in California. His commentary has appeared in LewRockwell.com, CanticaNova.com, New Oxford Review, and New Times (San Luis Obispo), among other places.
