When Christianity entered the Greco-Roman world 2,000 years ago, human life was cheap and expendable. Infanticide, child abandonment, abortion and suicide were widespread and fully legal. Contrary to that pagan culture, Christianity, honoring its Judaic background, proclaimed: “You shall not kill [murder].” All human life was a gift of God and therefore sacred, regardless of a person’s status. In time, that Christian posture took hold in the West. Thus the sanctity of human life, still largely enshrined in American law, is part of America’s Christian heritage.
Sexual life among the Greco-Romans was highly licentious and without shame. Adultery, fornication and other sexual immoralities were common. The Romans even depicted sexual acts on household items. Homosexual sex, which was mostly man/boy sex, was widespread and legal. It threatened most every adolescent boy. The early Christians opposed all immoral sex, in conformity with what St. Paul advocated in I Corinthians 6:9, where adultery, fornication and homosexuality are condemned. Many of our American laws, for instance, the crime of child molestation, are the result of Christianity’s high sexual mores.
Woman in the ancient Greco-Roman culture had virtually no rights, freedom, or dignity. She was the property of a husband or father, and she had no choice as to whom she married. Christianity, on the other hand, did not see woman as a man’s property; she was free to reject a male suitor; she had equality of church membership, and other rights.
The freedom and dignity women today have in our society are largely the result of Christianity’s impact. One need only note the pronounced lack of freedom women have today in most Middle East countries (where Christianity has little or no presence) to see the difference Christianity has made in the life of women.
Regarding the Greco-Romans again, we find they were devoid of charity and compassion. Many of its philosophers argued against such behavior. Ancient writers say that even relatives deserted each other in plagues. Whereas, the early Christians charitably and compassionately cared for all, including pagans. They built the world’s first hospitals. Many American hospitals still bear the name of Christian saints or denominations.
Contrary to the Greek and Roman culture, Christianity gave dignity to manual labor and economics. It also underscored property rights, economic freedom and individual freedom, all highly valued by most Americans.
The American principle that no person is above the law stems from Christianity when Bishop Ambrose in A.D. 390 held Emperor Theodosius I accountable for killing innocent people. The Magna Carta (1215), written with the counsel of “reverend [church] fathers,” and a document that influenced our country’s Constitution, gave further support to this principle.
Universal education for both sexes, all classes, and races originated with the early church. Similarly, universities arose out of the church’s monasteries. Later, most American colleges and universities began as church schools.
America’s three branches of government stem from the Christian thinking of Montesquieu and James Madison. Both recognized the sinful nature of man, so prone to dishonesty, required others to keep a watchful eye on those in another branch of government.
Indeed, it was Jesus Christ, His apostles, and their followers whose teachings and values transformed civilization. Much of that transformation is a vital part of America’s heritage.
(This column courtesy of Agape Press.)
