QUICK TAKES: Reflections on the Importance of Culture in a Few Paragraphs
The following thoughts of BitsBlog founder Erik Florac first appeared several years ago and they continue to be highly relevant today because they spotlight a crucial fact about the central role of Christian values in shaping Western Civilization specifically and healthy culture generally.
Florac points to the words of Bertrand Russell concerning the success of Mahatma Gandhi in securing the independence of India from the British Empire: “It is doubtful that the efforts of the Mahatma would have succeeded except that he was appealing to the conscience of a Christianized people”
Florac then notes:
“So here we have, posted in the home of a Buddhist, the words of a militant atheist, extolling the virtues of Christianity. So much for the argument that the judeo-christian ethic is not Central to Western culture. The constant claim that the judeo-christian ethic is an evil to be overcome is similarly bombed out of existence.
“At the bottom line culture exists, and it matters. I have repeatedly said over the years and hold today that America could not have been created as such with Islam as its cultural philosophy. Nor any of the pantheistic religions, nor atheism.”
There is talk, pro and con, in some quarters these days about “Christian nationalism.” That’s clearly not what either Russell or Gandhi were talking about. Jesus said “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.”
With those words, Jesus effectively rule out the idea of a “Christian state.” Christianity is about a personal relationship with the Living Lord Jesus Christ who forgives those who repent of their individual sins and submit their lives to His will on a daily basis.
“And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all of the law Law and the Prophets.”
The society in which most people live according to those two commandments will inevitably be kinder, more generous, more honest, more patient and forgiving. It will result in the sort of culture the American Founders had in mind, as reflected in this comment from John Adams in one of his many letters to Thomas Jefferson after both men were retired from public life and in a lengthy reconciliation:
“The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity”
Good commentary about christianity being the basis for western civilization. Not a christian state, per se, but individuals within nations believing in and following the Lord Jesus Christ and His teachings.
You know as well as I do that we’re going to hear complaints about separation of church and state, and the claims that the founders were against any demonstrations of faith. But as I said elsewhere in that Thread….
” let’s go back to the first act of Congress… which by the way has it’s anniversary tomorrow…. the first act of the new Congress occurred on September 7th of 1774. What was that act?
A prayer. This moment was significant as it united delegates from various religious backgrounds in a solemn appeal for guidance during a time of crisis.”
The fact is that it is from Jerusalem that we got the notion of the supremacy of the individual, of the sacredness of life and of property. These are foundational stones of western culture.
As Christ himself asked: What happens when you remove the foundation from a building?