Most people regard religion as a constructive and positive force in human history, while some regard it as a false and negative force. Naturally, that depends on which religion you are talking about, and even on whether or not you happen to be religious. Some old religions, and perhaps some new ones, appear to be fanatical and akin to devil worship. The ancient idols of Money, Power, and Fame have always had their clergy, congregation, and temple, and have been worshiped by some as divine even when it was clear they were truly demonic.
But it can hardly be argued that the wisdom taught by Christ has had a wicked influence on the world. Yes, some Christians have behaved wickedly, even while professing to be Christian. But that is not a reasonable argument against Christianity, any more than that medicine should be regarded as wicked because some pharmacists and physicians have used it to exploit their patients; or that the law should be regarded as wicked because some judges, lawyers, and policemen have used it to thwart justice.
Christianity has been an enormously positive force in the history of humankind. It has nurtured in us the idea that we exist for a purpose; that we have the free will to manage ourselves with the help of God in attaining that purpose; that we have immortality to strive for rather than oblivion to approach with fear and trembling; and that we have a God who loves us and is willing to forgive our sins if we are but sincere in asking that forgiveness.
Christianity has a track record comparable to no other world religion. Until Christianity converted the Roman Empire, there was worldwide traffic in slavery that was justified even by the great Greek philosopher Aristotle. The savage entertainment offered by bloodletting Roman gladiators ended only after the victory of Christ over Jupiter. From the time of Constantine on, Christian hospitals were built everywhere in Europe as a visible sign of Christian charity. The Catholic popes helped to unify the culture of Europe by making Latin the universal language of the Church and scholars everywhere.
Risking the wrath of King John of England, Archbishop Stephen Langton promoted the Magna Carta, a treaty that began the long decline of ruthless monarchies toward parliamentary government in England and Jeffersonian democracy in America. Catholic monks invented the medieval university system that paved the way toward the Renaissance and the scientific revolution. A Catholic, Johannes Gutenberg, invented the printing press, making books easy and inexpensive to market, which in turn encouraged the literacy required to read those books and the growing scholarship that followed.
Those who despise religion in general, and Christianity in particular, foolishly denounce Christian civilizations of the past and the present. If people want to know how civilized the world was in those places where Christianity has prevailed, let them first study how brutal the world was in the centuries before Christ. The narrative of that savage world is vividly told in the first three volumes of Will Durant’s monumental The Story of Civilization. Another (admittedly Hollywood) version of pre-Christian barbarism is vividly depicted in Mel Gibson’s movie Apocalypto.
Any competent historian has to admit that before Christianity triumphed there was no spreading empire anywhere in the world whose central, pervasive, and constant moral teaching was, “Love God and one another.” Nor was there ever a religion that so convincingly offered to frail humanity the hope that somewhere beyond this life there is final justice and mercy that cannot always be found in this world.
Whenever and wherever in the world Christianity has failed, or gone into gradual decline, or Christians have engaged in bloody excesses, it was always because there was not enough Christianity, not because there was too much. One hundred years from now religious scholars will surely still remember the Catholic convert G. K. Chesterton’s insight of one hundred years ago: “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult, and left untried.”
In today’s world this is perhaps more true than it has ever been.