Revealed! The truth about Christianity? (3 views)
From:  Maggie (HUGSMAGGIE)   3/20/2002 1:36 pm  
To:  ALL    
 
  339.1  
 
Hi, thought you all would enjoy some good answers to the anti-Christian rhetoric out there. :) 
Christianity on Trial_ 
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/detail/-/books/1893554155/reviews/qid=1016656811/sr=2-1/####/104-5120388-5251941 

Editorial Reviews 
From Booklist 
Extravagant charges have lately been laid, or in some cases relaid, at Christianity's door. 

Christianity encouraged and apologized for slavery. 

Christianity, anti-Semitic from its outset, refused to prevent or protest the Holocaust, and Pope Pius XII is especially culpable. 

Christianity has obstructed the growth of science. 

Christianity has resisted democracy, tolerance, equality, individuality, and all the other values intrinsic to Western culture and the U.S., in particular. 

The problem with these condemnations is, of course, that ***they are all false,*** as Carroll and Shiflett demonstrate by restating the historical record and core Christian teachings and by putting specific events, such as the Crusades, and practices, such as slavery, in historical and cross-cultural perspective. 

They don't deny genuine wrongdoing by Christians and churches but balance the wrongs with the much larger record of right doing by Christians and churches. 

They back their presentation almost exclusively with the findings of secular scholars. 

They write intelligently and uncondescendingly but very accessibly and with enough animation to pull readers into and speed them through each chapter. Superb argumentation. Ray Olson 
Copyright  American Library Association. All rights reserved 

Booklist 
"They write intelligently and uncondescendingly...enough animation to pull readers into and speed them through each chapter. Superb argumentation." 

Wall Street Journal 
"Carroll and Shiflett have written a fine text..." 

Book Description 
In "Christianity on Trial," Vincent Carroll and David Shiflett do not shrink from confronting the tragedies that have been perpetrated throughout the ages in the name of Christianity. But they argue that the current indulgence of anti-Christian rhetoric in our culture not only involves bad taste, but tunnel vision and willful historical illiteracy as well. Carroll and Shiflett dispassionately consider the indictment of Christianity--specifically that it has justified racism and misogyny, encouraged ignorance, and promoted the despoliation of the environment and even justified genocide. Then, in a narrative whose intellectual elegance and verve calls up comparisons to "How the Irish Saved Civilization," they answer these charges, showing how in fact the Christian tradition has not only injected morality into our political order, but softened brutal practices and confining superstitions, created the foundation for intellectual inquiry, and created the compassionate! impulse. "Christianity on Trial" challenges readers of all beliefs--even those with a belief in disbelief itself--to question the anti-religious bigotry that thrives in our intellectual world and to reevaluate the role of Christianity not only as a source of consolation but of enlightenment and human liberation as well. 

About the Author 
Vincent Carroll is editor of the editorial pages at the "Rocky Mountain News." He lives in Denver. David C. Shiflett is a freelance writer living in Midlothian, Va. He is also author of "The America We Deserve" (with Donald Trump). 

CHRISTIANITY ON TRIAL 

Author interview On The 700 Club, http://www.cbn.com/ 
***March 20, 2002*** 
About the Authors... 
In Christianity on Trial, Vincent Carroll and David 
Shiflett do not shrink from confronting the tragedies that have 
been perpetrated throughout the ages in the name of 
Christianity. 

But they argue that the current indulgence of ***anti-Christian 
rhetoric in our culture involves not only bad taste, but 
tunnel vision and *willful historical illiteracy* as well.*** 

Carroll and Shiflett dispassionately consider the indictment of 
Christianity - specifically that it has justified racism and 
misogyny, (showing a hatred or distrust of women), encouraged 
ignorance, promoted the despoliation of the environment and 
even justified genocide. 

Then, in a narrative whose intellectual elegance and verve 
calls up comparisons to How the Irish Saved Civilization, they 
answer these charges, showing how in fact 

***the Christian 
tradition has not only injected morality into our political order, 
but softened brutal practices and confining superstitions, laid 
the foundation for intellectual inquiry, and created the 
compassionate impulse.*** 

Extracts from the book: "Christianity on Trial" 
How Christian Ethics Transformed the Pagan World 
More than two hundred years after the death of Jesus, midway 
into the third century, Christians were still a small minority in 
the Roman Empire - no more than 5 percent of the multiethnic 
throng by the highest estimates, and probably less than half that 
much. "They were mostly concentrated in the bigger cities, but 
they were prominent in towns of varying rank and degree," 
Robin Lane Fox concludes in Pagans and Christians. "Their 
center of gravity lay with the humbler free classes, not with the 
slaves, whom they did little to evangelize... 

Women of all 
ranks were conspicuous and there was a notable presence in 
some churches of women of high Status." 

What was it that accounted for this particular social profile, if 
not Christianity's insistence on the equal value of every soul in 
God's sight? 

The apostle Paul had said, "there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor 
female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus," and his words 
still resonate two thousand years later. 
How much more 
potent they must have seemed in an empire in which social 
class - from emperor down to slave - was so much more 
confining, and in which the portion of the population that 
could be bought and sold like oxen seemed to swell with 
Rome's stupendous military reach. 

Christianity and Slavery 
Slavery was not extinguished in the nineteenth century, 
despite widespread expectation that its final chapter was 
unfolding. This was due in part to a development no one 
quite foresaw: Revolutionary, often explicitly antireligious 
governments would revive the ancient practice of human 
bondage to an unparalleled degree in the Soviet Union, Nazi 
Germany, China, imperial Japan, Cambodia and elsewhere. 

Even at the opening of the twenty-first century, the 
antislavery movement finds itself buoyed by the Christian 
ethic of moral equality, the single greatest enemy of human 
bondage during the past two thousand years. 

Christianity and Charity 
The question of wealth has been an awkward one for 
Christians from the beginning. Jesus' injunctions to his 
followers to turn their backs on worldly goods were among 
his most provocative statements, both at the time and ever 
after. The story of Christianity's attempt to deal with wealth 
begins with the words of Jesus, whose teachings in this area 
are mutually reinforcing: 

First, he demands that his 
followers devote themselves to the care of the poor and 
desperate; and second, he promises that those who ignore his 
demand should expect punishment in the world to come. 

The story of Christianity, says Carroll & Shiflett, has 
sometimes been turbulent and tragic, blood-spattered and 
cruel, but that is far from the sum total of its legacy. 

It also 
boasts magnificent, redeeming achievements - shining 
moments when civilizing values have seized the upper hand. 
These too must be remembered. 




  Romans 11:18 "Do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you."  
From:  David (DavidABrown)    3/20/2002 1:58 pm  
To:  Maggie (HUGSMAGGIE)   (2 of 2)  
 
  339.2 in reply to 339.1  
 
Hi Maggie,

 

Thank you for the Excellent topic and the Information.

 

I agree we Christians have Absolutely nothing to hang our heads about.

 

In fact we need to be Boasting in the Achievements of Jesus. We Christians Are the Most Loving and Caring group of people in the world, because we have Gods Spirit inside of us and it is the Spirit of Love and compassion.

 

I saw a Christian program and the guest said that for about the last 40 years the news media has had a considerable effort to Never broadcast or display anything Positive that has any ties to Christianity but when the occasional negative thing comes along to report on that. They feel that in that way they dont have to outright lie about Christianity but then they can misrepresent Christianity and diminish Christians in that way.

 

Thanks again for the important and encouraging Info,

God Bless you,

David



David A. Brown
Basic Christian: Forum
 
  
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