10 years ago someone said to me, “These days you may not even know your next door neighbor, but you exchange emails with your buddy in South Africa twice a week.” I looked out the window at the house next to mine – barely knew the neighbors – and yes I was sitting there sending emails to someone in some far-off country.
Every week I get on conference calls and say hi to everyone and barely think twice about the fact that I’ve got 17 people from Texas, four from Perth, one from Amsterdam, one in Alaska, one in Lebanon.
Ever heard Thomas Friedman’s “McDonalds theory of world peace”? He observes that with only one exception, no two countries with a McDonalds have ever gone to war with each other.
Can you imagine, say, the US going to war with Australia? Think of all the emails the senators and congressmen would get: “Hey, stop trying to kill my customers! And by the way, here’s a list of 115 blogs from people who are trapped in the Siege of Sydney right now!”
The world is truly a strange and wonderful place. Just before I went on a trip, I loaded the first season of The Dukes of Hazzard on my video iPod so my 10 year old son would have something to watch while we trucked down Interstate 80.
That TV show ran in 1979 – the year that *I* was 10 years old. I said to Laura, “Who would’ve thought that 25 years later you’d be able to download an entire season of the Dukes of Hazzard onto a device that’s half the size of a pack of cigarettes, and our kids would watch it in the car with headphones and a 2″ screen?” We shake our heads in amazement.
OK, so what does all this have to do with spirituality?
Equality and technology… They have everything to do with spirituality.
Let’s start with equality.
The United States Declaration of Independence makes a world-shattering declaration that transformed the modern world:
“We hold these things to be self-evident, that all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
In his book “Democracy in America” (1835) Alexis de Tocqueville carefully traces this statement and its idea of equality backward through history and lands at Galatians 3:28, the words of St. Paul:
“In Christ there is neither male nor female, Jew nor Greek, slave nor free. All are equal in Christ Jesus.”
Before Paul said this, no one had ever made such a bold and sweeping statement. No one. Not the Jews or Babylonians, not the Egyptians, not the Greeks, not the Chinese. The concept of equality came first from Paul.
This idea got planted in western civilization and began to grow and develop, little by little dismantling slave trade, sowing the seeds for democracy and spurring technological and political progress. Tocqueville says that from 1100 AD to the present, every major development led to more equality, not less. The Magna Carta. The invention of the horseshoe. The invention of the gun and the post office and the printing press and democracy.
If you live in a democracy and you’re thankful for the ability to vote, if you’re thankful that people generally consider you and themselves to be just as good as anybody else, then thank Paul. And his Rabbi, Jesus.
Because – despite what the Declaration says – equality really is NOT self evident. At least it wasn’t to any of the ancient world prior to 2000 years ago. On the surface, we’re all different. Some are stronger. Some are smarter. Some have more money. Some are politically connected. Some are more savvy.
And some people get the scraps.
You have no principle to guide you but winners and losers. Which, divorced from any overriding sense of equality or individual dignity, is a cruel master.
But when Paul said this, he was declaring that there is an underlying *spiritual* reality, that yours and my true identity doesn’t come from accomplishments or money or power but from our Heavenly Father. That once we know that true identity we’re no longer slaves to money and power and accomplishments and the ‘natural’ order of things.
If you’re thankful that Western Civilization today considers all people to be intrinsically equal, be thankful that a young couple in Bethlehem gave birth to a baby who was to become the most loved, most hated, most argued about, most written about, most influential person in the history of the world. One who taught that the greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. One in whom there is no male or female, no Jew nor Greek, no slave nor free.
So then how about technology?
Science itself is, at its core, a presumption of discoverable underlying order. A belief, an assumption (which cannot be proven in advance, by the way) that when an apple falls from a tree it does so because of some law of nature that caused it to do so. That there was a string of cause and effect that can be traced back to explain why this happened.
The apple did not fall from the tree because, say, Zeus was having a snit with Apollo and that’s why there was the lightning storm which is why there was a wind that caused the apple to swing back and forth and fall from the tree…. no, it happened for rational discoverable reasons. That God made a world which could operate consistently on its own without Him constantly making corrections from the outside.
So far as I can tell, the inspiration for this belief first came from Wisdom of Solomon 11:21:
“Thou hast ordered all things in measure and number and weight.”
(The Protestants omitted that book, but our Catholic friends thankfully left it in.)
If a scientist does not presume that there is a rational reason for what he is about to investigate, there is nothing for him to investigate at all. Belief in rationality comes from belief in a rational God. A God who wants us to discover His universe. For whom such discovery is an act of worship.
If you read the history of science over the last 500 years, the only reason science succeeded in the West – after getting started but failing in Greece, Rome, China, Egypt and in the Arab world – is that Christian theology understood God to have created the universe to operate according to fixed discoverable laws. Theology made that prediction, then people had a philosophical basis for having a scientific method.
In his fascinating book “The Victory of Reason” historian Rodney Stark further explains that the forward march of technology began after the fall of the Roman Empire and has marched steadily forward ever since. Equality implied that slavery was wrong, so people had to develop technology in order to free their slaves and still get the work done.
So… part of the inspiration for inventions like water wheels was a belief in dignity and freedom and the rights of the individual.
Technology is supposed to empower people, not enslave them. Because, as Paul said, in Christ, all are equal.
If you trace these ideas back through history, equality and technology and even iPods and Democracy have everything to do with our very beliefs about the universe and about God. And yes, even Jesus.
Case in point: it’s politically incorrect to say “Merry Christmas” cuz it’s too religious. Instead you get a tepid, watered down “Happy Holidays.”
It’s because Christ is offensive. When a guy smashes his thumb with a hammer, he doesn’t say “Krishna” or “Buddha,” he says Jesus Christ. Because that’s the most loaded, most powerful word in the English language.
There’s no name you can invoke that’s more powerful than the Son of God.
~~~
Do you know what the most important invention in the history of the world was?
It wasn’t the computer. And it sure wasn’t the light bulb or the telephone. (Or even the electronic voting machine.)
It was the printing press.
In 1445, Johannes Gutenberg invented the world’s first movable type printing press. He didn’t know it, but he was unleashing a revolution that continues to this day. Even the mighty Internet in the 21st century is just an extension of Gutenberg’s original, revolutionary machine.
The first book he printed was the Bible. And that led to controversy, too, because Luther translated it into German, the people’s language, instead of Latin, the lingo of the religious elite.
Suddenly, ordinary folks could not only afford a copy, but they could read it for themselves instead of getting some guy’s slanted interpretation. Soon the cat was out of the bag–there were copies scattered all over Europe.
It’s no coincidence that the scientific enlightenment and industrial revolution began in earnest within 50 years of this. Not that it wasn’t already underway (it had already gathered considerable momentum) but now that ordinary folks had access to knowledge and the freedom to pursue it, the possibilities were limitless.
The printing press took the handcuffs off of knowledge and spirituality, and the world has never been the same. Equal access to knowledge empowered people everywhere, and it was only natural that the Renaissance, and in time, democracy too would follow.
Every year at Christmas we celebrate the person who inspired these revolutions. Jesus’ teachings were radical and scandalous. He claimed to be the Son of God. He said he would rise from the dead, and according to the historical accounts, he did. He stepped into the world and split time in half: BC and AD. And his words still resonate throughout the earth today.
Still rolls the stone from the grave.
In the spirit of what Jesus taught us, I hope that you’ll use our 21st century printing press, the Internet, to not enslave but empower individuals. To bring more equality, to make the world a better place for your fellow man.
Thanks for reading.
Perry Marshall
Wonderful article, enlighning. Forwarding it.
Many thanks, gracias,
Johnny Morales
Please Mr. Perry, what everyou do do not quit writing to me .I
no you make what would be a bleak day for an ole man,into a
beautiful thing. thank you an God Bless you…gene
Dear Mr. Marshall,
Thank you for your email. I haven’t heard from you in more than a year, so it was nice to receive it.
I don’t have a particular question, but I do have comments. With regard to the “McDonalds’ theory of world peace,” I think that two countries that have McDonalds’ restaurants are likely to be controlled by the United States, and therefore would fight a war only at the behest of our country. They would also likely have many people whose brains were fried in fat and food additives that promote passivity, obesity and difficulty in reasoning, and would thus find mustering the passion and conviction necessary to launch a war difficult.
I was 32 years old in 1979, and was not much impressed by the Dukes of Hazzard, though I did like to look at the female star (I’ve forgotten her name).
I think it’s unarguable that Christianity was responsible for the modern concept of political equality, and by extension, democracy. However, I think it is arguable whether modern democracy is what we think it is: “rule by the many.” No modern democracy is ruled by “the people,” including the United States. Modern democracy is a scam whereby “the people” are duped into voting for one or another member of the social, economic and political elite. The elite, in other words, ALWAYS rules. The people merely have the “privilege” of voting for the elite candidate of their choice. The “founding fathers” were actually terrified of democracy, and their Constitution was an attempt to assure that the political and economic elite of the country would always be in power.
The elite candidates, though they almost always pretend to be “men of the people,” are usually quite wealthy and well-connected. They are also typically people of low moral and ethical standards. That is not an accident. Candidates that have the most “skeletons in their closets” are often promoted for the highest offices, because their former sins and crimes make them controllable. They know that the moment they even think of rebelling against the financial and military elite who have, more often than not, gained their offices for them, their former crimes will be trumpeted to the heavens, and they will never again be able to hold so much as an office of dog-catcher. If even this fear fails to keep them under the elite’s control, the elite always has what I call the “Kennedy option.”
Now though, this time-honored power structure has given way to overt tyranny. The elite no longer even pretends to conform to the Constitution and has practically abolished it, as well as the lofty ideals of the Declaration of Independence. The people, however, have mostly not noticed, dumbed-down and dulled by poisonous food additives and environmental toxins, brainwashed by the worst educational system in the Western world, and lulled to perpetual sleep by a corporate-owned mass media. Soon, any criticism of the elite or the government will be either punishable by death, imprisonment in the new American Gulag, or lengthy commitment to “mental institutions,” as in the former Soviet regime.
Alexis de Tocqueville predicted that the “American Republic” would eventually become a tyranny. In the last chapter of his book “Democracy in America,” he describes perfectly a future American totalitarianism, though without naming it, because the term didn’t yet exist.
James, I really appreciate your explanation of modern democracy in North America. I decided two years ago to quit voting. I feel great because I do not have to tow any line that get’s someone elected nor do I have to worry about saying something that is sensitive to the ruling elite. I am just myself and try to rely on no one anymore. This way there is no let down nor payment to be made. Live simply and inexpensively and don’t worry too much about being democratic. Protect your family and be loyal to your freinds, the rest is just a badly staged play anyway. Regards and Thanks again, CanadaNorth
You write:
“In Christ there is neither male nor female, Jew nor Greek, slave nor free. All are equal in Christ Jesus.”
Before Paul said this, no one had ever made such a bold and sweeping statement. No one. Not the Jews or Babylonians, not the Egyptians, not the Greeks, not the Chinese. The concept of equality came first from Paul.
This idea got planted in western civilization and began to grow and develop, little by little dismantling slave trade, sowing the seeds for democracy and spurring technological and political progress. Tocqueville says that from 1100 AD to the present, every major development led to more equality, not less. The Magna Carta. The invention of the horseshoe. The invention of the gun and the post office and the printing press and democracy.
Really? There were many Native American Tribes who were matriarchal. If there is equality in the early church, why did they forbid women to be priests?(even today)
“The concept of equality came first from Paul.” That truly is a bold statement. It is also bullshit. That second paragraph is filled to the brim with bullshit. The invention of the gun brought equality? The church is responsible for the ending of slavery? Uh, I don’t think so. It says right there in your “good book” how much a slave is worth. 30 sheckles. That is straight from god. Your vision of god DID NOT want people to be free. He wants people to be subservient.
“If you live in a democracy and you’re thankful for the ability to vote, if you’re thankful that people generally consider you and themselves to be just as good as anybody else, then thank Paul. And his Rabbi, Jesus.”
What utter crap, the invention of democracy is from the ancient greeks. That is, before christ, remember? How do you live with yourself spreading such nonsense to people who probably don’t know any better?
Everything Paul said was to gain power over people, to LEAD them. If you believe in Christ only his words matter, not those written decades after he rose.
“Suddenly, ordinary folks could not only afford a copy, but they could read it for themselves instead of getting some guy’s slanted interpretation. Soon the cat was out of the bag-there were copies scattered all over Europe”
This is also why we had the age of enlightenment, when people were able to break through the walls put up by the church that suppressed and confined them. Ordinary people could finally read Jesus’ words themselves, and not be held to accounting by some church elders. You do know that most of of founding fathers were diests, they did NOT believe in the divinity of Jesus, right? That Thomas Jefferson made his own bible (known as the Jefferson bible), which was made up of ONLY the quotes of Jesus, and not the ramblings of a power hungry group of priests and dictators?
You said to a commenter above: “I have no idea what technology existed pre-babel. That’s a matter of speculation.” It is NOT a matter of speculation! Good grief, have you ever even LOOKED at an archeological book, magazine, or website? Please do some more research, it is obvious you are in dire need of more history lessons.
Mark,
My quote came from Alexis de Tocqueville, the noted French historian. If you think that someone before Paul had made a more sweeping statement than Paul’s, then cite the source.
I suggest you read Tocqueville.
Yessir, if you have a gun you are more equal to any opponent than if you only have a sword.
Slavery in the Old Testament was NOT what most Americans think of when someone says “Slavery.” It was much closer to an employee and it was often a way of discharging debt. Slaves had human rights and they were also supposed to, by law, be set free every 7 years and they were also allowed to stay with their masters if they so desired. Many did. You are grossly misrepresenting ancient Jewish practice.
The Greeks did NOT believe that all people were equal. In Greece, Democracy only belonged to the good ol’ boys club.
In regards to pre-babel technology, I’m referring to communication technology, not metal-making.
If you wish to post again, you WILL be more polite than you were this time, otherwise I will delete it. I insist on courtesy.
I read the wonderful article. And I think I will get time to comment it. At this moment I have something that it bothered me. I am just arriving from a meeting with youth. One among the member lost in this days eight of his members in car accident. We al togher we encourage him by sharing our experience, but deep in my heart there is a question “where is God in this tragedy?”
Ester,
About 12 years ago I met a couple named Scott and Janet Willis. They lost six of their nine children when their van caught fire. It happened because a piece of metal fell from a truck driven by a driver who’d got his license through bribery was on the road. There was then a coverup and it turns out George Ryan the governor of Illinois was profiting from the operation.
The Willises told the story of their grief and their efforts to recover from the loss. They have written a couple of books:
http://www.crossway.org/product/663575724360
and
http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/Scott.Willis.Janet.2.329232.html?detectflash=false
I’m sure you could find more of their story with an online search.
I recall a story, I think Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel tells it. Jews are being fed into the ovens and someone says, “Where is God?” Elie replies, “He is in the ovens with those people, suffering with them.” Perhaps someone can supply a link to the correct version of this story.
My own best response to this situation is here. http://www.coffeehousetheology.com/evil-and-suffering/
Hope this helps….
Perry
Perry,
Nice job. I learned a couple of things you quoted one of my fav sources ie “Democracy in America” (1835) Alexis de Tocqueville”.
Its refreshing to see a less political force out there. I am just plain fed up with the America’s religious right and Christianity as a whole. Its still about power and control. Just like we forgot about the temptation and Christs complete rejection of political power. America’s Christianity is becoming an evil force and thats really sad.
Like folks here arguing for their version of the scripture by quoting verse but completely missing the point that theres only 3 main goals and they all revolve around love. But we were given the most destructive political force in our history through the likes of gingritch and bush and his crew.
15 years of lying, manipulating, thrash tactics and a complete lack of integrity.
Thank you very much. Long time, no talk. I hope you are doing well, it’s been almost 3 years or so? Quite a while. Thanks for the article and send me more stuff if you want to.
If you’d like you can check out my blog I’ve just started:
http://www.dylandeleskie.blogspot.com
Dylan D
Great to hear from you. Thanks for stopping by!
Thanks for the article. Looks like a lot of material which came to mind after reading the Perry’s article has already been put into comments. Yes, although Paul talked of spiritual equality in Christ, he did not extend that equality into the real world. Paul was both a misogynist and an anti-semite. There was no equality in the Roman world or that of Judaism. Yes the Buddha expressed equality before the time of Jesus and even opened his teaching equally to women adding that this would unfortunately shorten the dharma by at least 10,000 years as well as the fact that all nuns, no matter what their seniority, be subservient to to all male monks.
Religion and science has and will always be at odds. This has been especially true in the West with Christianity. Science represents an ever changing set of hypothesis in the face of new discoveries and experiment, religion represents a frozen set of doctrines and dogmas not amenable to the process of change and new discovery.As Freud said, “Religion is the enemy of science.”
thanks
Vernie,
I could not disagree more. Paul wasn’t an anti-semite, he was a Jew. Please submit the anti-semitic statements made by Paul. As for misogyny: Paul said, “In Christ there is neither male nor female, jew nor greek, slave nor free.” I fail to see the misogyny in that verse. I see Paul’s command for women to not speak in church as specific to a very particular situation.
Please provide an exact quotation of Buddha’s statement of equality.
Religion and science are only at odds in the minds of atheists and Young Earth Creationists. Augustine said God wrote two books – the bible and the book of nature. He said God could be understood through both. Solomon’s statement “Thou hast ordered all things in weight and number and measure” became a cornerstone of scientific thought.
If you have ever spent any time in any seminary or spiritual community you know that religion is anything BUT a frozen set of doctrines and dogmas. Everything must be investigated and nothing is taken for granted. That’s how I was raised. Christianity has evolved considerably in the last 100 years, not to mention 1000.
I would invite you to spend time with spiritual people rather than reading about them in derogatory books.
The McDonald’s Theory of World Peace by Thomas Freidman, is a terrible neoliberal construct. Democracy and Capitalism are ideologies and why would two countries with the same ideology fight each other? Saying having a McDonald’s, a 100 year old chain restaurant based on a “fast food” serving process with a drive through window for another 100 year old invention, the automobile, is akin to possessing technology is awful. Technology is better solar panels and smaller faster computers, not McDonald’s. The truth is the beef industry drives up the price of grain world wide causing the poor to suffer. It requires running the poor off their land, taking it from them and forcing them into cities where they live in shanty’s. McDonald’s is hardly a symbol of equality. Perry, I hope you think about this next time you bite into a Big Mac.
If anyone is interested in spirituality and equality I would recommend the book “Small is Beautiful” by E.F. Schumacher.
Last comment. The truth is where people have accepted Americanism we haven’t attacked them, but where they have not accepted Americanism we have bombed them and sold arms to their enemies to attack them.
This is the truth, not the McDonald’s theory. The fact that Perry uses the bible to justify people’s American nationalism, calls his own faith into question.
On Dec 19, 2009, at 11:52 AM, Perry Marshall wrote:
“That God made a world which could operate consistently on its own without Him constantly making corrections from the outside.”
Consider that everything, all material things both animate and inanimate, solid, liquid, and gas, all the way down to the smallest particle of matter within an atom, is composed of energy at different rates of vibration. All that energy is God in different states of expression. Each expression of individualized energy exists under a natural law, and those laws are established and governed by the very existence of that which we call God. This is the omnipotent and omnipresent nature of God.
One can argue that God is self-aware. One can argue that God is creative. How else could energy be converted into matter, and how else could the destruction (or decay) of matter only be returned to its source as energy? This is the omniscient nature of God. Any part anywhere that decays from matter to energy can give rise to another part anywhere else that pops into existence. This is not religious rhetoric, but science fact.
There is no “inside” or “outside” to Reality. God is not “out there”. We humans are not separate from God in any way. We are as much a part of God as any one molecule of hydrogen is to the entire universe. And we are as much involved in the creation of the Universe as God is simply because of our nature to be self-aware. And that nature of being self-aware exists in every particle of matter and energy in the Universe. Thinking, therefore, is nothing more than a complex arrangement of self-awareness, and consciousness is the activity of being self-aware.
A metaphysical approach is definately a breath of fresh air in this forum. Thank you for stating what I would have tried to and probably failed at
On Dec 19, 2009, at 11:52 AM, Perry Marshall wrote:
“So… part of the inspiration for inventions like water wheels was a belief in dignity and freedom and the rights of the individual.”
“Necessity is the Mother of Invention.”
Slavery came out of, “How can I get someone else to do this work for me?”
Technology came out of, “How can I get something else to do this work for me?” but only as a result of not having a slave around.
Social ethics (human rights) is another word for the slave rebelling against the master or the sensitivity of a compassionate nature wishing no harm or disgrace upon another. Tossing in words like dignity and freedom are aspects of the ego and have nothing to do with the nature of God.
On Dec 19, 2009, at 11:52 AM, Perry Marshall wrote:
“There’s no name you can invoke that’s more powerful than the Son of God.”
And what is hardly ever recognized is that all Life is the Son of God (the child of God, the creation of God, the essence of God, the activity of self-awareness).
Wow you draw a long bow on this article. IS seems a bit presumptious to say that all of human developement to this point is due to the Bible and Christianity. People in fact develop morally in independence to any religion. The Bible does in fact contain universal truthes but you have said in the article that Paul was the first to talk about equality. Did you forget or have you not read the exact same words from Buddha 500 years earlier?
I would also recomend you study the words of Ken Wilber on the subject..
Thanks
Thank you Perry,
Really true and inspiering and fitting for this season.
A Merry Christmas to you and to everyone who reads your mail
Otmar
Hello again Perry. Long time since my last response of approximately 2 years ago. The last time we discussed Jesus, he was a person knowingly breaking the law by his teachings. You agreed to that, so here we go. After reading your response to Dan Brown’s DaVinci code I admit I have not seen the movie nor read the book. Could it be, regarding Mary Magdelaine, that Jesus and Mary were not married but were good friends and working partners? Read John 20:. In it Mary stands weeping at the tomb. Mary was no stranger to Jesus and was emotionally tied to him. Nothing wrong here. What does the Gardener say to Mary in 20:17? Jesus himself says he is not dead yet! “For I have not yet ascended to the Father”. Perry, this is noted in the first person, Jesus is saying these things, this is not being said by any one else, ie, heresay or the second or third person. Also this is not being said many years down the road when memories get dimmer and facts get reinterpreted. Is anyone sure that Mary was not Jesus’ most favoured disciple? What would be wrong if Mary was Jesus’ favorite anyway? Look at the age of both of them, this seems natural, I call it biology. There is no sin in having a female friend, matter of a fact I would think it was actually proper. Now, could it be that what happened later on, regarding the importance of “Christianity” is that it was turned upside down? Accordingly if we look at Roman Catholicism this is sometimes so. Most people do not connect that Jesus knew absolutley nothing about Christianity. I would suggest that, when Jesus was walking on this earth and if he had been questioned if Christianity was something that he would approve of, he most certainly would have rejected it. Jesus was a genius, not of scientific data or mechanical things, but of sorting out the truth and of being able to reply to authority with powerful answers. Jesus knew foremost Jewish Law as he belonged to the Church of Jerusalem. What Jesus saw was what we see today within government, if a group is in power long enough it will become corrupt. Jesus was a Jew pointing out not flaws in Jewish Law or culture, but what he saw as failings from the leadership. Best Regards, CanadaNorth
When a guy smashes his thumb with a hammer he say’s mother not Jesus Christ
well said pradip. Hope perry understands.
While Paul’s atatement about equality was sweeping, it was still limited in scope to only those who were in “Christ Jesus”, that is, Christians. Accordingly, I don’t see it as being more sweeping than the OT Jews who were quite willing to accept “strangers”, that is, non-Jews, as equal as long as they wanted to fit into Jewish society. And it is not as sweeping as what Jefferson, a Deist, not a Christian, wrote as he did not limit his statement of equality to only those who hold common religious beliefs.
Nevertheless, I want to thank you for sending me this interesting post. It was good food for good thought.
Merry Christmas to you, from a non-Christian.
Perry,
Thanks for this article. While I understand the grounds for some of the comments you’ve received, its essential thrust of thankfulness for equality being rooted in Christ is spot on.
Warm regards,
Paul Jones
What is the overall point of this essay? Use technology to promote Christianity? Ok, fine. Keep in mind though, that the printing press is a design of man, built by man and religion, for better or worse, had nothing to do with it? In fact, I would venture to say, that like many inventions requiring design and thought, the printing press would never have come to be if religion or religious leaders were the ones in charge of deciding what can and should be created? I cant think of a single tangible thing ever invented as a result of “religion” or Christianity? Oh, and we, America that is, are not a democracy. We are a constitutional republic, with democratic institutions. You have no dout heard of what a democracy really is, and that is 2 wolves ans sheep deciding on whats for dinner? Therefore, the framers of the Constitution were careful to make that distinction. I for one prefer living in our kind of democracy rather than the pure kind?
James,
The point of this essay is:
Christianity played a critical role in bringing us technology and equality.
I fully understand, such a statement is anathema to anyone who’s had a thoroughly secular education.
But I go back to my statements in the article: That Wisdom of Solomon 11:21 was the first scientific statement ever made in the ancient world, and it was made 3000 years ago.
And that Paul’s statement in Galatians was the boldest statement of equality ever in the ancient world, and that the idea evolved.
If you disagree, then show me ancient documents making more definitive statements about science or equality than the two I just cited. You will notice that none of the people who are arguing with me on this page have successfully done that. These are two of the most powerful ideas in the history of the world and they appeared in Christianity first. Those who sneer at religion fail to appreciate how much of what we have today originated in a religious context. The “all men are created equal” statement in the Declaration is an explicitly religious statement.
My purpose is not to debate the current state of the US political system. I have my disagreements with it too, believe me. I would just like to point out that regardless of how poorly run you think modern western governments are, the vast majority of us get 3 square meals a day, we enjoy human rights unheard of even 500 years ago, and we have the wonder of science – which is possible because someone believed what Solomon said: “Thou hast ordered all things in weight and number and measure.”
Mr. perry, you are a total christian fundamentalist. your very very irrational arguments n one sided thougts that bible n christianity espouse the ultimate truth are preventing you from growing.Its people like you who have made jesus into a commodity.What to talk about taliban, its so called christian europeans who had unleased the greatest terror known to human history, on all continents of our planet, to spread christianity.
your cunning style of marketing christianity is not going to work with me, ok. and you dont dare tell indians what this world is all about. we are a civilization moulded by discussion n debate to understand existence. we have not inherited, like you christians, to forcefully convert people or claim religious superiority. did god tell you jesus is his son?
perry you are practicing a borrowed religion. preach something that you experience.You are a white racist man n your ilk n ancestors have forcefully converted so many africans who are still treated as slaves by american and european systems. caste system of india has been portrayed by british colonialists in a bad light to spread christianity in india. i dont need to debate with hoodless people like you. period.
Anupam,
I apologize to you for whoever is forcefully converting people.
I am not forcefully converting you.
My opinion on the oppressive caste system that has 7 year old children breaking rocks for 10 cents a day and not getting an education because they’re a “Dalit” does not come from British colonialists. It comes from being there. http://www.perrymarshall.com/wp-content/uploads/travelogue/india/boybreakingrocks1.jpg
I am preaching what I have experienced, Anupam. Again I am sorry for what you perceive as the greatest terror known to human history. I do not endorse everything that Christians have done. I am not personally involved in any form of slavery whatsoever and I give money to organizations that fight it. You are defending the Caste system and for all practical purposes, it is a form of slavery. I challenge you to reconsider your defense of the Caste system.
What caste do you belong to?
Since when was it racist to realize truth is by nature objective?