Western civilization today stands at the threshold of extinction.
I know how pessimistic and disturbing that statement is. Yet it is factual, nonetheless.
To understand why this is so, it is necessary to understand how the social order is necessarily dependent upon the the concept and value of the individual human being.
The world's first civilizations were Mesopotamian. These were theocratic, sacred states ruled in the name of a divinity or by rulers who were themselves seen as divine. Rulers, and the priests, soldiers and bureaucrats who carried out their will, were a small minority who kept power by exploiting those subject to their authority and power. The individual had little or no value in and of himself, but only in relation to the role and recognition accorded him by those in control of the social order.
In Greco-Roman societies (in which Western civilization finds its earliest stirrings) not every individual human being was regarded as inviolable and worthy of protection. Only those who enjoyed the recognition of being “citizens of the state” had the full right to life and the benefits which the state afforded them.
Non-citizens, slaves, conquered or indentured peoples had no rights. Rather, they were subject to the arbitrary, sometimes whimsical, judgments of the few in whom the authority of the state was concentrated.
In ancient Greece, as in Rome, human sacrifice and gladiatorial combat was acceptable. Spartan Law required that deformed infants be put to death. Plato insisted that infanticide was one of the regular institutions of the ideal State. For his part, Aristotle regarded abortion as a desirable option. The Stoic philosopher Seneca demanaded unapologetically that children who at birth were weak or abnormal be drowned.
Christianity introduced the singular concept which gave rise to the birth of Western Civilization as the world has known it for over two milennia.
Christianity’s tenet that every human life is sacred and meaningful formed a new standard by which society was to be ordered, while defining society’s very purpose and function. Such a understanding of the value of the individual human being had never before existed.
The minute and scrupulous care for the individual, even in the most humble of circumstances, was totally distinct and opposed to paganism upon which prior civilizations had been established.
And this belief that the importance and value of every human person and his dignity and rights were accorded him, not by the state, but by the Creator of all that is, established both a new social and ethical order of life.
At the heart of Western Civilization is the religious belief that life is sacred and the ethical attitudes to which these religious beliefs gave rise still find expression in the deep seated belief that human life, irrespective of its quality or kind, is absolutely inviolable and equally valuable.
Throughout its long history, the Christian Church has been an influential player in politics and religion. In various ways it has sought to affect Western attitudes to vice and virtue in diverse fields. It has, over many centuries, promulgated the teachings of Jesus within the Western world as well as throughout other nations.
Festivals like Easter and Christmas are marked as public holidays. The Gregorian Calendar has been adopted internationally as the civil calendar; and the calendar itself is measured from the date of Jesus's Birth, soon to be celebrated around the world.
The cultural influence of the Church has been vast.
Church scholars preserved literacy in Western Europe following the Fall of the Western Roman Empire. During the Middle Ages, the Church rose to replace the Roman Empire as the unifying force in Europe.
The cathedrals of that age remain among the most iconic feats of architecture produced by Western civilization. Many of Europe's universities were also founded by the church at that time. Many historians state that universities and cathedral schools were a continuation of the interest in learning promoted by monasteries. The university is generally regarded as an institution that has its origin in the Medieval Christian setting, born from Cathedral schools. Renaissance masterpieces produced by Catholic artists like Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael at that time remain among the most celebrated works of art ever produced. Similarly, Christian sacred music by composers like Pachelbel, Vivaldi, Bach, Handel, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Liszt, and Verdi is among the most admired classical music in the Western canon.
The Bible and Christian theology have also strongly influenced Western philosophers and political activists. The teachings of Jesus, such as the Parable of the Good Samaritan, are among the important sources for modern notions of Human Rights and the welfare measures commonly provided by governments in the West.
Though often ignored by modern feminist ideologies, Christianity positivelyaffected the status of women by condemning marital infidelity, divorce, incest, polygamy, birth control, infanticide (female infants were more likely to be killed), and abortion. The fact is that women have played prominent roles in Western history through and as part of the Church, particularly in education and healthcare, but also as influential theologians and mystics.
Humanity has advanced by the practice of the Christian Faith and the virtues which have articulated and elaborated Western Civilization, a political, social and economic order in entire consonance with the basic and perennial principles of Natural Law.
As the Christian faith today finds itself either at odds with or irrelevant to contemporary values, Western Civilization itself stands at the threshold of its own extinction. Sadly, the cultural elite and the guardians of political correctness are too blind to comprehend that their hostility toward Christianity spells their own doom.
The Birth of Christ surely has religious significance, but faith in Christ Himself and His Message of the worth of every human being has been the cornerstone of every advancement in human history.
Would that the world would acknowledge and embrace its only hope for true and lasting peace and the fulfillment of every human hope and dream.
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