Christian Faith Is Vital To The Future Of The World

In 2005 a book by American sociologist, Rodney Stark was published, called The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success. The ‘modern world,’ he argues ‘arose only in Christian societies’ thanks to Christianity’s commitment to ‘reason, progress, and moral equality’

The capacity which Christianity has to contribute to social, cultural and economic progress has been long observed.

In his book Jesus in Beijing, the journalist David Aikman tells of a lecture he attended in China in 2002. A professor from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences had this to say to a group of American visitors about his years of study in the West:
'One of the things we were asked to look into was what accounted for the success, in fact, the pre-eminence of the West over all the world. We studied everything we could from the historical, political, economic, and cultural perspective. At first, we thought it was because you had more powerful guns than we had. Then we thought it was because you had the best political system. Next we focused on your economic system. But in the past twenty years, we have realized that the heart of your culture is your religion: Christianity. The moral foundation of social and cultural life was what made possible the emergence of capitalism and then the successful transition to democratic politics. We don't have any doubt about this.'

From a Talk by Professor Stuart Piggin of Macquarrie University
At the Kingston Mayoral Prayer Breakfast
National Day of Thanksgiving, May 2008

Follow this link to see the full paper

http://www.pastornet.net.au/mpn/StuPiggin.doc

Many have sadly come to believe the lies of the secularists that the Christian faith does not have a place in modern society. Stuart Piggin and others reveal the opposite: Modern society exists only because of Christian Faith and will collapse without it.

Stuart says it is way past time for the Church to know and boldly take up its crucial role.