Let me ask you this -- has everyone and everything who's called themselves Christian been good and not evil? Has every nation founded on Christianity been a success?
The USA is an extreme rarity. I also think it's impossible to tease out whether its success is ultimately due to Christianity or due to its extremely robust constitutional protections over individual liberty. And while the two are related, they are unmistakably distinct.
Also, if adherence to Christianity is the perfect antidote to leftism, why deviate from its commandments at all? Should Christians denounce the incredible power of the American constitution in favour of the lessons in the Bible? If Christianity is the perfect answer, then any deviation from it is anti-God, including virtually all American law. Sticking to those laws is a tacit admission that the Bible doesn't have all the answers.
That isn't really what I said. I said Christianity produced a mostly functional society, not that it was perfect or immune to leftism or any of the other stuff you said.
Right. I think most of us agree the USA is a relatively successful society.
What I'm saying in response to that is that we can't know if it's Christianity that can ultimately be credited with that success. What differentiates the USA from, e.g. the UK, is its incredibly powerful individual protections in constitutional law. Those are deviations from Christianity.
I wasn't trying to put words in your mouth, I was trying to get in front of counterarguments or competing thoughts.
Yeah. Is the first amendment written in the Bible?
I'm not saying the American constitution is incongruent with Christianity, I'm saying it's manmade. And that manmade legal foundation is the core reason the USA is the powerhouse it's become.
Not really. Plenty of nations and powerful empires have lasted for 250 years, just fine, on both more stable and on shakier grounds than the USA.
Don't get me wrong, a nation lasting more than one leader's lifetime is impressive, for sure, but that's like living past the infant mortality rate: Once you account for and ignore that part, there's a real long lifespan period afterwards where the failure rate is pretty low.
Let me ask you this -- has everyone and everything who's called themselves Christian been good and not evil? Has every nation founded on Christianity been a success?
The USA is an extreme rarity. I also think it's impossible to tease out whether its success is ultimately due to Christianity or due to its extremely robust constitutional protections over individual liberty. And while the two are related, they are unmistakably distinct.
Also, if adherence to Christianity is the perfect antidote to leftism, why deviate from its commandments at all? Should Christians denounce the incredible power of the American constitution in favour of the lessons in the Bible? If Christianity is the perfect answer, then any deviation from it is anti-God, including virtually all American law. Sticking to those laws is a tacit admission that the Bible doesn't have all the answers.
That isn't really what I said. I said Christianity produced a mostly functional society, not that it was perfect or immune to leftism or any of the other stuff you said.
Right. I think most of us agree the USA is a relatively successful society.
What I'm saying in response to that is that we can't know if it's Christianity that can ultimately be credited with that success. What differentiates the USA from, e.g. the UK, is its incredibly powerful individual protections in constitutional law. Those are deviations from Christianity.
I wasn't trying to put words in your mouth, I was trying to get in front of counterarguments or competing thoughts.
Yeah. Is the first amendment written in the Bible?
I'm not saying the American constitution is incongruent with Christianity, I'm saying it's manmade. And that manmade legal foundation is the core reason the USA is the powerhouse it's become.
Mark 10:18
Not really. Plenty of nations and powerful empires have lasted for 250 years, just fine, on both more stable and on shakier grounds than the USA.
Don't get me wrong, a nation lasting more than one leader's lifetime is impressive, for sure, but that's like living past the infant mortality rate: Once you account for and ignore that part, there's a real long lifespan period afterwards where the failure rate is pretty low.