Name: Anonymous 2006-05-29 17:15
America was founded on Christian values. Europe gained chivalry, honor, and justice, as well as an aversion to crime and "sin". Christianity has spread its ethics to hundreds of countries, emphasizing peace, aversion to actions that would harm society, and general principles of respect and kindness. Oh sure there are exceptions- mass murder, execution, discrimination, hatred, serial killings, and zealotry, but along with it comes self-righteous ethics that help tame society. Without the meme of Christianity, society might have evolved much slower, accepting war as natural and bringing down other societies in endless conflict. We still do it today, but if the primary religion was bull sacrifice to multiple deities, perhaps we'd be a less tame society. Christianity is what prevents Western society from acting like Africa or the Middle East. Asian and Indian philosophy is fine, but it isn't forced on others as absolute. Now that we've achieved civilized society, a system of ethics is in place that can one day shed its religious mythology and further develop itself. Thank Christianity for that.