A recent poll in the Netherlands showed that roughly 80% of the Dutch people support euthanasia on demand. Actually, the broad support is not that surprising, given that the practice has been legal in that country since 1984. The new poll coincides with the introduction of a euthanasia bill that allows citizens over the age of 75 to request this medically-assisted suicide procedure.
Some people think this disturbing expansion of the West’s “culture-of-death” points to the end of Western civilization. John Daniel Davidson is a senior editor for The Federalist and author of the upcoming book Pagan America. He commented on the proposed Dutch legislation recently:
“This is the inevitable consequence of de-Christianization. Without a public square informed and shaped by the Christian faith, you get a return of paganism, with all the attendant violence and brutality. It’s coming soon to America.”
Davidson’s alarm will appear to some as an overreaction. But when you consider the number of reports documenting euthanasia without consent, you might agree that the trend casts an Orwellian shadow over the Western landscape.
The Great SOUL SCIENCE Debate
Davidson’s comment has implications for the debate going on in the SOUL SCIENCE com boxes: What is the relationship of Christianity to Western civilization? Without claiming to have proved my claim, I’ve been pushing the theory that Christianity is the Life-Force of Western culture.
Davidson’s comments on euthanasia support the “Life-Force” side of the debate. He is saying that, without Christianity, human rights disappear (since “violence and brutality” become the norm.) And euthanasia is evidence of this according to Davidson.
This is fascinating because euthanasia continues to expand without any visible trauma to our human-rights-defending institutions and documents. Western courts are still in tact. So are our constitutions, legal codes, and democratic institutions.
The upshot to these observations is this. It is possible for Western civilization to disappear even while the institutions remain in tact. What cannot disappear, on the other hand, according to Davidson, is Christianity. This is the view I take as well. It is the view I take in my book The Immoral Landscape of the New Atheism. You can find the Readers’ Digest version of my book in this article, which is admittedly more political than the book.
Where Is Western Civilization?
If Western civilization is not to be found in the great foundational documents and institutions of the West (not even the Bible), then where, pray tell, can it be found? That question brings me to my last podcast. In a brief segment, (see below) I show how the Bible readings for Christmas provide an answer to that question.
Podcast Trailer
The trailer’s answer to our question can be summed up by a saying of Jesus that should be familiar to you:
“Behold, the kingdom of Western civilization is within you.” 😉
Lk. 17: 21
So, as I alluded to above, theories about the role of Christianity in the creation of Western society can be located on a spectrum. At the most skeptical pole, we find the New Atheists who believe it “poisons everything.” Examples certainly include Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker who equates progress with increased secularism and the disappearance of Christianity.
Thanks to better scholarship, that point of view is obsolete nowadays. It belongs to a bygone era that lasted up to the middle twentieth century. According to this misinformed theory, Christianity was responsible for the “dark ages” between classical civilization and the secular Enlightenment, which restored progress through an emancipation from the backward, primitive authoritarianism of the Church. You can find a wonderful display of this theory in the hilarious Mark Twain novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. It is much more entertaining than a Steven Pinker book. I can assure you of that.
Toward the midway point along this spectrum, you can find many SOUL SCIENCE commenters. They acknowledge that Christianity played an important role in cultural evolution, but, to them, it was just one influence among many. Further, they deny that the role of Christianity is essential in any way.
“Life-Force” Christianity
Finally, at the far end of the spectrum, we have the “Life-Force” theory. That theory says that Christianity is the Life-Force of civilization, which cannot survive in Christianity’s absence. This view has more adherents than you might think. Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s conversion story puts her in this camp. Same with Tom Holland, author of Dominion. The excellent book, If You Can Keep It, by Eric Metaxas, puts him solidly in the Life-Force camp as well. And this is where I camp out too. As I showed in episode #6 of SOUL SCIENCE, the Life-Force theory is thoroughly Biblical. I have more to say on this topic, which will have to wait for a later post. In the meantime, go back and have a look at that brief Bible-study clip from episode 6, which explains the Bible’s version of the Life-Force hypothesis. The conversation continues….
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