“Evangelicals are largely poor, uneducated and easy to command”—Michael Weisskopf, Washington Post reporter says. WOW! If this statement had been made about any other group, it would immediately been labeled as bigoted and racist. This statement also makes 2 huge assumptions:
- That poor, uneducated people are easier to command (I’ve never seen any proof of this)
- That the more education you have, the wiser you will be (Are you kidding me? Please show the correlation between level of education and wisdom)
This statement by Mr. Weisskopf reeks of an academic elitist attitude.
It’s funny, especially since Christianity has been known as the thinking man’s religion.
Read apologetics-notes.comereason.org/2014/11/Christianity-is-thinking-mans-faith.html.
It was Christianity that first taught that all people, rich & poor, men & women, should be entitled to an education. Before the rise of Christianity, education was only for the rich males. Christians figured that without knowing how to read, people couldn’t read the Bible. The ability to read the Bible made knowing about Jesus so much easier. And since Jesus considered all people as equals before God (Galatians 3:28), these early Christians taught everyone to read. Even today, the first thing missionaries do is teach people to read.
After the fall of the western Roman Empire, it was Christian monks that preserved the knowledge of the Greeks & Romans. They advanced it greatly, making it available to anyone. Especially after the Protestant Reformation, people needed to be able to read if they were to read the Bible and be properly discipled. So Christians pushed universal childhood education, a first in the history of the world. Almost all of the early colleges & universities were started by Christians. In his 1932 book, “The Founding of American Colleges and Universities before the Civil War”, David Tewksbury states that 168 (92%) of the 182 colleges and universities were founded by Christian denominations. Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, Columbia, Brown, Rutgers, etc. all started out as Christian colleges. Harvard’s motto was “Truth for Christ and the Church”. The declared purpose of it was “To train a literate clergy”. One of the Rules & Precepts of Harvard was, “Let every Student be plainly instructed, and earnestly pressed to consider well, the main end of his life and studies is, to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life, John 17:3 and therefore to lay Christ in the bottom, as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and learning”. WOW! You’ve come a long way, Baby!
Modern science could only be birthed in a Christian environment. Since the Christian concept of God is of a rational creator, it would make sense that He would create a physical universe based on rational physical laws. As the scientist Kepler said, “I want to think God’s thoughts after Him”. The ancient gods, whether Greek or Roman, were part of the creation. These gods were very capricious in their behavior, so it didn’t occur to ancient man that they would create rational laws. Hence, a study of the physical universe was never considered worthwhile. Read www.ldolphin.org/bumbulis/#anchor5345780. Also read the following chapters in these 3 great books that should be a part of every Christian’s library:
-“How Christianity Changed the World” by Dr. Alvin Schmidt, chapters 7 on education & 9 on the origin of modern science.
-“What’s So Great about Christianity” by Dinesh D’Sousa, chapters 8-10 on the origin of modern science.
-“Christianity on Trial” by Vincent Carroll & David Shiflett, chapter 3 on the origin of modern science.
When many of the Christian colleges became secularized, believers started up a whole slew of colleges again. Here in Michigan, you have Hillsdale, Hope, Albion, Spring Arbor, Alma, Cornerstone, Adrian, Calvin, Concordia, Olivet and many, many more. Christianity has always been heavily into the propagation of education for all peoples. Is this new information to you? Were you aware of this? Write and let me know what you think.
For His Kingdom,
Dave Maynard
