Western Civilization Faces a Stark Choice Ⅰ
In 1900, most westerners were confident and optimistic,
full of pride about their civilization.
Since then, the west has made enormous strides in economic,
scientific, military, political and social terms.
Yet the earlier confidence has gone.
We stopped believing in the ideas
that drove earlier generations to improve the world.
Six main ideas made the west, century after century,
progressively successful, powerful,
and attractive—Christianity, optimism, science,
economic growth, individualism and liberalism.
Are these ideas past their sell-by date?
Optimism
The importance of optimism in driving success—
of individuals, of whole civilizations—
has been greatly overlooked.
Optimism comes from three Greek and Christian “myths”—
the myth of autonomy, the myth of progress
and the myth of human goodness.
Creation is ultimately good.
So, too, are people—God's creation.
We have stopped believing people are good.
After 1760, our stories began to feature bad heroes—
egotistical people, amoral or immoral.
The last century confirmed a dim view of human nature—
Freud's ideas, Hitler, two world wars,
horrific and hateful societies.
A diminished view of people facilitated these horrors.
Optimism and pessimism, however, are fancies, not facts.
Only if we recover belief in human goodness
can we resume building a better world.
Christianity
Western secular values, above all the gods of consumption,
have trumped Christian ones. Doubt is rampant.
And Christians today are deeply divided.
Yet perhaps we need not worry. Christianity transformed the west.
It was the world's first individualized, activist,
self-help movement. Ordinary people were encouraged to clean up
their act and given God's help to do so.
Everyone had a “soul”; individual human dignity
and responsibility were greatly enhanced.
Today many of us do not believe in the soul or Christ.
In a way, however, we all still believe the Christian message.
We believe we have a self, just like we have arms and legs.
With the idea of the soul safely transmuted in the idea of the self,
Christianity has permanently changed the west.
The modern self-help movement best exemplifies
the central Christian innovation-personal responsibility.
Christianity's crisis does not threaten the west.
But the attacks on the other five ideas do.
Science
Science is preeminently western.
It arose through belief in a perfect, rational Creator,
and in our ability to figure out
the perfect universe that God created.
Since 1900, we have lost our faith in science.
Superstition and mumbo-jumbo abound.
Science seems to have become weird.
It portrays a baffling and inscrutable universe,
ruled by mystery, uncertainty, random chance.
Also, the dark side of science has emerged:
monstrous weapons, poisoning the planet.
Yet science is still fundamentally benign and rational.
The micro-world might be weird.
But scientists still follow the scientific method-
reason and investigation.
The challenge to understanding is greater,
but logic and research still hold the key.
We cannot give up our trust in rationality and sciences,
for the best forms of civilization depend utterly upon them.