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Christianity On Trial: Arguments Against Anti-Religious Bigotry

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Carroll and Shiflett have done a good job of trying to set the record straight in this book about Christianity, Christians, and the impact of both on human history. It was very refreshing to read a book that goes beyond superficial caricatures to really explore the history honestly. I think the authors mostly succeed in balancing the scales a bit and demonstrate a proud history of the faith that is based on many facts that have long since been forgotten by much of society.

The authors devote one chapter to each specific issue that is analyzed. One of the major strengths of the book is the authors insistence on devoting the first part of each chapter to present the view of the anti Christian forces, whether they be in the media, academia, or cause advocacy. The summation of the anti Christian view is especially illuminating and piques the interest of the reader to hear what the authors have to say about such strongly held views. In my view, the authors succeed pretty well in taking the criticisms on in a succinct and factually based way. Where appropriate, they acknowledge the shortcomings of the church and do not attempt to rationalize these shortcomings away. They lay them out there for the reader to digest. But the authors also introduce a tremendous amount of supplemental evidence that goes a long way toward factually deconstructing many of the more popular negative one liners that people trod out to discredit Christianity.

After reading this book, I think a number of people, if they are open minded and willing to be challenged where their preconceived notions are concerned, may find themselves modifying or even completely rethinking some of the reflex opinions they have held to in regards to Christians and Christianity. When reading this book, I found myself amazed by how completely it seems some people are looking to find a way to blame Christianity for any injustice or ill that troubles them. What I found by reading this book is that in our modern day emphasis on surface level scholarship, Christianity fares much better than the efforts of its critics to discredit it.

Having said all this, I feel the need to comment on what I perceived to be one significant weakness of the book that compels me to give the book a 4 star rating. In all frankness, the authors were very sloppy in their referencing approach, and in a book like this, this is a huge problem. In every chapter of the book, there are quotes the authors use to try and advance their points which are not referenced back to any source material. This serious oversight leaves the book very susceptible to criticism from those who don't like what they read in here. In particular, the chapter that discusses the relationship between Christianity and the Third Reich contains a number of quotes that Hitler allegedly made which were hostile to Christianity that are not referenced to any source material at all. This is a serious problem because someone reading this book could easily dismiss the authors entire line of argumentation by saying that because these quotes aren't referenced back to any source material, there's no way to verify their accuracy, and maybe the authors made them up completely. I'm not suggesting that this is what the authors did, but by not doing a better job in their referencing, they unnecessarily leave themselves open to charges like this and provide opponents of their book with an easy way to dismiss much of the content. This is particularly inexcusable in a book like this which attempts to take on and refute societal views, since the authors had to know that their book would strike at some sacred cows. As such, it is even more critical to write a book that is airtight in terms of its facts in order to really challenge people to rethink their views in light of factual evidence that they themselves can personally verify if they choose. But because the authors did not thoroughly reference their material, the book comes up short in this area to a degree that causes me to lower the rating from 5 stars to 4.

But while the book is clearly deficient in its source material referencing, it is sufficient enough in this area that both sincere believers and open minded skeptics can read this book and validate enough of the facts presented to make it an effective tool for setting the record straight. It's not perfect, but it's good.

Christianity is often blamed for horrible atrocities in human history, for repressing people, and for holding back the advancement of civilization. The authors do a wonderful job of setting the historical record straight. And they don't do it by white washing history and saying that Christians are completely innocent. They start each section giving the harsh anti-Christian view point. Then they give a balanced presentation of both the faults and strengths of Christians during history.
The book deals with eight topics:

Christianity and the Foundation of the West: Which addresses Christianity's contributions to the ability of the west get out of the Dark Ages and develop the civilization it has in contrast to non Christian areas of the world.

Christianity and Slavery: Which addresses Chritianity's involvement with the slave trade and the contributions Christians made to help end slavery.

Christianity and Science: Tired of hearing how Christianity is anti-science. Here the authors address how Christianity has helped to influence the development of the positive scientific environment that exists.

Christianity and the Slaughter of Innocents: Whenever I am talking with critics of Christianity they always bring up the Crusades, the Inquisition, the killing of Indians in the US, etc., to show what a blood thirsty lot we are. This part of the book addresses the facts related to many of these periods in history. We see the Christian involvement, but we also see the horrors they were fighting and how most of the Christian world was actually doing a lot to prevent deaths.

Christianity and the Third Reich: Was Hitler a Christian and was the Nazi cause a Christian one? The authors show how Christianity was not the foundation of Hitler's theology and how Christians were often fighting the Nazis and being persecuted by the Nazis. There is also a nice section on Pope Pius XII and how he was not the Nazi sympathizer he is often made out to be. Quick fact, he opened up the Vatican to hide Jews from the Nazis, and that is just part of what he did.

Christianity and Charity: Christians, especially clergy, are often called hypocrites who bilk their parishoners of money and are sexual deviants. This section deals with these issues and shows the incredible amount of charitable work Christians do. Can you imagine a world without hospitals? That is what we had until Christians started building them.

Christianity and the Environment: A great section that reclaims the rightful place of Christianity as an environmentally caring religion.

Christianity and American Democracy: The authors show the important role that Christians made in the development of American democracy.

The only problem with the book is the authors' failure to reference every quote and reference they make. They really need to fix this in the next edition if Christians are going to be able to use these items and have support. Otherwise this was a very helpful reference, which I have found myself often referring to as I am having to deal with critics.

"Christianity on Trial: Arguments Against Anti-Religious Bigotry" by Vincent Carroll and David Shiflett

Modern skeptics enjoy repeating the old story about Christianity whenever given the opportunity. According to them, Christianity is anti-science, pro-slavery, anti-progress, and anti-intellectual. It was this stereotypical view the Washington Post repeated when it asserted Christian conservatives were "poor, uneducated, and easily led." To these people, Christians are backwards individuals relying on a psychological crutch to see them through the storms of Darwinistic evolution and Jeffersonian separation of church and state. In other words, Christians are trapped in the permanent caricature of believer William Jennings Bryan being cut to pieces by atheist Clarence Darrow on the witness stand during the Scopes Trial.

If you're looking for an easy to read volume that brings together the best answers to the standard objections to the faith, then "Christianity on Trial" fits the bill exactly. The authors strike the perfect balance between writing for a popular audience and documenting assertions with footnotes so more ambitious readers will be able to dig more deeply if they wish. In this book, you'll find more than enough ammunition for your armchair and watercooler debates about Christianity, history, philosophy, and science.

In essence, the authors are calling for a contemporary reevaluation of the contributions of the Christian faith. Their narrative paints a picture of a church that ended slavery, created hospitals for the poor, and brought about the modern conception of the individual as a creation of God worthy of dignity and equality. Hopefully, Carroll and Shiflett's work will remove the veil of ignorance both mass media and its consumers still wear.

You've heard the standard slanders trotted out time and again: Christians have committed genocide, mass slavery, religious warfare, spiritual totalitarianism, you name. Such claims rely on distorted history and, often, the absence of a reasoned response, and the charges increasingly become part of the educational myths that public school beats into our children. This book answers the charges.

The authors' defense of Christianity is reasoned and detailed, much too much so to be examined in this limited space. To generalize, most the of the responses fall into one of these categories:

1. THE ACCUSERS SIMPLY HAVE THE FACTS WRONG. For instance, the Pope was not complicit with the Nazis, but on the contrary sheltered and protected Jews and criticized and attacked the Nazi regime at every practicable opportunity.

2. THE ACCUSERS OVERLOOK THE GOOD THAT CHRISTIANS (AND CHRISTIANITY) HAVE DONE. For instance, Christians ended the slave trade. Christian ideas laid the foundations of modern democracy. Christian cosmology created the cultural prerequisites for modern science.

3. THE ACCUSERS JUDGE ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANS BY MODERN ETHICAL STANDARDS RATHER THAN IN THEIR OWN CONTEXT. To call Paul a sexist ignores the fact that, unlike his Pagan contemporaries, Paul taught that husbands owed strict obligations to their wives.

I expect that the detractors of Christianity will never read this book. The Christian should read it, then, to be able to correct the damage done by those who make false claims against it.

As the Western world grows increasingly secular, the attacks on religion in general and Christianity in particular become ever more shrill and pronounced. Christianity especially has long been the object of ridicule, criticism and ostracism. Of course much of that is earned. But much is not. This new book looks at some of the major critiques of Christianity, and offers some telling responses.

All the usual criticisms are examined in detail: What about the Crusades? Isn't the Bible at odds with science? Didn't Christians support the Nazis? Isn't Christianity sexist, racist, imperialist, etc.? These and other common objections are given careful attention.

Consider the case of the Spanish Inquisition. By all accounts, this was nasty business. But a sense of perspective is in order. A careful examination of the historical record reveals that at tops, around 2000 people were executed for heresy by the Inquisition. This is 2000 too many. But this works out to an average of less than 3 people a year during the 16th and 17th centuries. A far cry less than the many millions a year killed in the name of godless communism or ruthless fascism.

Similar things can be said about the Salem witch trials. There just were not that many of them. And many of the Christian leaders - Puritans included - were opposed to them. While religious leaders believed in witches, so did everyone else of the day. But it was often ministers who opposed the trials. Cotton Mather went so far as to say it was "better that ten suspected witches should escape, than that one innocent person should be condemned".

Other criticisms of Christianity are covered at length: Christianity leads to environmental degradation, or a suppression of human rights and freedoms. But the criticisms are not the sole focus of this book. In addition, the positive contributions of Christianity to the world are also canvassed. Meaty chapters examine the influence for good which the Christian church has been responsible for over the centuries.

One example is the rise of charity and benevolent societies, While charity was practiced on occasion before Christianity arrived on the scene, it became the norm instead of the exception for the new-found faith. More than one cynical critic of the early Christians was forced to admit that these believers practiced what they preached, and were serious about applying the words of their Lord on the issue of wealth and poverty.

This could especially be seen when major epidemics broke out, The standard response of the pagans was to flee. The ones who stayed and tended the sick and needy were Christians. This concern for the poor and the afflicted was largely responsible for the tremendous growth of Christianity during its early centuries. Many people converted to Christianity based on the caring and compassionate response of believers in the face of suffering, sickness and death.

The authors also examine the issue of the relationship between religion and science. Contrary to popular belief, Christianity has more to do with the spread of knowledge and science than its hindrance. Yes there were times when the church blocked progress in intellectual discovery and scientific enterprise, but they make up the exceptions to the rule. Even many secular thinkers have noted that it was the Christian world view that in so many ways made the rise of modern science possible.

The world view of the Roman Empire was syncretistic, fatalistic and superstitious. This made poor ground for scientific inquiry to grow and flourish in. However, the biblical Christian worldview was much more conducive to scientific progress.

For example, the cyclical view of history of pagan Rome was replaced by the linear conception of history in Christianity. Christians believed in a orderly, purposeful world which had a sense of direction and meaning, something which the scientific mind could tap into and explore. A perspective which viewed the world with purpose and meaning waiting to be discovered was much different than a fatalistic and cyclical view of history which offered little incentive to those who were scientifically motivated.

True, scientific advance did take root in two other cultures: the Islamic world and China. But in both the efforts stalled, and it was only in the Christianised West that science continued to develop. Bear in mind, for example, that it was Western technology and know-how that discovered and utilised the oil that sat for millennia in Middle Eastern (Muslim) deserts.

Other achievements of Christianity are covered, including the relationship between Christianity and Western democracy, and the struggle against slavery. All in all, the Christian religion has been a force of tremendous good in the world. Yes, it has contributed its share of misery and grief, but one can argue that these blemishes are not inherent in New Testament Christianity, but in its perversion.

Attacks on the Christian religion will continue. But many of the standard objections to the faith turn out, on closer inspection, to be not so damaging at all. Often, they are based on misinformation or selective use of the historical record. Despite its many shortcomings, the Christian religion has much to be proud of; the "overlooked side of the ledger" as the authors put it.

In sum, the world is a better place because of Christianity. Were it not for the Christian religion, the world during the past two millennia would arguably have been "crueler, poorer and more provincial, as well as less democratic, creative and informed - in a word, less civilised". This book makes this case dispassionately but convincingly.

It might just as well been titled "Setting the Record Straight." In their recent book, Christianity on Trial, Vincent Carroll and David Shiflett take interested readers on a journey of looking at important information in an attempt to show that recent attacks on Christianity (in a broad sense) are unbalanced and, thusly, unfair and incorrect.

Carroll is editor at the Rocky Mountain News and Shiflett, a freelance writer living in Virginia, is author of The America We Deserve. ... .

In some 200 pages the authors take a look at eight subjects where critics of Christianity say the Church has failed. These are: Christianity and the Foundation of the West (Chapter 1), Christianity and Slavery (2), Christianity and Science (3), Christianity and the Slaughter of the Innocents (4), Christianity and the Third Reich (5), Christianity and Charity (6), Christianity and the Environment (7), and Christianity and American Democracy (8). Each chapter begins with a brief description of the typical criticism of the Church. It seems that the case against the Church is presently fairly. The authors next show how the criticisms are unfair and that they tend to present a distortion of what actually took place. In a word, this is a book about history and the attempts by many to re-write history to the extent of painting Christianity as the bad guy.

Carroll and Shiflett do not hide the facts that the Church has, in the past, not always had a perfect record. This was especially true during the Crusades when horrible things were done in the name of Christ. They show, however, that this is not the entire picture; that the horrors of the crusades were not as horrible as we've been told.

Each chapter is an easy read and each shows extensive research to bear. The authors are not alone in their assessment of historical revisionism, especially as it pertains to the Church. The book includes hundreds of references for students wishing to delve even farther into the issues raised.

Chapter one takes a look at the background of the early Christians who came to the shores of the Americas and if they should truly be blamed for Indian barbarism. Chapter two investigates the relationship the Church had to the slavery issue and Chapter three reveals that modern science had its foundation in the minds of Christian people. The crusades and similar events are the subject in Chapter four followed closely by the next chapter where they lay bear the problems of Hitler and the Church, especially the idea that the Roman Catholic Church was soft on Nazism. The sixth chapter deals with the history of hospitals and how they came to be because people had a love for the downcast and ill, a love that originated in Christ. Chapter seven shows the error many make that the Church is guilty of destroying the environment and they conclude with some thoughts about America's founding fathers and their Christianity.

"History provides us with our identity," say the authors. "It is the collective memory of who we are and what we were." By understanding past errors and the way the Church, as a collective, has responded are steps toward a brighter and more fruitful future. The authors seem to be saying that we need a better and more accurate picture of the past and to that end they have succeeded.

This book should be read by anyone interested in history, especially those in the Church who have sometimes felt the sting of criticism and are not aware of the entire story.

Dan Schobert
December 2001

This is a fine book that exposes the distortions, half-truths and lies laid at the feet of Christianity. As the author points out, people who may never have cracked a history book are pretty sure Christianity is responsible for racism, sexism, war and most of the troubles of the world.

These assertions have been aggressively promoted by many of the intellectual elite (media, educators), eventually filtering outward for decades. Such people have an agenda and recognize that to overturn society in favor of one based on their own personal desires and beliefs, the past must be demonized. Thus Christians are routinely villified in editorial pages and newscasts using terms that end careers if applied to blacks or women or homosexuals.

The book answers such charges, showing where they come from and why they are historically unsupportable.

It then goes on to show how Christianity provided the basis for equality before the law, appreciation of science and education, the rule of law, "ending" slavery, the confinment of superstitions and softening of brutal practices common prior to Christianity, the provision of a moral basis to political structures, and offers the only true rationale for human rights and dignity (humans being made in the spiritual image of God, as opposed to being a random, unobserved chemical accident).

The people so angry about Christianity actually apply standards of right and wrong that emanate from its teaching (compassion, charity, forgiveness) -- they just don't know it. A good remedy is historical knowledge. It's important because so many think they have evolved beyond the "confines" or Christianity, when in fact they have devolved backward, recovering the pagan concepts accepted prior to Christian enlightenment.

If this books interests you, also look see "6 Modern Myths About Christianty and Western Civilization" (Sampson) which addresses additional topics, and "Inventing the Flat Earth" (Russell).

This book is a delight to read the first time, especially if you are tired of media venues denigrating Christians and Christianity. It is filled with information that demands a second reading to absorb more of what it contains. Thanks in part to its fine index, it will serve well as a reference book for the future. The book will be very helpful to Christians who wish to make an intelligent response to myths about the alleged guilt of Christians and Christianity for many of the world's woes.

Surprises you will find in the book include the following. Pope Pius XII, alleged to be "Hitler's Pope," actually hid 5000 Italian Jews on Vatican property to save them from the death camps and the Israeli government wanted to honor him for his efforts. Native peoples of the Western Hemisphere were not the noble guardians of the environment whose example still shames the reputed exploitative habits of Christians. Many Puritans outside Salem opposed the witch trials as a great injustice. The myth that Christians are opponents to scientific inquiry did not appear until the 1920's. You will also find many facts about the positive influence of religion in civilization's greatest advancements, especially in curtailing war and advancing scientific discovery.

The editorial review above by Ray Olson is a very fair and accurate description of the book. It is hard to add to what he wrote. After reading this book, one comes away wondering how the authors gathered and documented so much material from so many fields.

I read this book at a time when I was cautiously reimbracing my faith. After more than 20 years of secular humanism that was nurtured by my liberal community, I found myself to be the only Christian I knew who went to Church. Even though I have a Ph.D. in psychology (or maybe because I endured the anti-Christian bias of the universities for so long), I had forgotten the many things Christianity has done for humanity. I could, however, easily recall the negatives that permeate our media. The anti-Christian bias of our society came as a surprise to me. I wish I had read this book long ago. It counteracts the ahistorical outlook of the media and society in general. Now I can see the bias in a second, as well as have evidence to counter it.

The authors lay out the commonest charges against Christianity (defined fairly broadly) in eight chapters and turn them on the critics. They also document some of the intemperance that counts for journalism these days, and the pathetic ignorance of history. Some of these arguments have been already refuted on sites like Answers in Genesis, but there is much new material.

It is very important to go over the history of abolition of the slave trade, and show that Christian presuppositions by Wilberforce led to its downfall, e.g. the fact that the Dominion Mandate of Genesis 1:28 did NOT extend to fellow humans. And he points out that pagan philosophers such as Aristotle regarded some people as natural slaves, and anti-Christian "Enlightenment" philosophers such as Voltaire and Hume believed in inferiority of dark-skinned people, of course exacerbated by Darwinism. Also, such statements as 'Things have come to a pretty pass when religion is allowed to invade public life' were used by the 19th Century UK Prime Minister Lord Melbourne to support the status quo of slavery. Yet we hear them often spouted by atheists today when they try to impose their own immorality on society.

The authors, like many historians of science, point out that the basis of modern science depends on the assumption that the universe was made by a rational Creator. An orderly universe makes perfect sense only if it were made by an orderly Creator (cf. 1 Corinthians 14:33). But if atheism or polytheism were true, then there is no way to deduce from these belief systems that the universe is (or should be) orderly. Genesis 1:28 gives us permission to investigate creation, unlike say animism or pantheism that teaches that the creation itself is divine. And since God is sovereign, He was free to create as He pleased. So where the Bible is silent, the only way to find out how His creation works is to experiment, not rely on man-made philosophies as did the ancient Greeks.

The book has good material on the Galileo controversy, citing the science historian John Heilbron, 'Galileo's heresy, according to the standard distinction used by the Holy Office, was "inquisitorial" rather than "theological".' They further document that this had no adverse effect on astronomy. Far from it, Heilbron's book "The Sun in the Church: Cathedrals as Solar Observatories" shows that Church-supported astronomers used the cathedrals *themselves* as solar observatories. These meridiane were 'reverse sundials', really gigantic pinhole cameras where the sun's image was projected from a hole in a window in the cathedral's lantern onto a meridian line. Analyzing the sun's motion further weakened the Ptolemaic model, yet this research was well supported.

The authors also cite Jeffrey Burton Russell's definitive "Inventing the Flat Earth: Columbus and Modern Historians", using this well documented information to demolish the charge that the church taught a flat earth. Rather, this was a totally baseless myth fostered by 19th century writers with a huge anti-Christian axe to grind.

The book also points out that the Christian world view also inspired other developments essential to the rise of modern scientific method. One was the logical thought patterns of the medieval Scholastic philosophers, and another was the little-known but extensive inventiveness and mechanical ingenuity fostered by the monasteries. This does not mean they were right about everything, but the Middle Ages are unreasonably dismissed as the "Dark Ages" despite a real industrial revolution, including inventions of water and wind power, labour-saving heavy ploughs, and ingenious architectural devices such as the flying buttress.

The authors also rightly point out the deceit of trying to paint the Nazis as Christian, and document the stridently anti-Nazi statements by the Confessing Church and Pope Pius XII and their work in saving lives. Here, one wishes that some quotes were better documented. But the authors' arguments are perfectly in line with Justice Jackson's opening address at the Nuremberg Trials, e.g. "The Nazi Party always was predominantly anti-Christian in its ideology", and "carried out a systematic and relentless repression of all Christian sects and churches." It is also consistent with the huge amount of documentation by US Prosecutor, General William Donovan, that the Nazis also planned to systematically destroy Christianity. This is now being published online at Rutgers Journal of Law and Religion.

The book also counters much Greenie lunacy by pointing out that Christianity has had a good effect on the environment, while pagan and communist countries have often had baneful effects. Indeed, the Dominion Mandate is often savaged, because it records God commanding Man to have dominion (over the Earth. However, the Hebrew word is radah, and 1 Kings 4:24-25 says that Solomon's dominion (radah) resulted in peace, safety and 'each man under his own vine and fig tree'. So the type of radah must be decided by context. Since this was spoken by God into an Edenic situation, before the Fall, it is especially hard to imagine any sort of destructive or ruthless implication to them.