I’m cheating somewhat and just using my book notes from What’s So Great About Christianity? for this week’s Week in Words.
The following are chapter synopses and short quotes from the first section of Dinesh D’Souza’s What’s So Great About Christianity? This first section was entitled: “The Future of Christianity”
Chapter 1:
D’Souza argues that Christianity is experiencing worldwide growth, while atheism is declining worldwide.
“Nietzsche’s proclamation “God is dead” is now proven false. Nietzsche is dead. The ranks of unbelievers are shrinking as a proportion of the world’s population….God is very much alive , and His future prospects look to be excellent.”
Chapter 2:
D’Souza argues that, while atheists search for an evolutionary reason for religion, it is really atheism that lacks an evolutionary basis. After all, the religious are rapidly reproducing their genes while atheists fail to (biologically) reproduce.
“The important point is not just that atheism is unable to compete with religion in attracting followers, but also that the lifestyle of practical atheism seems to produce listless tribes that cannot even reproduce themselves.”
Chapter 3:
D’Souza describes the rise of militant atheism and its desperately offensive (think Hail Mary) “war on religion”.
Chapter 4:
D’Souza argues that atheists attempt to use schools (both primary schools and universities) to indoctrinate children and young adults to atheist ideology.
“For the defenders of Darwinism, no less than for its critics, religion is the issue. Just as some people oppose the theory of evolution because they believe it to be anti-religious, many others support it for the very same reason. This is why we have Darwinism but not Keplerism; we encounter Darwinists but no one describes himself as an Einstainian. Darwinism has become an ideology.”
Don’t forget to take a look at Barbara H’s meme “The Week in Words”, where bloggers collect quotes they’ve read throughout the week.
That’s the first I’d heard that atheism is declining and Christianity is increasing. But I do see evidence of militant atheism and of its inroads in schools.
I just finished listening to “The Millenials” and their faith habits, and reading an article on “Does the future have a church?” Sometimes the varying information contradicts itself…but the bottom line for me is that we who do *know* that Christianity is great, need to be living it out loud.
I think the important term in D’Souza’s remarks is “worldwide”. He notes that his conclusion that Christianity’s future is excellent will probably come as a surprise to Westerners who have been used to hearing doom and gloom about Christianity’s decline. According to D’Souza, while the church in the West is waning (or at least not appreciably expanding), the Church in the third world is exploding. It is this third world explosion in converts that is responsible for the overall growth of Christianity.