📙 Get your copy of Christianity for Skeptics → (recommended at the end of the episode)
Many commonly held views about the church’s role in history are based on myths, exaggerations, or falsehoods. Topics such as the church teaching a flat earth, Galileo’s dispute with the church, Hypatia’s murder, the ‘Dark Ages’, and the church’s stance on anesthesia have been misrepresented over time. For example, most scholars throughout church history knew the earth was round, Galileo’s conflict was as much about politics as science, Hypatia had Christian students and admirers, no historian uses the term ‘Dark Ages’ because the Middle Ages were a period of great innovation, and no Christian of note opposed anesthesia.
Later in the conversation, Dr Jonathan Sarfati explores deeper issues. For example, is religion is the cause of wars, the Crusades, and Inquisition. In reality, atheistic regimes of the 20th century caused far more deaths than religious conflicts, e.g. Stalin’s Holodomor, Mao’s Great Leap Forward, and Pol Pot’s killing fields. He highlights that Christianity has been responsible for significant moral progress, such as the abolition of slavery, driven by the belief that all people are made in God’s Image.
✍️ Links and Show Notes
What good is Christianity?Medieval misconceptionsThe flat earth mythDid Christians oppose James Simpson on childbirth pain relief?Anti-slavery activist William Wilberforce: Christian heroWhat about bad things done by the Church?Galileo QuadricentennialRefutation of New Scientist’s Evolution: 24 myths and misconceptionsAtheists credit the Gospel📚 Helpful Resources
The Air We BreatheChristianity for SkepticsRefuting the New Atheists💙 Social Media
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