Chinese think tank thinks "Christianity made the West great"

[Toppler]

This is just so reactionary and stupid, the comments, many in the line of "Yes, God rewards its true faithful" too;

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread671287/pg1

[StoneFrog]

*just about falls of his chair*

eh what...!!!!

[Admiral Swagmeister G-Funk]

Look like this think-tank is broken.

[The Gallant Gallstone]

They said something about how the Christian religious system made the emergence of capitalism possible.

I always thought of capitalism's great precursor as the Renaissance.

[Aesop]

Ha, the Chinese think tank has come to this conclusion, this just sounds like a revised version of Max Weber's protestant work ethic theory.

On a serious note, it is just idealist nonsense.
For example, if Christianity was the driving force in making the 'west' 'great' how does this explain Armenia's and Ethiopian relative lack of development?

(Bare in mind that the ruling class in these countries adopted christainity has the religion of choice before any european state)

You could write a book on how historicallyl inaccurate that theory is in explaining why the west developed.

[Toppler]

And Armenia experienced very much development under ... guess who ... the evil godless USSR.

Anyways this idioic "West is great" fetish makes me want to smash certain heads...

Maybe the fact how the West is declining and US is becoming a failed state has something to do with this wankery?

[Toppler]

Also, they are talking about capitalism with a capital C, and like if it was actually a good thing

[Omsk]

Also, they are talking about capitalism with a capital C, and like if it was actually a good thing

- "A lie told often enough becomes truth"

[#FF0000]

this is extra hilarious because a lot of historians think that is Charlie Hammer didn't turn the "MUSLIMS HORDES" back at the Battle of Tours, then there wouldn't have been a Renaissance because it just wouldn't have been necessary. Or something like that.

But you know, I've always wondered why Europe never seemed to have the same conflicts like you saw in, for example, the Indian Subcontinent, with the Mughals and all these other groups taking power and borders being superfluid.

I figured the Catholic Church sort of played a role in that relative stability.

Or maybe I don't know all that much about medieval European history.

[Queercommie Girl]

I seriously wouldn't call this a "think-tank".

[khad]

Hey look, Chinese capitalists are just now discovering Weber.

[RedStarOverChina]

It's a common belief in East Asia, one that I have to refute over and over again, unfortunately. People associate Christianity with wealth and progress, ironically. That is the main reason behind the popularity of Christianity in S. Korea and to a lesser degree, China.

I wouldn't be surprised if the people behind this report are themselves, Christians.

[Leonid Brozhnev]

Hey look, Chinese capitalists are just now discovering Weber.

Exactly what I thought :lol:

[Rafiq]

Christianity would have taken away Bourgeois democracy in Europe and would have kept in kings. Christianity would have kept us in Feudalism. Christianity would have kept us learning about Adam and Eve in Science class.

Actually, it's Atheism that allowed majority of Scientific progress to develop in both the west and the east, at least in the 20th century.

[RedHal]

next Nobel Laureates?

[Triple A]

Thats how Spain and Mexico got so developed and Sweden so poor.
Oh wait...

[Sir Comradical]

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This is also pretty bad.

[RHIZOMES]

On a serious note, it is just idealist nonsense.
For example, if Christianity was the driving force in making the 'west' 'great' how does this explain Armenia's and Ethiopian relative lack of development?


I think that's a very mechanistic way of looking at things. All because an ideology contributed to making something 'great' somewhere doesn't preclude it didn't work elsewhere. Basic materialism 101.

I personally think the exclusionary and psuedo-universalist notions of Christianity did help the West to have no qualms with conquering the rest of the world. It reinforced that mind set.

[DrStrangelove]

Well of course guys, didn't you know that without Christianity, Russia would have never become a major industrialized nation, and we would have never made such great leaps in science like the ability to explore space!

Oh, wait. . .

[China studen]

Nonsense.

[RadioRaheem84]

Has world society regressed so much that we're dealing with Weber's flawed analysis of the Protestant Work Ethic?

Please, Marxists, where are you? We need to slap some serious materialism into these punks.

[Aesop]

I think that's a very mechanistic way of looking at things. All because an ideology contributed to making something 'great' somewhere doesn't preclude it didn't work elsewhere. Basic materialism 101.

The article is trying to put the cart before the horse, don't need to be a expert in materialism to see that.


I personally think the exclusionary and psuedo-universalist notions of Christianity did help the West to have no qualms with conquering the rest of the world. It reinforced that mind set.

Japan is a classic case of the development of capitalism and imperialism yet christianity not being adopted by the japanese ruling class. Of course i am not saying that ideological factors can not perpetuate conditions, but that is the whole point they just help to perpetuate certain conditions. What i am saying is that we can not fall into idealism, meaning to see ideas as primary motors of historical change.

[eric922]

I find this sad. Have they forgotten their own history, China at one time made Christan Europe look like a forsaken backwater intellectually and scientifically. Not that I'm saying China should return to the "Mandate of Heaven", but Christianity isn't the answer either.

[RadioRaheem84]

What is with this obsession among Asian leaders to be the new WASPs?

When I went to college it seemed like the Asian students, especially from China, seemed to think of themselves as the new WASP establishment.

[RedStarOverChina]

What is with this obsession among Asian leaders to be the new WASPs?

When I went to college it seemed like the Asian students, especially from China, seemed to think of themselves as the new WASP establishment.
What does that even mean? :confused:

Most of the Chinese student I hang out with are either non-political or disdainful of religion and the WASP establishment. That may have to do with the fact that I avoid religious people like the plague, but the majority of us are without doubt, secular.

[RadioRaheem84]

My experience has been with Chinese international students and interacting with some them. I went to an east coast top school so I expected waspyness of all stripes but was floored by the Chinese students.