IMAGINE AMERICA WITHOUT ITS JUDEO-CHRISTIAN HERITAGE
By Ada Brownell
Jews and Christians continually are criticized in the United States
today, but the world would be a sorry place without its Judeo- Christian
heritage.
Those who obey the Bible change the world for the better, and not only
by bringing good news of redemption and eternal life. Christian charities have housed
and fed the homeless and hungry around the world for centuries. Missionaries
often bring free health care and medicine when they go to tell the world about
Jesus. Christians are there, too, when disaster strikes.
Religion was the reason people learned to read. Since the Middle Ages,
there has been near universal literacy among Jewish men because they were required
to read the Torah by age thirteen.
In the early church, Christians copied the apostles’ writings by hand,
as was done meticulously for centuries with Old Testament scriptures. But with
the Reformation came a desire for everyone to read scripture. Until then, it
was read in churches. The first moveable-type printing press was invented by Johannes
Gutenberg, and the first book printed was the Gutenberg Bible.
According to the Encyclopedia Americana, education in colonial New England
grew out of the Reformation as well. Puritans made sure their children could
read the Bible. In the Middle Colonies, religious sects birthed early schools.
In the Southern Colonies, parents tutored their children or educated them in a
private school, often so they could read God’s Word. In New England, teachers
were hired because of their soundness in the faith. The home and church
provided most education until the early 1900s.
Universities and colleges were started by religious organizations: Harvard to train preachers; Yale for training
in church work, civil duties, the arts and sciences; Vanderbilt for teaching
law, medicine, theology and the arts; Baylor was the fruit of the Baptist
General Convention; Boston University was started by Methodists for training in
theology; Boston College was Catholic, as was Fordham; Cornell College was
Methodist; Rutgers University for 80 years included the New Brunswick
Theological Seminary of the Reformed Church of America.
The world still is being educated by Christians. Wycliffe Translators live
with primitive tribes and give them a written language and teach them to read.
Wycliffe translated the Bible into hundreds of languages, and brought literacy
to many nations. In their “Last Languages Campaign,” Wycliffe’s translators
hope to have the 2,200 last languages translated by the year 2025. Currently, Wycliffe has 1,400 translation
literacy and language development programs, touching nearly 600 million people
in 176 countries.
The church birthed most of the hospitals in our nation.
Jews also established hospitals, some of the best in the world, such as
National Jewish Hospital in Denver, and Hadassah Medical Center
in Ein Kerem and Mount Scopus in Jerusalem, Israel. The Israeli hospital was
founded by Hadassah,
the Women's Zionist Organization of America, which still underwrites a large
part of its budget. In 2005, Hadassah was nominated for the Nobel
Peace Prize because of its equal treatment of all patients regardless of
ethnic and religious differences, and its efforts to build bridges to peace.
A Hadassah member told me the medical center treats
Palestinians injured in the wars and conflicts between their states.
Christians visit those in prison, mental hospitals and nursing homes; care
for orphans and speak for those who can’t speak for themselves, such infants in
the womb.
The church teaches children to obey their parents--then they provide wholesome
activities for youth—mostly for no charge.
Christians will come to our side when we’re dying, and comfort those
left behind.
Yet, we don't do that to earn our way to heaven. "It is not because of works of righteousness that God saved us and
gave us the promise of eternal life, but because of his mercy" (Titus 3:5).
-- Ada Brownell is a retired newspaper reporter and free
lance writer.
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