Statement from Dr. Joseph Loconte on the Positive Impact of Faith on Society

Is Christianity good for society? Absolutely.

Dr. Joseph Loconte has written for the Heritage Foundation, taught at King’s College in New York City, and is now a distinguished visiting professor at Grove City College.

Dr. Loconte told me in an email (Dec. 2022): “Skeptics and secular critics of Christianity have to circumvent an awful lot of history to argue that political societies are better off without it. The rights and freedoms that our secular friends take for granted—freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, government by consent—grew from philosophical soil that was watered by biblical religion. The scientific revolution only occurred because the early scientists all believed that a rational, creative God had embedded reason, intelligence, and design into the physical world. Take away the Christian artists and composers, and we lose much of the world’s most inspiring and transformative works of art and music. Take away the Christian ethic of love of neighbor—even love of enemy—and you sweep away nearly everything that makes modern life tolerable and humane. The teachings of Jesus, writes Tom Holland in Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World, ‘shed a haunting light on the purposes of God.’ Those who have stepped into that light have found grace and beauty and love—and have brought these qualities into the darkest places on earth.”