Western civilization is fundamentally built upon Christian principles, which historically shaped its societal, moral, and legal frameworks. In recent generations, however, academic and political movements have actively sought to minimize this heritage, pushing instead for a highly secularized, government-centric model.
This shift away from faith-based foundations began gaining traction in the late 1800s with the rise of socialist and communist ideologies. Over the 20th century, these philosophies manifested in totalitarian regimes like Nazi Germany and the USSR, and they continue to echo today in radical globalist and environmental movements. Within these highly centralized systems, an elite ruling class effectively replaces God, demanding total obedience and controlling nearly every aspect of daily life.
Which system is better?
Teleios evaluated countries with the highest one-third of gross domestic product (GDP) per capita and compared various publicly available measures for societal wellbeing between Christian versus non-Christian or secular-based countries.
Our findings indicated that the highest GDP Christian countries demonstrated statistically better individual well-being than the highest GDP non-Christian or secular states (Gallup Wellbeing Index).
Further, historically Christian countries also scored statistically better on associated measures that potentially could enhance wellbeing including: GDP per capita, Numbeo Pollution Index, Cato Institute Human Freedom Index, World Press Freedom Index, Corruption Perceptions Index, Global Entrepreneurship Index, and Rule of Law Index.
Our study clearly showed the advantages of Christian society not only in terms of wellbeing but also in surrogate markers for wellbeing, including: wealth per person, clean environment, education, press, political, economic, and religious freedom.
Why would Christianity provide such advantages to society? We speculate it is derived from the importance of the individual within Christian doctrine, which is unique among philosophical systems in human history. The importance of the individual in Christianity allows each person to achieve during their life, not just salvation by grace, but professionally and within their family and community as well. Christianity, however, also accentuates the importance of personal responsibility, not just to God, but to the job, family, and one's neighbor.
This individualism then helps build institutions in society that are responsible for each other, starting with family units, then progressing to broader institutions such as business and community organizations, and to the national government.
In contrast, communist and globalist governments de-emphasize the importance of the individual to the benefit of the ruling elite. They offer, generally, in return for high taxes and absolute obedience, a small apartment, a meaningless state job, and an underfunded retirement with little ability to advance or improve a person’s position in life. And yes, one has to deny Christ in such a system as a fearful competitive god to the government rulers.
Someone could argue that many first-world countries no longer actively practice Christianity. Yet through their institutions, on which their government codes are based, still rest Christian principles to the benefit of their populations.
Indeed, Christians in first-world countries should be proud of their political systems and do all they can to maintain and prosper them while spreading to other lands to their benefit.
Thank you for joining me today. I look forward to seeing you next time.
William C. Stewart, MD
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