Anti-religion folk will tout that a belief in God is “backward” and “destructive” for mankind rather than being a source for discovery, creation, and advancement. Such attacks by atheists are largely targeted towards the Catholic/Christian faith. So, were the devout believers of yesteryear hopelessly primitive, backwards-thinking people that kept our world in chains and darkness? Well, not according to history. There have been many notable individuals over time whose religiosity was central to their craft,
which manifested into achievements that influence our world today. Perhaps you've heard of some of these fellas:
• Johannes Gutenberg, inventor of the printing press: Catholic
• Nicolaus Copernicus, heliocentrist, began the Scientific Revolution: Catholic priest
• Georgius Agricola, father of mineralogy: Catholic
• Roger Bacon, father of the scientific method: Anglican
• Galileo Galilei, father of modern physics: Catholic
• Johannes Kepler, founder of the laws of planetary motion: Lutheran
• Rene Descartes, founder of Cartesian geometry: Catholic
• Blaise Pascal, inventor of the mechanical calculator: Catholic
• Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, father of microbiology: Calvinist
• Carl Linnaeus, father of modern taxonomy: Lutheran
• Sir Isaac Newton, developer of calculus and classical mechanics: Anglican
• Roger Joseph Boscovich, father of modern atomic theory: Catholic priest
• Antoine Lavoisier, father of modern chemistry: Catholic
• Charles Babbage, father of the computer: Anglican
• Gregor Mandel, father of modern genetics: Catholic priest
• Louis Pasteur, inventor of pasteurization, father of bacteriology: Catholic
• Alexander Fleming, discoverer of penicillin: Catholic
• Edward Jenner, inventor of the vaccine, father of immunology: Anglican
• Georges Lemaitre, founder of the Big Bang theory: Catholic priest
• Nikola Tesla, most accomplished inventor in history: Orthodox
• Henry Ford, pioneer of automobile manufacturing: Anglican
What about some of our well-known friends in art and literature?
• Leonardo da Vinci, Renaissance polymath, artist and inventor: Catholic
• Michelangelo, Renaissance sculptor, and architect: Catholic
• Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote, the first modern novel: Catholic
• Rembrandt, greatest painter of the Dutch Golden Age: Catholic/Reformed
• William Shakespeare, greatest writer in the English language: Catholic/Anglican
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, prolific classical composer: Catholic
• Ludwig van Beethoven, most renowned composer in history: Catholic
• Franz Liszt, greatest piano virtuoso of all time: Catholic
• Jules Verne, celebrated novelist of the science fiction genre: Catholic
• J.R.R. Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings: Catholic
• C.S. Lewis, author of The Chronicles of Narnia: Anglican
• Fritz Lang, Expressionist director of the seminal film Metropolis: Catholic
• Alfred Hitchcock, renowned director, pioneer of the suspense film: Catholic
• Jack Kerouac, poet, considered the father of the Beat movement: Catholic
• Andy Warhol, renowned artist of the pop art movement: Catholic
And if that’s not enough yet, I’ll even throw in a few living badasses for you:
• Bill Gates, Microsoft founder turned charity worker: Catholic
• J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books: Christian (Scots Kirk)
• Stephen Colbert, comedic genius: Catholic
• Jack White, modern guitar extraordinaire: Catholic
• Kobe Bryant, 5x NBA champion: Catholic
Not bad company to be in. Heck, I was even generous and left out the all-American badass John Wayne, who converted to Catholicism on his deathbed. What a guy.
Nobody gets the memo anymore that the core and foundation of Western civilization was monotheistic faith. The influence of the Church on Western culture gave rise to the most extensive surge of the arts and sciences in history and it has since become the light and envy of the planet. Nowadays, atheism has become the fashionable thing. So be it. But I challenge anyone to look at the list of names above and attempt to come up with a list of equal brevity of atheists that have collectively accomplished something of the same magnitude. Yeah I can’t either.
Man without faith ceases to be human. Atheism, being a reactive phenomenon by nature, cannot enable a society of meaningful creativity and discovery; it can only stagnate or destroy. The left-wing revolutions in Russia and China that booted their monarchs and traditional faiths resulted in their cultural ruin and the deaths of over 100 million people. The European continent today, as a socialist, secular wasteland, is now a shadow of its former self, no longer a blossoming center of cultural vitality. Nationhood and tradition have been replaced with political correctness and ambiguity. Fertility is low, debt is high. And people still have the gall to say today's Godless world is better than yesterday's. So be it.
