Brad Alles

This blog series has addressed Critical Theory: its origin, concepts, consequences, and how to respond to it. One last way to respond to Critical Theory is to examine our country and Western civilization in the light of other countries. Simply out, the United States is the best house in a bad neighborhood.

Freedom House is an international group that examines human rights across the globe. Its survey of 194 nations in 2006 revealed that 38% of countries are free, 28% are mostly free, and 34% are not free. After delving into the foundations of the free nations, it was clear that almost all were free due to being founded upon their Western/Christian civilization. In contrast, those countries that were not free were dominated by non-Christian civilizations, mostly Muslim and Marxist nations.

Likewise, a Chinese Academy of Social Sciences professor explained his research into the reasons for the success of the West compared to other countries. David Aikman, former correspondent for Time Magazine, quoted the Chinese professor’s findings in his book called The Delusion of Disbelief:

“One of the things we were asked to look into was what accounted for the success, in fact, the preeminence of the West all over the world. We studied everything we could from the historical, political, economic, and cultural perspective. At first, we thought it was because you had best political system. Next we focused on your economic system. But in the past twenty years, we have realized that the heart of your culture is your religion: Christianity. That is why the West has been so powerful. The Christian moral foundation of social and cultural life was what made possible the emergence of capitalism and then the successful transition to democratic politics. We don’t have any doubt about this.”

At a time when Critical Theory aims to destroy the foundations of Western culture, these findings are another reason to explain why it would be foolhardy to destroy what has been started by America’s founders. The United States is not perfect; no human nor country is. But what is clear is that our foundation in Judeo-Christian and Greco-Roman concepts has made us the best house in a bad neighborhood.