What's So Great About Christianity | Dinesh D'Souza

What's So Great About Christianity | Dinesh D'Souza | A compelling rebuttal of atheistic slogans and `just so' stories

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What's So Great Ab...

	What's So Great About Christianity Dinesh D'Souza Regnery Publishing, 2007 - 348 pages average customer review:based on 123 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Great Book

D'Souza makes a great the case for the existence of God, while simultaneously tearing apart many of the common atheist arguments presented in other books. Not only does D'Souza make a clear and well researched case for the existence of God from the philosophically side of things, but he also uses plenty of historical and scientific examples to prove his point. These examples are also used to sweep away the perception that atheists are somehow smarter and more sophisticated than the believers out there.

Through these historical examples D'Souza also demonstrates the many positive contributions that Christianity has made throughout history. He goes rights after the usual group of leftist myths that populate history textbooks and classrooms around the world. He debunks the so called "Dark Ages" and shows them in their true light as a time of innovation, science, economic growth, the end of slavery, and other positive accomplishments. Furthermore, over a span of three chapters D'Souza demonstrates how religion has been very supportive of science and not a hindrance to its development as you are taught in school with the leftist version of the Galileo affair. Additionally, the book clearly shows that overwhelmingly the greatest minds that have ever lived have been believers.
Moreover D'Souza shows that the crimes of the Crusades, the witch hunts, and the Inquisition are grossly exaggerated and in many cases had nothing to with the Church or religion persecution. These crimes are always played up by those of the left and these terms have unfortunately made their way into everyday language. D'Souza nicely counters these false claims with the fact that the atheist left leaning regimes of the last two hundred years are in fact the ones who have committed the greatest crimes in human history. In terms of numbers, the crimes of atheist and anti-Christian regimes like the French Revolutionary government, Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Mao, Pol Pot, and other leftists far dwarf anything that has been done in the name of Christianity.

In closing as a strong believer, an engineer, and a history guy this book could not have made for a better read.

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A compelling rebuttal of atheistic slogans and `just so' stories

New atheists are here. But their arguments are anything but new. In his inaugural foray into Christian apologetics, D'Souza has done an outstanding job of synthesizing vast amounts of material and presenting it in a compelling narrative. The overall thesis is solid and well argued. Believers and skeptics alike will find plenty to think about in these pages.

Welcome to College: A Christ-Follower's Guide for the Journey

Atheists Beware...You Might Want to Have This Book Banned

I will keep this review short and concise: Dinesh D'Souza will not be on any atheist Christmas Card mailing list, er, should I says Winter Solstice Card list. It has been said the greater the lie, the more some people will want to believe it. Atheism is so lacking in credibility, yet so many people ignore the truth and willfully adhere to this morally bankrupt philosophy. This book thoroughly demolishes the atheist viewpoint; it should be required reading at all universities, to offset the poison that the Liberal elites are forcing on students.

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So So

Dinesh D'Souza is a talented writer. There is no doubt in my mind about that. I have read four of his books and they are all gramatically and structurally sound. Also, even if you don't agree with his points, he at least lays out a good argument for his position.

There was just one problem in this book for me. I don't believe Martin Luther King's non-violent struggle was influenced by Christianity as much as it was influenced by Gandhi. Keep in mind, Gandhi wasn't someone who spoke for any religion. He was more of a spritual leader to his followers. I am surprised D'Souza, who is an Indian immigrant, would give more credit to Christianity than to Gandhi. I don't think that is historically accurate. Alot of MLK's actions were clearly immitations of Gandhi's noncooperation struggle against the British. When MLK was laying out his strategies to combat segregation, he was probably reading books by and about Gandhi and not the Bible.

Overall though, not a bad read. I just want to say, though, that D'Souza is probably a better political writer that a theological writer. I have enjoyed his other books more.

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overreaching

The author claims too much for Jerusalem and grants too little to Athens and Rome in the creation of Western Civilization, which to him is exclusively 'Judeo-Christian' civilization.

D'Souza claims Christian origins for: limited government, human rights, the US government, and the scientific revolution.

Since limited government was invented by the Greeks and adapted by the Romans before Christ, this is hubris.

D'Souza claims that Christians invented religious tolerance. Never mind that there were dozens of religions coexisting in Rome and that Cyrus the Great exemplified religious tolerance in 500 BC.

He references the Gospel of John's story that the universe was created through the Logos or divine reason, and claims that this lead to the expectation that the universe's working could be intelligible and so encouraged science. Never mind that the writer of the 4th Gospel was framing his theology in Platonic terms for the benefit of his Greek audience. The 'Christian' idea of Jesus as the Logos is just a recycled Greek idea.

Closer to our own time, D'Souza quotes Washington and Adams to the effect that you can't have a Democracy without religion to keep us in line. He of course, avoids Madison and Jefferson. He makes the claim that the idea of human equality is Christian, even if the national documents make no explicit reference to Christianity, and Adams explicitly denied an explicit link.

He makes the usual claims that atheists are immoral, that atheism was responsible for the crimes of both the Communists and the Nazis.

The Communists killed to further their economic goals; atheism was incidental to their ideology. Even if it had been central, it would not follow that all atheists are Communists. Lack of belief does not make you a Marxist.

It is also complete nonsense to call the Nazi's atheists, since atheists were among the first groups sent to concentration camps, the Nazi SS had 'God is With Us' on their belt buckles, Hitler was elected with the support of the Catholics. Whether Hitler was a 'good Catholic' or not, the Nazis saw themselves as defending Europe from godless Commmunism, which is why they had the support of the Vatican early on.

D'Souza accepts the theory of evolution, but bolsters his scientific support for theism with the usual gaps in scientific explanation: the big bang, the origin of life, the origin of consciousness. Even if you reach for a supernatural explanation, at best these are claims for Deism, Christianity in particular does not follow from this.

In the latter part of the book, D'Souza details Christianity and makes a pitch to the reader to accept it.

D'Souza illustrates to me why Christians remain an existential threat to non-believers: They are fanatics who claim that history begins with them, that Western Civilization is synonymous with Judeo-Christianity and cannot exist without their religion in a privileged position, that our form of government is based upon Christian ideas (whatever the founders say to the contrary), that non-religious people are not moral, and that non-belief leads to ideologies that lead to the commission of mass murder.

Essentially, D'Souza excludes you from full citizenship in your country or even identification with Western Civilization, claiming it as exclusively the province and product of his religion, and slanders you as at best amoral if not evil.

What's not to like?

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