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| The Atlantic Affairs Security. Ideologies. Multiculturalism. |
The rise of the West is a secular achievement
By Ayn Rand Institute
Posted: January 14, 2006
IRVINE, CA: "Christianity is not responsible for such Western advances as
science, freedom, and capitalism," stated Dr. Andrew Bernstein of the Ayn
Rand Institute in response to a positive New York Times review of Rodney
Stark's book, The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom,
Capitalism and Western Success.
"Burning 'heretics' and other independent thinkers at the stake did not
encourage the development of science, freedom or capitalism.
"Historically, the modern rise of the West carried forward the achievements
of Classical Greece, the Renaissance and the Enlightenment -- periods
essentially committed to reason, this world, and egoism, not to blind faith,
otherworldliness and selfless service to God.
"One need only look at the Stone Age existence of the Taleban's
Afghanisan to identify the kind of 'progress' to which blind faith,
consistently practiced, leads."
### ### ###
Dr. Andrew Bernstein, author of The Capitalist Manifesto: The Historic,
Economic and Philosophic Case for Laissez-Faire, is available for
interviews on this topic.
Dr. Bernstein is a Visiting Professor of Philosophy at Marist College and
lectures regularly at universities such as Harvard and Stanford. He
appears frequently on radio shows across America.
His Op-Eds have been published in newspapers such as The San
Francisco Chronicle, The Chicago Tribune, The Washington Times, The
Los Angeles Daily News, and The Houston Chronicle.
To book Dr. Bernstein for your show, please contact Larry Benson:
949-838-5137 (cell)
800-365-6552 ext. 213 (office)
larryb@aynrand.org
By Ayn Rand Institute
Posted: January 14, 2006
IRVINE, CA: "Christianity is not responsible for such Western advances as
science, freedom, and capitalism," stated Dr. Andrew Bernstein of the Ayn
Rand Institute in response to a positive New York Times review of Rodney
Stark's book, The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom,
Capitalism and Western Success.
"Burning 'heretics' and other independent thinkers at the stake did not
encourage the development of science, freedom or capitalism.
"Historically, the modern rise of the West carried forward the achievements
of Classical Greece, the Renaissance and the Enlightenment -- periods
essentially committed to reason, this world, and egoism, not to blind faith,
otherworldliness and selfless service to God.
"One need only look at the Stone Age existence of the Taleban's
Afghanisan to identify the kind of 'progress' to which blind faith,
consistently practiced, leads."
### ### ###
Dr. Andrew Bernstein, author of The Capitalist Manifesto: The Historic,
Economic and Philosophic Case for Laissez-Faire, is available for
interviews on this topic.
Dr. Bernstein is a Visiting Professor of Philosophy at Marist College and
lectures regularly at universities such as Harvard and Stanford. He
appears frequently on radio shows across America.
His Op-Eds have been published in newspapers such as The San
Francisco Chronicle, The Chicago Tribune, The Washington Times, The
Los Angeles Daily News, and The Houston Chronicle.
To book Dr. Bernstein for your show, please contact Larry Benson:
949-838-5137 (cell)
800-365-6552 ext. 213 (office)
larryb@aynrand.org
| (c) 2006 The Atlantic Affairs |