西方自由、科學，與進步背後的宗教性 / Is western liberalism possible without religion

謝伯伯時間

TUX uncles discusses The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success/理性的勝利：自由、科學、資本主義，以及進步的理性神學 (see below for link to the Chinese edition) with members of its Chinese translation team, Andy Tsai and David Wang.
For the purpose of this conversation, religion specifically refers to Christianity. Development is considered in its grandest historical scale, inclusive of political, economics, technologies, etc.
As a sociologist, Rodney Stark, the author, proposed a framework on the persistent relevance of religion through history whereas mainstream history teaching today generally suggests that western liberalism with ideas such as freedom and capitalism arose out of Renaissance (文藝復興) and Enlightenment (理性時代) as a direct reaction against religious teachings exemplified by the Dark Ages (歐洲黑暗時代). Instead, Stark argues that Christianity has been an important component of western cultural progress until today beyond the demarcation of the Reformation (宗教改革) to European development.
For example, Stark argues that the idea of all persons are created equal, the basis of modern democracy, had its origin from the notion that everyone is equal and only god could judge each person - in contrast to the classical Greek or Roman notion of citizens. Similarly, the scientific age is made possible because the theological concept of human being the creation closest to god gives license to experiment and make changes to the flora, fauna, and the overall environment.
Clearly, religion did not prevent the trading of (African) slaves and inquisition (宗教異端審判) from happening. To this, Stark argues that, if measured in decades and centuries, these religious tenets provides the corrective basis for societies to come to their senses and abandon these practices.
Applying this framework to two 20th century examples where National Socialism (Nazi) and Soviet Communism tried to replace religion with the idea of rational collectivism. For a time, both Nazi and Soviet systems became globally admired.
Viewed from Stark's lens, when the notion of state and collective good always supersede the fundamental rights of individuals as embodied in the notion of all men are created equal, this foretold the failure of Nazi and Soviet. Digging deeper, while collectivism can quickly muster the resources to get things done, over the longer horizon, the impact of collective mistakes is also magnified. Stark makes an interesting observation comparing the absolute monarchs of Spain vs France - the fact that the Spanish kings are more industrious may have expedited the demise of the Spanish empire.
Looking at the world of 21st century, Stark's framework remains germane. What is less clear, because we are in the middle of making our own history, is if the various hiccups of western liberalism are a move away from the thousand years of religious tradition or mere aberrations that are part of this dynamism.
Image sources:
- Andy personal archive
- David personal archive
- 理性的勝利：自由、科學、資本主義，以及進步的理性神學 (The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success) https://www.books.com.tw/products/0010895707?loc=P_0001_007

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