What's So Great About Christianity

This is the title of a new book by the noted author D'Souza. He points out that "Christianity is largely responsible for many of the principles and institutions that even secular people cherish--chief among them EQUALITY and LIBERTY." In ancient Greece and Rome, individual human life had no particular value in and of itsellf. Infanticide was common. In the Roman gladitorial arena human beings were routinely bludgeoned to death or mauled by wild animals. Christianity contributed to the demise of these practices by fostering moral outrage at the mistreatment of innocent human life. Slavery was widely practiced in the ancient world. Most cultures regarded it as an indispensaable institution. Christianity, from the very beginning, discouraged the enslavement of fellow Christians. (Perhaps the above gives some credence to the the statement in my Dec. 13 posting: "Morality is never maintained without religion.")