(July 26, 2023 at 1:32 pm)Anomalocaris Wrote:
Yes there were hospitals before Christians, the Romans had war hospitals and the Greek had the opium temple equivalent. St. Basil of Caesarea did found the first public hospital that I'm aware of that would be comparison to today's hospitals. Later, Charlemagne decreed that every cathedral should have a school, monastery and hospital attached. While I concede that a place to heal the sick wasn't invented by Christians. I don't see how any reasonable person could argue against Christian positive influence to spread public hospitalization.
To your other question
@Helios
I wasn't claiming religion as the source of anything, that's not a Christian stance. The things I listed were areas Christians, the "church", or religious dictums contributed to bettering society, as was the original question. I'm also not denying the division and two-faced ness of the "church". The question wasn't "do the scales balance?" it was "has it done anything worth anything?" Knowing that this is a poke thread though, more than likely, it is just a place for anti-theists to vent. I have no problem entertaining actual discussions but it has to be in the vein of the OP. If you want a bag on the church thread, I'm certain there are tons of other places and threads here on that.
"There ought to be a term that would designate those who actually follow the teachings of Jesus, since the word 'Christian' has been largely divorced from those teachings, and so polluted by fundamentalists that it has come to connote their polar opposite: intolerance, vindictive hatred, and bigotry." -- Philip Stater, Huffington Post
always working on cleaning my windows- me regarding Johari
always working on cleaning my windows- me regarding Johari