Welcome to Apologetics with Carl Kerby!
Today, we’re talking about the positive influence of the Church.
As our culture has become more secularized, skeptics have ratcheted up their attacks on the Church. Atheist Christopher Hitchens, for example, said, “I hold that the influence of churches, and the effect of religious belief, is positively harmful.”
Ouch! Well, the inconvenient truth for Hitchens is that his harsh – and unfair – depiction of the church does not jive with reality. In fact, research indicates that the Church’s influence in society is overwhelmingly positive.
Jonathan Haidt, professor of social psychology at the University of Virginia, noted how “[s]urveys have long shown that religious believers in the United States are happier, healthier, longer-lived, and more generous to charity and to each other than are secular people.”
In other words, believers’ presence in the world is the light and salt that God called us to be.
And how else is the Church a positive influence in society? We’ll discuss that another time.
For additional resources, go to www.hopetools.net. Stay bold!
Carl Kerby is the founder of Reasons for Hope and co-creator of the DeBunked apologetic video series. His radio feature, Fast Facts, is heard weekly on VCY America, Saturdays at 9:25 AM Central.