Amesbury Public Library

The right side of history, how reason and moral purpose made the West great, Ben Shapiro

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 223-241) and index

index present

non fiction

The right side of history

bibliography

1089805516

Ben Shapiro

how reason and moral purpose made the West great

Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro argues that Western Civilization is in the midst of a crisis of purpose and ideas. Our freedoms are built upon the twin notions that every human being is made in God's image and that human beings were created with reason capable of exploring God's world. We can thank these values for the birth of science, the dream of progress, human rights, prosperity, peace, and artistic beauty. Jerusalem and Athens built America, ended slavery, defeated the Nazis and the Communists, lifted billions from poverty and gave billions spiritual purpose. Jerusalem and Athens were the foundations of the Magna Carta and the Treaty of Westphalia; they were the foundations of Declaration of Independence, Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, and Martin Luther King Jr.'s Letter from Birmingham Jail. Civilizations that rejected Jerusalem and Athens have collapsed into dust. The USSR rejected Judeo-Christian values and Greek natural law, substituting a new utopian vision of "social justice"--And they starved and slaughtered tens of millions of human beings. The Nazis rejected Judeo-Christian values and Greek natural law, and they shoved children into gas chambers. Venezuela rejects Judeo-Christian values and Greek natural law, and citizens of their oil-rich nation have been reduced to eating dogs. We are in the process of abandoning Judeo-Christian values and Greek natural law, favoring instead moral subjectivism and the rule of passion. And we are watching our civilization collapse into age-old tribalism, individualistic hedonism, and moral subjectivism. We believe we can reject Judeo-Christian values and Greek natural law and satisfy ourselves with intersectionality, or scientific materialism, or progressive politics, or authoritarian governance, or nationalistic solidarity. We can't

Introduction -- The pursuit of happiness -- From the mountaintop -- From the dust -- Coming together -- Endowed by their creators -- Killing purpose, killing capacity -- The remaking of the world -- After the fire -- The return to paganism -- Conclusion: How to build

How reason and moral purpose made the West great