Christianity is Good For America

My argument will be made up of the following contentions.1. Christianity's benefit towards education.2. Christianity's benefit towards the sick and homeless.3. Christianity's impact on communities. Contention #1: Christianity's benefit towards educationMuch of the USA's history in education cannot be divorced from discussions of Christianity's influence. There are currently 970 religious founded colleges in America[1], which comprise about 34% of all 4 year degree programs in America. [2] The assertion that Christians are largely anti-intellectual is simply untrue. While there exists a strange of anti-intellectualism in the Christian tradition, this has been contended with since the Early Church. "In contrast to Tertullian's anti-intellectual attitude, a positive approach to intellectual activities has also made itself heard from the beginning of the Christian church; it was perhaps best expressed in the 11th century by Anselm of Cantebury in the formula fides quaerens intellectum (“faith seeking understanding”). But well before Anselm, Christians maintained that because people have been endowed with reason, they have an urge to express their experience of faith intellectually, to translate the contents of faith into concepts, and to formulate beliefs in a systematic understanding of the correlation between God, humankind, and creation. "[3]A possible objection to this claim is the perceived resistance of Christians to the teaching of biological evolution in the class room. This however would ignore the opposition to this movement within Christianity and other religions, that is called the Clergy Letter Project. In this letter, they state the following. "We urge school board members to preserve the integrity of the science curriculum by affirming the teaching of the theory of evolution as a core component of human knowledge. We ask that science remain science and that religion remain religion, two very different, but complementary, forms of truth. "[4]I myself being a professed Christian affirm without reservation Darwinian evolution by natural selection. Contention #2: Christianity's benefit towards the sickIn the USA there are currently 2,903 Non-profit Community Hospitals which are vastly comprised of religiously founded institutions. [5][6] This makes up aabout 50% of all hosptials in the U. S. In modern societies the availability and quality of healthcare is highly valued, and nothing not even the government has been such a force for good in this category as Christianity as been. In order for my opponent to affirm his negative contention, that Chrisitanity is bad for the USA. He must establish how losing half of our nations hosptials (run by these groups) would be good. Contention #3: Christianity's impact on communitiesI don't have much time to build this last section, but in any given community there are several local churches who often provide support to the communities by having shelters or food pantries available to those in need. It has long been the philosophy of Christians that, "it is more blessed to give, than it is to receive. "Conclusion:My opponent must establish that the removal of Christianity from the USA, would ultimately be beneficial for our nation as a whole, or else my contention must be accepted. Which is that Christianity is ultimatley more beneficial than it is harmful for the USA. Kindest Regards,TrueScotsman[1] . http://www.davidmquinn.com...[2] . http://nces.ed.gov...[3] . http://www.britannica.com...[4] . http://en.wikipedia.org...[5] . http://www.aha.org...[6] . http://en.wikipedia.org...