How Christianity transformed the world

Positive impact that changed the entire world

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The world is more educated and prosperous and has much to do because of Christianity especially Christian missionaries who have been crucial for building a better world through mission and charity work. This has made the world better, and scientific research can verify it.

Education and Caste System

Humans are naturally competitive, and when directed incorrectly, this has historically resulted in misery and conflict. Human history is filled with battles, conquests, and pillaging. However, Christianity has been able to use humanity's intrinsic competitiveness to better the lives of many individuals. Catholics and Protestants fought for conversion by providing more education to everyone.

Max Weber proposed the Protestant work ethic, which advocates for discipline, effort, and frugality as a means of achieving economic progress and wealth. This is why the Protestant portion of Europe grew more rich and swiftly beat its Catholic, Orthodox, and Islamic neighbors. 

When Martin Luther began his reformation, he was concerned by the startling lack of literacy among Christians. Most people didn't even know what the Bible was. Luther supported universal schools for boys and girls so that people may become literate and read God's word for themselves.

“ Above all, the foremost and most general subject of study in higher and lower schools should be the Holy Scriptures and for young boys in the gospels. And would to God that every town had a girls' school also in which the girls were taught the Gospel for an hour every day.”  ~Martin Luther

Combining this new protestant motive with the recent invention of the printing press, literacy rates among Protestants increased, but this had an unintended consequence: the Ottoman Empire banned the use of the printing press, while higher literacy rates in Europe led to increased economic development, productivity, and prosperity.

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Luther's reform improved literacy among Protestants in the region, driven by his goal for everyone to read the Bible. To quote from the study,  “The increased education of Protestants was purely religiously motivated in its instrumental function for the dissemination of the gospel.” Rupp (1966 b, p,618)

Thus, Rupp argues that Luther's primary objective in this area was to establish an Elementary School for the people to provide all Christians with access to God's message as found in the Bible.

Catholic regions quickly adopted the desire to expand literacy, which resulted in similar beneficial economic outcomes. Robert Woodbury describes how Protestants began to use the printing press to expand literacy and teach their Christian message. It forced Catholics to counterattack by printing more educational materials to counter Protestant arguments and win more converts.

“The Catholic Church invested heavily in education where it completed with CPs ( that is Ireland, North America, and British colonies)  or in a secularising state ( France)  but not in areas with a Catholic monopoly (Ex: Spain, Portugal, and Italy or orthodox slash Muslim competition example Eastern Europe and Balkans…)” ~Woodbery, R.D 2012 The Missionary Roots of the Liberal Democracy. The American Political Science Review 106(2), 244-274

Protestants and Catholics began to educate more and more people, which had the unintended effect of raising literacy rates in Christian regions, leading to more prosperity and growth. This educational growth rate was not limited to Europe convicted by the command of Jesus to make disciples of our Nations both Protestants and Catholics sent missionaries out to Africa, America, Australia, and Asia. 

One study looked at the effects of machinery activity in India

“The exposure to Protestant missions during the colonial period translated into a higher literacy rate today. Historians highlight the important role of Protested missionaries in promoting literacy among traditionally disadvantaged groups in India, women, and low castes. Consistently, I find that women and low-caste members living in Protestant districts displayed significantly higher literacy rates relative to the same social groups living in ‘non- protestant areas.” ~Montovane, Fedenco, The Protestant Legacy: Missions and Literacy in India (April 1, 2014)

At the turn of the nineteenth century, approximately 70% of primary and secondary schools in the provinces of Agra and Oudh were managed by missionaries. According to the study, Protestant missionaries shifted cultural norms to emphasize the importance of education for both boys and girls. Female education was also boosted in areas where Protestantism was more prevalent, with a 25% increase in the total population literacy rate. They also loathed India's caste system through education and believed it was the obligation of Christians to undermine it. The study found that Christian Missionary activities were consistently associated with better female education outcomes in both the colonial and postcolonial periods. Despite, facing native resistance missionaries worked tirelessly to educate girls along with boys. By 1931, Christians in India surpassed Sikh, Hindu, Muslim, and tribal communities in overall literacy. Muslims had an average of 15 per 1000 literate girls, Hindus had an average of 21 of 1000 literate girls, and Christians succeeded these numbers 203 of 1000 literate girls. 

Christian schools didn't just teach religion they also taught non-religious subjects like arithmetic, writing, and reading and they enrolled both lower and upper caste Hindus and Muslims. 

“By teaching the importance of reading the Bible Protestant men and women maintain reading and writing skills. Christianity also gave members of the lower cast a bargaining chip if a group failed to win new rights and shared in the locality’s ranking schemes with Hindus, they could convert to Christianity restage the campaign for new honors, and hope to win in the next round.” Pg 448, Saints, Goddess and Kings, Muslims and Christianity in South Indian Society (1700-1900), Susan Bayly

Even when people did not convert to Christianity, the presence of Christian missionaries improved the quality of life for everyone.

“Christian missionaries were central agents in the development of educational systems in the former African colonies in most former Colony the first school we found by missionaries .” Christian missionaries and education in former African colonies. How competition mattered, Pg 294

Missionaries created the first schools in most former colonies and provided 90% of Western education in Sub-Saharan Africa. This was because missionaries believed that offering education was the greatest way to convert people, and they also believed that believers should read the Bible for themselves. Protestants started this educational boom in Africa, and when Catholics saw it, they started competing for converts by opening their schools for the indigenous people.

Another study found that in specific African regions before 1966 the odds of a Christian being literate rather than illiterate is nine times higher than for a non-Christian. After 1960, the odds of a Christian being illiterate are four times higher for a non-Christian. 

West African education has historically declined as a result of Islamic domination. 90% of pupils on the Gold Coast attended mission schools, which resulted in higher educational achievement. Missionaries were motivated by a desire to convert more people, which they accomplished by improving the quality of education. So, Christianity's great commission has led to an increase in education, but research has also found that missionary activity boosted the health and quality of life of indigenous people.

Medical facility and hygiene

One study found that in India, being closer to a Protestant medical facility resulted in healthier outcomes and more hygienic habits among residents.

“Our measures of hygiene, preventive care, and health knowledge are significantly associated with the distance from a Protestant medical mission. In particular, living far from a village historically equipped with a Protestant medical mission decreases the probability of treating water and it increases the probability of practicing open defecation.” ~ Long-term effects of access to health care, medical mission in colonial India.

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”This paper studies child health in India focusing on differences in anthropometric outcomes between the three main religions – Hindus, Muslims, and Christians. The results indicate that Christian infants have higher height-for-age z-scores as compared to infants of other religious identities and that this is especially true for infant girls in states with a relatively large Christian presence. We instrument for Christian identity today using data on the location of Protestant and Christian missions, the incidence of epidemic diseases and natural disasters, and political crises (wars) that mission establishing countries were engaged in during India's colonial history.” ~Christianity and Infant Health in India

“Access to medicine meant that death rates for children were lowest in Christian families. There is also evidence that consumption of alcohol and drugs are as well as things such as gambling and child marriage decreased in areas where Christianity spread it’s influence and that literacy rates among children were higher in families who had converted to Christianity. In terms of woman-specific characteristic, Muslim women are less likely to seek prenatal or antennal care and have earlier first births as compared to upper caste Hindu and Christian women. Average age at first marriage is very young (16 years) and youngest among lower caste Hindu and Muslim women. Alternatively, average age at first marriage is close to 20 years for Christian women. Literacy rates are lowest among low caste Hindu women and highest among Christian women.” ~Christianity and Infant Health in India

Missionaries brought Western technology to the region and assisted locals in developing contemporary medical and educational institutions. They work to prevent disease outbreaks, provide disaster relief, and create hospitals. This spurred modernization in many Chinese districts, resulting in economic growth, a healthier and more educated population, and a reshaping of local values when Christianity was legalized again in 1978.

“We provide an account of how Protestantism promoted economic prosperity in China—a country in which Protestant missionaries penetrated far and wide during 1840–1920, but only a tiny fraction of the population had converted to Christianity. By exploiting the spatial variation in the missionaries' retreat due to the Boxer Uprising to identify the diffusion of Protestantism, we find that the conversion of an additional communicant per 10,000 people increases the overall urbanization rate by 18.8% when evaluated at the mean. Moreover, 90% of this effect comes from knowledge diffusion activities associated with schools and hospitals erected by the missionaries.” ~ Diffusing Knowledge While Spreading God's Message: Protestantism and Economic Prosperity in China, 1840–1920

Harmful religious practices

Christians were also vital in abolishing destructive Indigenous customs like foot-binding, female genital cutting, teenage boys and girls used in ceremonial intercourse, widow burning, child marriages, and so on. Missionaries spearheaded reforms to protect children from intergenerational sexual abuse.

Missionaries were so determined to spread the gospel that they instituted numerous services and changes for indigenous people. This indirectly resulted in increased education literacy, economic prosperity, progress of human rights, and colonial reform. This resulted in increased democracy and freedom for people around the world to proclaim the gospel. Because of the persistent effort of missionaries, more countries are now democratic, resulting in improved living conditions and greater freedom for people all across the world.

“The Catholic church also became instrumental in promoting human rights, speaking out against social injustice and becoming active agents in the preservation of religious freedom.” ~ Philpott, 2009

These impacts are closely related to Christianity's basic teaching of spreading the gospel to all nations. The commission of Christ to promote the gospel has, directly and indirectly, resulted in these great effects. (Matthew 28:18-20)

So the idea that Christianity is harmful and holds back progress is one of the biggest myths that have been told in modern society. If you want the world to be better educated and healthy one should encourage the expansion and growth of Christianity.

Shalom!