'Gift of Bethlehem' benefits country's economic freedom

As you ask yourself, shall I go to Wal-Mart or Target, Penney's or Kohls or perhaps Dillard's or Macy's to buy that special gift, you might also consider another question that may get hidden in the shuffle again this year - as perhaps it has many of the years you have shopped until you dropped at Christmas time.

The question has been answered in a similar way by an orthodox Jewish rabbi and an Indian philosopher as well as the Chinese scholar cited last week. The question: Would we have all this choice, all this economic freedom if it were not for The Gift? What Gift? The Gift of Bethlehem, of course.

Just as the Chinese scholar quoted last week accredited religion - specifically Christianity - as the springboard for economic and democratic progress that catapulted Western civilization ahead of Chinese civilization, so also do the following authorities:

• Rabbi Daniel Lapin, nationally acclaimed speaker and writer who addressed a Wharton County audience at the Civic Center a couple of years ago;

• Vishal Mangalwadi, who grew up in India and has worked laboriously to eradicate poverty in his native land.

For instance, at his speech in Wharton, Rabbi Lapin stated, "No capital market has ever arisen indigenously in any country outside ... of Christendom." One reason, as he explains In his book, America's Real War, is the central role of Biblical perspective on property and economic growth. He writes, "Western civilizations based on the Bible have flourished economically because they understood the role of private property and the role of the law in protecting that property."

Contrasting cultures outside the pale of a Judeo-Christian worldview, social reformer Vishal Mangalwadi credits Christianity with the flourishing of economic growth for the following reasons:

• Belief in purpose and progress as opposed to fatalism

• Belief in the dignity of work (Greeks and Romans as well as Indians frowned upon "common" labor)

• Belief that each person could honor God through his normal work, breaking the mold that to honor God one had to separate from secular pursuit and enter a monastery

While we may take those principles for granted, they have not and are not universally applied, as Mangalwadi accurately portrays.

The Indian philosopher, the orthodox rabbi and the Chinese scholar, representing three very distinct cultures all recognize the Gift of Bethlehem for its impact on economic freedom. Do we?

Peter Johnston, an East Bernard resident, earned a history degree from Cornell University and is a former high school history teacher. He established WORD Dynamics Ministry in 2003.