new church life: september/october 2017
The Writings also state that the fallen nature of Christianity has meant
that Europeans have historically behaved in ways that have not always been
just or charitable toward people in other parts of the world.
There are gentiles who when they lived in the world had known from contact
and report that Christians live the worst life, in adulteries, hatred, quarrels,
drunkenness, and the like . . . But they are instructed by the angels that the
Christian doctrine and faith itself teaches quite differently, but that Christians live
less according to their doctrines than gentiles do. (Arcana Coelestia 2597)
The faults listed in this passage are the very ones that Muslims often
mention in their criticisms of the West.
There are also other specific comments in the Writings that may help to
explain these tensions. For example, regarding the British character:
There is a similarity of mind among the British. As a result, they form close ties with
friends from their own country and rarely with others. They give each other aid and
love honesty. (True Christianity 808)
The Writings praise the English, but this is one among several statements
about a tendency to love fellow countrymen more than others. Americans
probably have a similar tendency, and you might expect that the same would be
true everywhere. Yet the Writings say that Af