In her book The Bourgeois Virtues, economist Deirdre McCloskey makes the argument that there are seven specific virtues most responsible for the rise of the West and free market capitalism. Five of those virtues – love, courage, temperance, prudence, justice – are evident enough. But it is her inclusion of the virtues of faith and hope, which she specifically designates as Christian virtues, that warrants the most attention. Especially at Christmas.
The Western world is built on faith. Even its proudest atheists rely on faith. We all have faith that, should every atom in the universe vanish, the laws of gravity would still exist.
The atheist would argue that this isn’t “faith,” per se, but rather a rational calculation of the odds. If you touch a hot stove a million times and end up burning your hand a million times doing so, the laws of probability and scientific observation reasonably conclude that the same cause/effect would occur on the millionth and one time.
But even that scientific observation is grounded in the faith that there are immutable scientific laws to begin with, that those laws are constant, and that those laws transcend all manner of space and time. Those laws themselves are not the “effect” of any “cause,” and we find ourselves in an odd predicament of admitting that the laws of science cannot be explained by any law of science. Unless, of course…
Faith is just as necessary for science as it is for religion, and only those who believe in neither insist dogmatically that the two cannot coexist. In fact, they complement each other, particularly when exploring the complexities of human behavior.”
Every human relationship is built on trust, and that trust depends on having faith in the inherent goodness of people. That “goodness” is spiritual in nature, and cannot be produced by the inanimate laws of the universe. Again, atheists will argue that our “goodness” is self-interest masked as altruism. Hence, we don’t break the law not because we’re “good,” but because it isn’t worth risking the consequences. We take care of our children not because we’re “good,” but because it is hard-wired into our biology to successfully propagate our species.
But again, this argument only goes so far. If the propagation of the species drove every act of our goodness, this wouldn’t explain why we help homeless people. Darwinian biology would dictate we leave the weaker behind. Some animal species kill their own children to ensure the stronger offspring survive. There is no “natural” explanation as to why humans help complete strangers, when the “natural” solution would be to kill or abandon them.
Take it a step further. Why do we care for criminals? Why do we ensure that those found guilty in a court of law are nonetheless provided the basic human necessities? Why do we care for wounded enemy soldiers? Heck, why do we care for animals that inconvenience, threaten, or injure us? This only occurs from a place of faith in the transcendent reality of goodness. And a transcendent reality of goodness is not possible without God.
Faith is necessary for a functioning society. People without faith are people without trust. And people who trust nobody on the premise that trust itself is an illusion lose the right to claim trust for themselves. They have no faith in you, but expect you to have faith in them. This makes genuine human relationships impossible, and only works in totalitarian societies in which the top Comrade can be trusted to do no wrong, and every Comrade below him can be trusted to do no right.
The other Christian virtue is hope, the inevitable result of faith. In fact, one could argue that hope is almost a version of blind faith. Hope looks to the future, and is a completely immaterial and deeply human virtue. Hope springs not from the secular notion of cosmic chance, but from the premise of cosmic justice. We don’t “hope” that if we drop a penny, gravity will pull it to the ground.
Rather, we hope in pursuits completely human, or at least those affecting humanity. We hope our favorite sports team wins. We hope the bad guy is vanquished, and the good guy gets the girl. We hope the Olympic gymnast pulls off her routine flawlessly. We hope the astronauts make it back to earth ok.
We hope for strangers we’ve never met, whose accomplishments we celebrate as if they were our own. We hope for fictional characters in movies and in books. We hope virtue will compound virtue. We hope that our good deeds and strenuous efforts will make not only our lives, but the world, better. We even hope that our enemies, instead of suffering punishment, see the light and return to the goodness and grace of God.
Faith and hope are rooted in God’s creation, which He Himself saw was good. No other religion places goodness into the act of creation and the concept of being themselves. And if the inanimate universe itself is both good and a force for good, how much so can we humans be, rooted as we are not only with faith and hope, but with the love and grace given to us by our Creator?
Faith and hope don’t come easy to the modern Christian. Attacks on the Christian faith that would have sparked centuries-long crusades not too long ago are nowadays met with barely a shrug. From Nigeria to Sudan, from Germany to the Philippines, Christians are persecuted, imprisoned, raped, and murdered, and the empty suits who represent Christendom can’t be bothered to rise to their defense.
In the Middle East, ancient Christian societies are butchered wholesale, without so much as a raised eyebrow from the same church “leaders” who wag their fingers at us about “refugees.” Here in America, so-called churches choose to worship identity politics, while others choose to promote the birth of Christ through a “queer lens” in which the three magi are represented as drag queens.
But nevertheless, we Christians are joyful. We have faith in the living God, and we have hope in His grace, His covenant, and His deliverance. All this temporal hate and division – the race politics, the corruption of education, the hedonistic nihilism, and the fifth columnist bureaucrats and “churches” who advance it – is but temporary. Fleeting. It’s a test, and we can pass it. History will forget them before they draw their last breath. But God remembers those who witness Him.
Celebrate the birth of our Savior with gratitude. Follow His words with wisdom, and follow His actions with reverence. React to our suffering with humility, and react to the suffering of others with compassion. Keep the faith. Nurture the hope.
And have a most merry Christmas.
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