[frog in a pot]

We in the West are because others long ago were willing to die for our sake to bring us out of darkness.

You raise an interesting concept that begs for clarification. Who were those "others" responsible for bringing the "west" out of the darkness?

[4yearlurker]

I highly recommend the book "The Light and The Glory" by Peter Marshal & David Manuel from 1977. It will answer your question.

[Jonty30]

Christian martyrs. Prior to the introduction of Christianity, Europe was not a good place to be. Christianity civilized us.

[erkelly]

First, of all Father Abraham. Secondly, the Roman Empire, thirdly the Apostles who spread the gospel throughout the Roman Empire, and then later Christian missionaries from Rome who brought Christianity to western-most corners of Europe, and then when Europe again fell into paganism and savagery, the Irish.

Our civilization stands on four pillars, Jerusalem, Athens, Rome and London. Yes, there is corruption because man’s nature is corrupt, but there is also the image of God in our nature as well, and it was at great personal sacrifice. And so we have built the greatest civilization the world has ever known, and sadly the devil has built his civilization as well, inside our borders and without.

I doubt that you, in all your jaded educated snobbery, would like living in the stone age very much.