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Christianity plays valuable role in U.S.

Recently a letter appeared in the Daily Herald entitled, "What columnist missed." The author of the letter takes exception with columnist, Walter Williams, giving any credit to Christianity in the development and success of America. In fact the writer blames Christianity for giving us slavery and the Civil War.

Almost all credible historians blame slavery and the Civil War on slave trade (tobacco, cotton & sugar), secession, taxation, bleeding Kansas, industry versus farming, Abraham Lincoln, etc., but not Christianity.

Alexis de Tocqueville, famous French statesman and historian, in his classic book, "Democracy in America" explains American exceptionalism in this way "There is no country in the world where the Christian religion retains a greater influence over the souls of men than in America, and there can be no greater proof of its utility and of its conformity to human nature than that its influence is powerfully felt over the most enlightened and free nation of the earth."

After 200-plus years, the impact of Christianity on American life is incredible. Just one example of Christianity's impact on America is the Catholic Church, the largest religion in the United States. The Catholic Church feeds more people, houses more people, clothes more people, takes care of more people, and educates more people than any private institution in the country.

This does not include the thousands of other Christian-based groups that provide food, shelter, disaster relief, medical care, soup kitchens, etc., to the poor and needy all over this great land.

We are living in a very strange time, when facts, data and the truth don't seem to matter anymore. C.S. Lewis wisely observed "I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen; not only because I see it, but by it I see everything else."

It illuminates our life.

Larry O'Neill

Palatine

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