THREAD: A South Asian Christian View on Modernism

The Christian ascetic Sadhu Sundar Singh recognized a century ago that Christianity could not coexist with the modern ideologies of communism (shoots you in the head) and capitalism (poisons you slowly).

Western Civilization made a fatal error in assuming it was possible for Christianity and consumer-capitalism to coexist. Christian virtues that paved the way for its success were misused and exploitation, environmental degradation and the embrace of a hedonistic outlook ensued.

The claim that Christian virtue led to the rise of the West isn't just a vague boastful claim.

Dr. Joseph Henrich, Chair of the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University has written on how Christianity promotes social cooperation outside outside the family.

These advancements (literacy, women's rights, fostering innovation, and cooperation outside the family) were never done with the intention of making capitalist gains. But when capitalism did arise, these values were redirected away from Christianity to achieve capitalist goals

The Amish may be the best modern day example of this. They are a thriving, growing community of Christians who live in self-sufficient, tightly knit communities built on sustainable living and Christian virtue.

The Amish are not 'anti-technology'. But they evaluate new technology to see if it will help or hurt them from achieving their goal of Christian living. Compare this to our own society where all new technology is embraced and consequences considered only after the fact.

We have our own South Asian Christian intellectuals who have advocated for alternatives to capitalism/communism, whose centralized and standardized nature is alien to the natural heterogeneity of South Asia. One such man was the Indian economist & freedom fighter J.C. Kumarappa.

J.C. Kumarappa advocated for an economic system that was decentralized and local. This allows villages to self-improve without relying on a centralized state. This allows even uneducated and poor people to make changes where the govt. failed for decades.

The centralized Western state that post-independence South Asia adopted also enforced alien notions of cultural uniformity on regions that had been heterogenous centuries. As history has shown, diversity was not an obstacle to peace until we assumed a state must be uniform.

Governance that respected inherent heterogeneity was successful (India's 20+ official language), despite the critiques from Western academics.

When cultural uniformity was embraced it only led to division and bloodshed like the wars in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka over language.

South Asians (Christian and non-Christian) must recognize it is impossible to adopt Western economics (consumer-capitalism) and governance (centralized uniformity) while remaining immune to the hedonism, individualism, and atomization that has overtaken the West.

For those interested in the ideas presented in this thread I recommend you read the following books. I can direct you towards free PDF versions if you direct message me.