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The positive cultural influence of the Christian Church is too vast to enumerate in detail in less than a series of books. Its influence is not limited to the West, as it spread beyond the Western Empire in the days of Rome, in its first centuries, and has continued to spread around the world in the centuries since. For the most part, its influence has been more good than not wherever it has gone, and attempting to even list it all would be a very long list indeed.However, in answer to this question, I have chosen to limit a sampling of examples to the West, and to the limited time period of Early Christianity up to the Middle Ages. I have picked a few examples of influence I see as the paradigm altering, watershed, kind.The Christian church has continued, to this day, to be a cultural influence for good all around the world, but the history from the 1400s on is even more extensive—and complex—than what preceded it, so please accept—these limitations I have imposed are my limitations—and not the limitations of the church.Christianity altered the paradigm concerning:SexWomenCharityPreservation of literacyMonks and NunsBenedict’s RuleSkills and EducationSocial StructureCharles Martel Stopped IslamScienceArts and HumanitiesPainting, sculpture and architectureMusicLawHuman ValueHuman RightsSlaveryDemocracyFirst to Fourth Century (30–500)Sex — Let’s talk about sex—not just because it’s fun—but because changes here are among the most powerful, yet most overlooked, of all the many positive changes Christianity brought.“The gradual transformation of the Roman world from polytheistic to Christian marks one of the most sweeping ideological changes of premodern history. At the center of it all was sex.”[1]Historian Kyle Harper says:"...the triumph of Christianity not only drove profound cultural change, it created a new relationship between sexual morality and society...The legacy of Christianity lies in the dissolution of an ancient system where social and political status, power, and social reproduction (passing on social inequality to the next generation) scripted the terms of sexual morality."That ancient system was built on status and used shame to enforce itself. Shame was not personal guilt so much as a social concept: breaking the rules had profound and far-reaching social consequences. Aristocratic men had status; women had little, and slaves had no status at all, therefore, as far as the Romans were concerned, slaves had no internal ethical life and were incapable of shame. This permitted Roman society to find both a husband's control of a wife's sexual behavior as a matter of intense importance, and at the same time, see his live-in mistress and sex with young slave boys as of little concern.Paul wrote that the body was a consecrated space, a point of mediation between the individual and the divine. His over-riding sense that gender—rather than status or power or wealth or position—was the prime determinant in the propriety of the sex act was momentous. It was a transformation in the deep logic of sexual morality.The Greeks and Romans said our morality depends upon our social position which is given to us by fate; that there is inequity in that is not a moral issue that concerned them. Christianity "preached a liberating message of freedom.” It was a revolution in the very image of the human being as a sexual being, free to choose, and personally responsible for that choice to God alone. It created a revolution between society and the individual, limiting society’s rights and claims on the individual as a moral agent.Whether or not Paul’s particular teaching on gender is still agreed with or not, the historical facts show that the Christian view that the powerful should be held to the same standards of sexual accountability as those without power has since become the norm of a just society.Appearance of Jesus Christ to Maria Magdalena (1835) by Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov.Women [2]Early Christianity — Some historians hold that the Church played a considerable part in fostering the inferior status of women by providing a "moral justification" for male superiority. However, the Church has also made enough positive contributions toward women that, on balance, I am going to say the overall impact has been more positive than negative.Understanding that involves understanding context—what was there before, and without, Christianity.In antiquity, there were no Near Eastern societies that were not patriarchal, so patriarchalism and male superiority were not unique to the Old Testament. All around the Mediterranean, patriarchy was established as the norm in all of the multiple different societies before 3000 BC and they did not change for millennia—until Christianity.[3]Women were seen as intellectually and physically inferior to men and as "naturally dependent" by Sumerians, and Babylonians, by the Hittites, the Greeks and the Romans—all of them. Some philosophers speculated that women were a different race not fully human like men. Athenian women were legally classified as children regardless of age and were the "legal property of a man at all stages in her life." Women everywhere, including the Roman Empire, had limited legal rights and could not enter professions.It was common in the Greco-Roman world to expose female infants because of the low status of women in society. Many exposed children died, but many were taken by speculators who raised them to be slaves or prostitutes. Female infanticide and abortion were practiced by all classes. The church forbade these practices to its members.Christians did not believe in cohabitation, so if a Christian man wanted to live with a woman, the church required marriage; the pagan double standard of allowing married men to have extramarital sex and mistresses was forbidden. This gave women far greater security.It was not rare for pagan women to be married before the age of puberty and then forced to consummate the marriage with her often much older husband. Christianity established a minimum age for marriage.Husbands could divorce their wives at any time simply by telling the wife to leave; wives could not. In the code of Hammurabi, a woman could sue for divorce, but if she couldn’t prove she had been an exemplary wife, she was drowned for making the request.Roman law required a widow to remarry; 1 Timothy says a woman is better off if she remains unmarried. Widows in Greco-Roman society could not inherit their husband's estate and could find themselves in desperate circumstances, but almost from the beginning the church offered widows support.Women were an important part of Jesus’ inner circle, and there is no record of him ever treating a woman with less than respect. He spoke to women in public, assumed they had responsibility for their own choices, taught Mary of Bethany, admired, forgave, accepted and approved them. Christianity never fully lost sight of this as a fulfillment of God creating humans in His image as both “male and female.” Along with Paul declaring a Christian is a Christian, male or female, in Galatians 3:28, this produced a kind of “metaphysical” equality found only in Christianity at this point in history. [4]The church started out trying to practice this at first. The extra-biblical evidence is strong that women played vital roles in Christianity’s beginnings. Many women began choosing to stay single and celibate, and they spread the word, but this “female initiative” stirred up vehement opposition from the Romans.According to Margaret MacDonald, accusations that Christianity undermined the Roman family, which was built upon male authority, were used to stir up hatred of Christianity. Along with many other rumors and accusations, this led to the persecution of the early church.[5]Some of the later New Testament texts reasserting traditional roles for women are seen by many scholars as an accommodation to the danger involved with this Roman response.Within the church of the second and third century, tensions between the existing fact of women's leadership in Christian communities, and traditional Greco-Roman and patriarchal biblical views about gender roles, combined with persecution, produced controversy and challenges to women’s roles within the new church. Several apocryphal and gnostic texts provide evidence of such a controversy.Middle Ages — Once the early days of Christianity were past, the status of women declined. Women were routinely excluded from scholastic, political and mercantile life in society, however, women were not fully excluded from service in the church. [6]Medieval abbesses and female superiors of female monastic houses were powerful figures whose influence could rival that of male bishops and abbots: “They treated with kings, bishops, and the greatest lords on terms of perfect equality;... they were present at all great religious and national solemnities, at the dedication of churches, and even, like the queens, took part in the deliberation of the national assemblies...” Such powers had never been, as a rule, available to ordinary women in previous Roman or Germanic societies.[7]There was a rite for the ordination of women deacons in the Roman Pontifical, (a liturgical book), up through the 12th century. (But by the 13th-century Roman Pontifical, the prayer for ordaining women was removed, and ordination was redefined as applicable only to male Priests.) [8]The popularity of the Virgin Mary secured maternal virtue as a central cultural theme of Europe in the middle ages and helped form the concept of chivalry. Kenneth Clarke wrote that the 'Cult of the Virgin' in the early 12th century "taught a race of tough and ruthless barbarians the virtues of tenderness and compassion".Woman-as-witch became a stereotype in the 1400s until it was codified in 1487 by Pope Innocent VIII who declared "most witches are female."The European witch stereotype embodies two apparent paradoxes: first, it was not produced by the "barbaric Dark Ages," but during the progressive Renaissance and the early modern period; secondly, Western Christianity did not recognize the reality of witches for centuries, or criminalize them until around 1400. Sociologist Don Swenson says the explanation for this may lay in the nature of Medieval society as heirocratic which led to violence and the use of coercion to force conformity."There has been much debate ...as to how many women were executed...[and estimates vary wildly, but numbers] small and large do little to portray the horror and dishonor inflicted upon these women. This treatment provides [dramatic] contrast to the respect given to women during the early era of Christianity..."Women under the Law —Church teaching heavily influenced the legal concept of marriage. In a departure from societal norms, Church law required the consent of both parties before a marriage could be performed. No more kidnapping and forced marriages.The elevation of marriage to a sacrament made the union a binding contract. The Church abandoned established tradition by allowing women the same rights as men to dissolve a marriage. (However, in practice, men have been granted dissolutions more frequently than women.)Women, in Conclusion[9]The church’s behavior toward women has been both positive and negative, but all in all, Christianity’s contribution has been more positive than negative.If nothing else could ever be said, Christianity’s treatment of women was a big improvement over what existed before it, and its belief in the spiritual equality of both genders before God, altered the paradigm for women forever.Historian of hospitals Guenter Risse says the Church spearheaded the development of a hospital system geared towards the marginalized.Charity/Hospitals — Prior to Christianity, there is little to no trace of any organized charitable effort anywhere in the ancient world. After centuries of Christian influence, charity has become a universal practice.[10]Albert Jonsen, historian of medicine, says:“the second great sweep of medical history begins at the end of the fourth century, with the founding of the first hospital at Caesarea in Cappadocia, and concludes at the end of the fourteenth century, with medicine well ensconced in the universities and in the public life of the emerging nations of Europe.” [11]That hospital was founded by Basil, Bishop of Caesarea. He established the first formal soup kitchen, hospital, homeless shelter, hospice, poorhouse, orphanage, reform center for thieves, women’s center for those leaving prostitution, and many other ministries. He was personally involved in the projects and process, and gave all his personal wealth to fund the ministries.Basil himself would put on an apron and work in the soup kitchen. These ministries were given freely regardless of religious affiliation. Basil refused to make any discrimination when it came to people who needed help saying that “the digestive systems of the Jew and the Christian are indistinguishable.”His example spread throughout Christianity continuing to the modern day.In the modern day, across the world, various Christian denominations are still the ones largely responsible for the establishment of medical clinics, hospitals, orphanages, soup kitchens, and schools of all kinds.The Catholic Church maintains a massive network of health care providers. In 2009, Catholic hospitals in the USA received approximately one of every six patients. Catholic Health Australia is the largest non-government provider of group-health, community care, and aged-care services, representing about 10% of the health sector.Women have played a vital role in running and staffing these Christian care institutions. In Methodist hospitals, deaconnesses who trained as nurses staffed the hospitals, and in Catholic hospitals, religious like the Sisters of Mercy, the Little Sisters of the Poor, and the Sisters of St.Mary kept their hospitals focused on serving the needy. The New York Times noted that nuns were trained to "see Jesus in the face of every patient."In the West, these institutions are increasingly run by lay-people after centuries of being run by priests, nuns and brothers, and while the profit motive has stepped in, it does mean more people are taking responsibility for caring for the poor than ever before. In Western nations, governments have increasingly taken up funding and organization of health services for the poor. In 1968, nuns or priests were the chief executives of 770 of America's 796 Catholic hospitals. By 2011, they presided over 8 of 636 hospitals.[12]All over the West, charity is now a societal standard that simply didn’t exist prior to Christianity’s existence.[13]"After the Battle of Gravelotte. The French Sisters of Mercy of St. Borromeo arriving on the battle field to succor the wounded." Unsigned lithograph, 1870 or 1871.Dark Ages and the Early Middle Ages (500–800) [14]Preservation of Literacy — After the Fall of Rome, culture in the west returned to a subsistence agrarian form of life. Church scholars preserved literacy in Western Europe at this time, saving and copying Greek and Roman texts in their scriptoriums. For centuries following the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, small monastic communities were practically the only outposts of literacy in all of Western Europe.…all through Europe, matted, unwashed, barbarians descended on the Roman cities, looting artifacts and burning books, when the Irish, who were just learning to read and write, took up the great labor of copying all western literature – everything they could lay their hands on. These scribes then served as conduits through which the Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian cultures were transmitted to the tribes of Europe, newly settled amid the rubble and ruined vineyards of the civilization they had overwhelmed. Without this Service of the Scribes, everything that happened subsequently would be unthinkable.[15]Monks and Nuns [16]Benedict’s Rule — The period between 500 and 700, often referred to as the "Dark Ages," could also be designated the "Age of the Monk." Christian aesthetes, like St.Benedict (480–543) vowed a life of chastity, obedience, and poverty, and after rigorous intellectual training and self-denial, lived by the principles ‘work and pray’ following the “Rule of Benedict.” This “Rule” became the foundation of thousands of monasteries that spread across what is modern day Europe; "...certainly there will be no demur in recognizing that St.Benedict's Rule has been one of the great facts in the history of western Europe, and that its influence and effects are with us to this day."[17]Spread Skills and Provided Education— Monasteries were self-supporting models of productivity and economic resourcefulness teaching their local communities animal husbandry, cheese making, wine making and various other skills. They were havens for the poor, hospitals, hospices for the dying, and schools. Medical practice was highly important in medieval monasteries, and they are best known for their contributions to medical tradition, but they also made some advances in other sciences such as astronomy. These monks had impact on every level of society both directly and indirectly since all leaders of this period were educated by monks.[18]Changed Social Structure — The monastic movement also changed our social structure in ways that continue to affect us today. The formation of these organized bodies of believers, free from the political authority and familial authority that normally had the power to control an individual’s choices, gradually carved out a series of social spaces with some amount of independence and autonomy, thereby revolutionizing social history.Charles Martel Stopped Islam — (c. 457-751 CE) and his family played a crucial role in Western Europe’s transition from “ancient” to “medieval.”[19]By 727, Charles — “the Hammer”—has become King of what will one day become the nation of France. Charles wages long campaigns against the pagan Germanic tribes who constantly raid his northern and eastern borders - Frisians, Saxons and Bavarians. He also lends strong support to the missionary activities of St. Boniface hoping that conversion to Christianity will tame the heathens enough to stop this raiding. It is not fully effective, but it sets the stage for his grandson’s actions that do change the landscape of Europe.The Hammer’s main positive role involves the Arabs who, since their arrival in 711, have gained a toehold on the European continent in the Spanish peninsula. The Arabs advanced rapidly northwards in their planned takeover of the continent and were soon beyond the Pyrenees. Narbonne was taken in 720 and an extended raid in 725 brought the Arabs briefly into Burgundy. There was a lull until 732 when a Muslim army took Bordeaux, destroyed a church near Poitiers and rode on towards Tours. Here the Arabs were confronted by an army of Franks led by Charles Martel and were stopped.It was a turning point in the attempted Muslim takeover of Europe.The Middle AgesSet of pictures of notable Scientists who self-identified as Christians: Isaac Newton (top left), Robert Boyle (top right), Francis Bacon (bottom left) and Johannes Kepler (bottom right).Science [20]Early in the eleventh century, the full writings of Aristotle were reclaimed in the West by intrepid monks who traveled to Spain to work with the Jews there translating Aristotle’s writings into Latin. (These writings had been mostly lost in the West but not in the East, and when the Muslims came to Europe, they brought their books.) The church’s study of these texts laid the foundation for the beginnings of modern science as well as our modern university system.Historians of science, including J.L.Heilbron, A.C.Crombie, David Lindberg, Edward Grant, Thomas Goldstein, and Ted Davis, have argued that the church promoted learning and science during the Middle Ages. Critics will raise the Church's condemnations of Copernicus, Galileo, and Johannes Kepler as evidence to the contrary— which is a valid criticism—but it should also be considered that these same men all considered themselves Christian, were influenced by their faith in their work, and were originally sponsored by their respective churches.The sheer number of scientists and the amount of scientific work and discovery done by Christians, (many of them funded and supported by the church), supports the assertion that, taking its failures into consideration, the church’s overall impact on science has still been positive.Saint Thomas Aquinas was one of the great scholars of the Medieval period.Thomas Aquinas—the friar—opened the door for the church’s promotion of scientific and intellectual development by arguing that reason is in harmony with faith, and that reason can contribute to a deeper understanding of revelation.[21] The church put that into practice. Churchmen such as the Augustinian abbot Gregor Mendel (pioneer in the study of genetics), the monk William of Ockham who developed Ockham’s Razor, Roger Bacon, (a Franciscan friar who was one of the early advocates of the scientific method), and the modern Belgian priest George Lemaître who was the first to propose the Big Bang theory, and others, have been among the leaders in astronomy, genetics, geomagnetism, meteorology, seismology, and solar physics, with many becoming the "fathers" of these sciences.Christians who influenced Western science include such notables as Isaac Newton and Robert Boyle, Albertus Magnus, Robert Grosseteste, Nicholas Steno, Francesco Grimaldi, Giambattista Riccioli, Roger Boscovich and Athanasius Kircher.[22]Henri Becquerel, discovered radioactivity; Galvani, Volta, Ampere, and Marconi, are pioneers in electricity and telecommunications; Lavoisier is the "father of modern chemistry"; Vesalius is the founder of the modern study of human anatomy; and Cauchy, is one of the mathematicians who laid the rigorous foundations of modern calculus.According to 100 Years of Nobel Prize (2005), (which is a review of Nobel prizes awarded between 1901 and 2000), 65.4% of all Nobel Prize Laureates have identified Christianity in its various forms as their religious preference (423 prizes). Overall, Christians have won a total of 78.3% of all the Nobel Prizes in Peace, 72.5% in Chemistry, 65.3% in Physics, 62% in Medicine, 54% in Economics and 49.5% of all Literature awards.[23]It is not too much to say that modern science may never have begun without the influence and support of the Christian church, and it most certainly would not be what it is today without it.[24]Universities - The church of the middle ages helped found and build the university system, which grew rapidly in Europe in the 11th and 12th centuries. Today, there are more universities in the West than any other part of the world and almost all of them were founded as Christian institutions.[25]Map of mediaeval universities established by Catholic students, faculty, monarchs, or priestsArts and Humanities [26]Painting, Sculpture and Architecture — Artists like Michaelangelo, Da Vinci and Raphael produced some of the most celebrated works of art in history sponsored and supported by the church.[In the West] with a single exception, the great artists of the time were all sincere, conforming Christians. Guercino spent much of his mornings in prayer; Bernini frequently went into retreats and practised the Spiritual Exercizes of St.Ignatius; Rubens attended Mass every morning before beginning work. The exception was Caravaggio, who was like the hero of a modern play, except that he happened to paint very well. This conformism was not based on fear, but on the perfectly simple belief that the faith which had inspired the great saints of the preceding generations was something by which a man should regulate his life.The cathedrals of the Late Middle Ages are among the most iconic feats of architecture ever produced by Western civilization.Music — Catholic monks developed the first forms of modern Western musical notation; there would be no modern music as we know it without this.An enormous body of religious music has been composed for the church, with its support, and this sacred music led directly to the emergence and development of European classical music, and its many derivatives.Ludwig van Beethoven, composed many Masses and religious works, including his Ninth Symphony Ode to Joy.Law and Human Rights [27]Church laws were the single Universal Law common to the different jurisdictions and peoples throughout Europe for much of European history.Human Value[28]If we turn to the roots of our western tradition, we find that in Greek and Roman times not all human life was regarded as inviolable and worthy of protection. Slaves and 'barbarians' did not have a full right to life and human sacrifices and gladiatorial combat were acceptable... Spartan Law required that deformed infants be put to death; for Plato, infanticide is one of the regular institutions of the ideal State; Aristotle regards abortion as a desirable option; and the Stoic philosopher Seneca writes unapologetically: "Unnatural progeny we destroy; we drown even children who at birth are weakly and abnormal.” And whilst there were deviations from these views..., it is probably correct to say that such practices...were less proscribed in ancient times. Most historians of western morals agree that the rise of ...Christianity contributed greatly to the general feeling that human life is valuable and worthy of respect.[29]Human Rights — Christian theology has strongly influenced Western philosophers and political activists in many ways, but nowhere more than in the area of human rights. Howard Tumber says, "human rights is not a universal doctrine, but is the descendent of one particular religion (Christianity).""...one cannot and need not deny that Human Rights are of Western Origin. It cannot be denied, because they are morally based on the Judeo-Christian tradition and Graeco-Roman philosophy; they were codified in the West over many centuries, they have secured an established position in the national declarations of western democracies, and they have been enshrined in the constitutions of those democracies." [30]Saint Peter Claver worked for the alleviation of the suffering of African slaves brought to South America.Slavery — The Church initially accepted slavery as part of the social structure of society, campaigning primarily for humane treatment of slaves but also admonishing slaves to behave appropriately towards their masters.[31] However, historian Glenn Sunshine says,Christians were the first people in history to oppose slavery systematically. Early Christians purchased slaves in the markets simply to set them free.Later, in the seventh century, the Franks..., under the influence of its Christian queen, Bathilde, became the first kingdom in history to begin the process of outlawing slavery....In the 1200's, Thomas Aquinas declared slavery a sin.When the African slave trade began in the 1400's, it was condemned numerous times by the papacy.[32]The British became involved in the slave trade in the late 1500s, and by the 1700s, most people accepted slavery as a fact of life, until gradually, from the mid-1700s onwards, a Christian abolitionist movement began to take shape. It began with American Quakers.Slavery was also coming under attack from Enlightenment philosophers like Montesquieu and Rousseau, but it was Christian activists who initiated and organised an abolitionist movement.By the 1770s, Evangelicals were waking up to the seriousness of the issue – the British Methodist John Wesley and the American Presbyterian Benjamin Rush denounced the slave trade in influential pamphlets. Once the British Abolition Committee was established in 1787, abolitionism quickly became a mass movement. Within twenty years, the slave trade had been abolished throughout the British Empire. [33][34]Christianity was instrumental in stopping slavery. If you don’t think it was Christianity that made the difference, read this: John Dewar Gleissner's answer to What are some mind-blowing facts about slavery?Consistent with Calvin's political ideas, Protestants helped create both the English and the American democracies.Christianity is criticized for many things, some of them justly. David Gushee says Christianity has a "tragically mixed legacy" when it comes to the application of its own ethics, using the examples of three cases of "Christendom divided against itself": the crusades, and Frances of Assissi’s attempt at peacemaking with Muslims; Spanish conquerors and the killing of indigenous peoples, and the Christian protests and fights for Native rights; and the on-again, off-again, persecution and protection of Jews. [85]But we have also gotten a few things right here and there.I have borrowed from the article Role of Christianity in civilization - Wikipedia but I did attempt to limit myself to those sections of the article I wrote myself. Here are some of my references:Footnotes[1] From Shame to Sin: The Christian Transformation of Sexual Morality in Late Antiquity (Revealing Antiquity): Kyle Harper: 9780674072770: Amazon.com: Books[2] A Short History of Christianity: Geoffrey Blainey: 9781442225893: Amazon.com: Books[3] Amazon.com: Sexual Morality in Ancient Rome (9780521859431): Rebecca Langlands: Books[4] The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism: Timothy Keller: 9780525950493: Amazon.com: Books[5] Early Christian Women and Pagan Opinion[6] Amazon.com: Women and Gender in Medieval Europe: An Encyclopedia (Routledge Encyclopedias of the Middle Ages) (9780415969444): Margaret C. Schaus: Books[7] CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Abbess[8] Get the facts in order: A history of women's leadership[9] Society, Spirituality, and the Sacred: A Social Scientific Introduction, Second Edition: Donald S. Swenson: 9780802096807: Amazon.com: Books[10] Christian Charity in the Ancient Church - Kindle edition by Gerhard Uhlhorn. Religion & Spirituality Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.[11] A Short History of Medical Ethics: 9780195134551: Medicine & Health Science Books @ Amazon.com[12] Nuns, a ‘Dying Breed,’ Fade From Leadership Roles at Catholic Hospitals[13] Giving: Charity and Philanthropy in History: Robert H. Bremner: 9781560008842: Amazon.com: Books[14] A History of Orthodox, Islamic, and Western Christian Political Values: Dennis J. Dunn: 9783319325668: Amazon.com: Books[15] Amazon.com: How the Irish Saved Civilization (Hinges of History Book 1) eBook: Thomas Cahill: Kindle Store[16] Amazon.com: 9783319325668: Books[17] Benedictine Monachism[18] Christian Community in History: Volume 1: Historical Ecclesiology: Roger D. Haight: 9780826416308: Amazon.com: Books[19] Charles Martel : the Military Leader and Frankish Defender: History and Civilization Collection: 9782366593624: Amazon.com: Books[20] 100 Scientists Who Shaped World History[21] St. Thomas Aquinas and the Natural Law Tradition: Contemporary Perspectives: John Goyette, Mark S. Latkovic, Richard S. Myers: 9780813213781: Amazon.com: Books[22] Faithful to Science[23] 100 Years of Nobel Prizes: Baruch Aba Shalev: 9780935047370: Amazon.com: Books[24] 50 Nobel Laureates and Other Great Scientists Who Believe in God[25] Amazon.com: A History of the University in Europe: Volume 1, Universities in the Middle Ages (9780521361057): Hilde de Ridder-Symoens: Books[26] The Western Humanities: The Complete Edition: Roy T. Matthews, F. Dewitt Platt: 9780874847857: Amazon.com: Books[27] Amazon.com: The Routledge Companion to Early Christian Thought (Routledge Religion Companions) (9780415442251): D. Jeffrey Bingham: Books[28] The Sacredness of Human Life: Why an Ancient Biblical Vision Is Key to the World's Future: David P. Gushee: 9780802844200: Amazon.com: Books[29] Text, Cases and Materials on Medical Law and Ethics: Marc Stauch, Kay Wheat: 9781138024021: Amazon.com: Books[30] The Routledge Companion to Media and Human Rights[31] The Truth About the Catholic Church and Slavery[32] Why You Think the Way You Do[33] The abolition of the slave trade: Christian conscience and political action by John Coffey - Jubilee Centre[34] The Abolitionists

This is a wonderful question and one that I myself have been pondering and battling as I went through medical school and ultimately graduated through this past year. It’s very insightful of you to ask, because perhaps you are looking to go into medical school yourself or are wondering what sorts of things people actually learn in school.There are actually a huge set of skills that they don’t teach you in medical school, but the main ones that I will cover are ones that I feel my particular institution fell short on (and a few of my friends who were at various other institutions as well have agreed). **Please note that I write this as a United States Allopathic Medical School Graduate so results and opinions may differ depending on where you are from**Business/money skillsThis fits under the same category that someone else has actually mentioned in their post which is “Management and Entrepreneurship.” Most of medical school time is spent memorizing anatomy, biological cycles within the body, medications, physical examination skills and pathological diseases. None of the curriculum required by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) which is the accrediting medical school body has a financial planning requirement. They have requirements for schools to offer financial aid and financial counseling (which tends to be in the form of an office much like undergraduates have), but no actual requirements to teach individuals how to run a business, the basics of money, the basics of running a hospital or clinic, etc. Reality is that sometimes someone with a Bachelor’s in Business which takes 3–4 years is leagues ahead of a Doctor of Medicine who has been in school for at least 8 years when it comes to financial mastery.This is an even more important skill to learn especially when you take in the fact that the AVERAGE medical school debt is around $166,000. On top of the fact that the average resident salary is $52,000 (please keep in mind this is PRE-TAX) with a 5%-7% accruing debt interest, it’s all the more important to teach future docs how to handle money. This fact has become prominent enough to even have stories in everyday news ($1 million mistake: Becoming a doctor)Teaching skillsAgain I will refer to the LCME curriculum standards which anyone can see here: http://lcme.org/wp-content/uploads/filebase/standards/2017-18_Functions-and-Structure_2016-03-24.docx (which is the most up to date as far as I understand). Currently the curricular content section under “Standard 7” states the following categories:Biomedical, Behavioral, Social SciencesOrgan Systems/Life Cycle/Primary Care/Prevention/Wellness/Symptoms/Signs/ Differential Diagnosis, Treatment Planning, Impact of Behavioral and Social FactorsScientific Method/Clinical/Translational ResearchCritical Judgment/Problem-Solving SkillsSocietal ProblemsCultural Competence and Health Care DisparitiesMedical EthicsCommunication SkillsInterprofessional Collaborative SkillsAs you can see it is not a requirement to teach medical students how to teach, about adult or child learning theory, or even about how to learn as an individual. Why might this be important you ask? Well as a physician no matter what you do YOU WILL TEACH. As a resident (the first level of being a doctor a.k.a a doctor in training) you WILL be teaching medical students and patients. As an attending (when you are a fully fledged physician practicing on your own) you WILL once again be most likely teaching medical students, residents, and of course patients. Teaching is such an invaluable skill that as one of the most academic fields out there I find it amazing that we choose to ignore educating such a valuable skill. Some institutions are trying to implement programs, for example the school I came from had a medical education track which I was a part of, but again this is not required so not every doctor knows how to do this.Research SkillsSo listed above you see “Scientific Method/Clinical/Translational Research.” The way my school implemented it was to give a few lectures on the subject (by a few I really mean a few, as in maybe 1–3 a year perhaps like 8–10 over the course of 4 years and this is with us being constantly in class for the first 2 years getting lectures at least 5 days a week from 7am-5pm). These lectures entailed how to critically read a research article, learning how to cite sources and find good articles, and learn how to understand basic statistics. Unfortunately as many Ph.D’s, Masters Degree holders, and many avid researchers know there is so much more to actually be able to do research. How does one go ahead and get a grant? What forms do you need and how do you get IRB approval? How does one start a lab and get funding? What does a career in research look like and how does it even start?My school was particularly good in that if you were interested enough you could work real hard and find a good mentor in research and join a track program called the “Research Track” that had additional lectures and resources, but again this was not a requirement so not every doctor learns these skills. We would also have some required “research” projects, but to be honest it was not regulated in a way that Master’s/Ph.D Thesis’ would be nor would you get any assigned mentors (unless you were perhaps in the track program) so guidance was all up to how aggressively you sought it out. This means that some lackluster “research” projects were approved and not everyone actually learns how good solid research is conducted. Myself included.Technology/Innovation SkillsMy background was in Biomedical Engineering before I went to medical school. Upon going there, I practically lost it all. I found that quite a few of my classmates didn’t even know how to operate computers beyond the basic everyday usage, to the point that every time there was an I.T. issue (such as the projector shutting down) I was called to the front of the class to help fix the issue. Why would doctors need to know anything about technology? Well in an industry where our medical technology continues to grow at such a rapid pace, it would be good for doctors to at least understand how an x-ray, CT scanner, MRI, and Ultrasound machine worked. The surgical tools used in everyday surgeries have gotten so advanced now that we can perform operations that use to take patients weeks to heal now to operations with such small incisions that they heal within a few days. Isn’t that AMAZING?! The thing is we need more doctors who can understand the technology and continue working with engineers to keep innovating! I personally did research with Biomedical Engineers and Doctors during my time in medical school and the #1 frustration I kept hearing from both sides was “Ugh the Engineers don’t understand what us doctors need” and “Ugh the Doctors are so demanding, don’t understand anything about how technology is now.” Hence an interesting gap was born in my eyes.Interestingly enough Texas A&M University has plans to create such a program in creating “Physician Engineers”. If you are interested check it out here: Texas A&M planning to create medical school for physician engineers at Houston Methodist HospitalHealth PolicyMy school was located smack dab in the heart of Washington D.C. the nations capital. Health policy is currently an optional track program where students can actually go to Capitol Hill and get very very involved if they want to. This was an amazing opportunity offered. But again I stress this is OPTIONAL. This freaks me out because a lot of people graduating from medical school don’t know anything about how health policy works, how it is lobbied, and how to make change. This explains why there aren’t that many doctors on Capitol Hill.The scarier thing for me is that to this day…I DON’T COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND HOW HEALTH INSURANCE WORKS. And I ran the student run clinic at my institution. We often deferred to the social workers or the business department of the hospital. We are never taught how expensive different medications are, how patients get billed, how we can lower costs for patients in general. Heck we don’t even know the different policies, restrictions, and costs it takes to run a clinic or hospital. Again. This is optional. Shocking because I always shuddered at this question I would often get asked from patients “Do you take my health insurance? If not where can I go or what can I do? Because I really need help now.”How to find a job if one decides to do anything other than directly become a practicing physicianTo give everyone some statistics (and these numbers come from the National Residency Match Program a.k.a NRMP themselves and you can see them here: Press Release: Results of 2016 NRMP Main Residency Match Largest on Record as Match Continues to Grow). Over the last four years there has been a 10.6% increase in the number of U.S. Allopathic Medical Students graduating. Hitting an all time high of 18,668! Such a wonderful accomplishment that we should be proud of! Especially with the incoming doctor shortage that the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) has done studies on in 2016 estimating a shortage of 61,700-94,700 physicians by 2025. (If you are interested look here: GME Funding and Physician Workforce). Now here is the other issue. We are opening more medical schools, but the RESIDENCY (doctors in training) positions are not growing as quickly. Take a look at this image:This is published data from the latest match which you can look at here if you are interested: http://www.nrmp.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Main-Match-Results-and-Data-2016.pdfNotice how the two lines aren’t getting closer together? Well the purple line is the number of doctors in training positions available. The green line is the number of people who graduated with M.D.s whether from this country or not applying for those spots. So we keep making more schools and having more potential applicants, but we aren’t increasing the number of spots available for training which is a required part of training doctors. I think we can all see the problem here. Still not convinced? Take a look at this graph:Registered Applicants up 1,036. Active applicants (those who got interviews and went to interview then selected a list of places they wanted to go to) up 571. Program positions? Up 538. Notice it’s smaller than those first two numbers. Active Seniors 18,187 up from last year. Matched Seniors 17,057 up from last year. % Positions filled by Seniors 61.2% DOWN from last year. Also take notice that the number of active seniors went up 162, but the number of matched seniors went up 125. That’s 37 seniors lacking in matching. Critics will say that there are numerous factors for this, and I whole-heartedly agree, but where the heck are these seniors going? In addition isn’t it worrisome that there are 1,130 UNMATCHED seniors??? This is only U.S. graduates, not even including those from Doctors of Osteopathic Medical Schools, U.S. citizens trying to come home from Carribbean Schools, and International Medical Graduates. For which the numbers are far worse and can hover down to 40–50%.Now what are these seniors suppose to do in the mean time or if they want to do something related to medicine but not be a clinical physician? Unfortunately having an M.D. degree doesn’t qualify you for a wide range of jobs that something like an M.B.A might qualify you for. At least not that I am aware of (I would love for someone with insight to comment on this), but from personal experience myself it is hard to figure out what jobs I can get with an M.D. degree solely because my education has only trained me to be a doctor. There is so much talent wasted, and there is so much about the healthcare field that needs to be fixed that I am shocked there isn’t more education and resources to get these graduates to other jobs/opportunities that can help the healthcare field in general. I am saying this after I spoke to 12 different physicians AND after going to my career center at my institution who could not advise me on what I could do with just an M.D. degree other than go to residency. Scary and disheartening if I do say so myself.7. How to stay physically healthy and have good mental hygieneIn medical school you are constantly under a stressful environment. This is something that no one ever seems to talk about. There was a survey based study done by Goebert et al. which showed that of more than 2,000 medical students and residents surveyed who responded (with an 89% response rate) 12% had probably MAJOR depression and 9.2% had probably mild/moderate depression. (study here: Depressive symptoms in medical students and residents: a multischool study.) Now this study isn’t perfect, and there are numerous flaws with a survey based design such as response bias, but the fact that 21.2% of medical students and residents had potential DEPRESSION with some having suicidal ideation should worry all of us. Having an incidence of disease of 5% makes the entire medical community react, why not 21.2%? The one phrase that medical schools LOVE saying is “Welcome. You will now be learning as if you are drinking from a fire hose.” I personally hate that phrase and think there is something fundamentally wrong with how you are teaching when that is how you start off your educational journey.It is estimated that about 300–400 physicians die annually from suicide. That is an average that means that about one doctor will die A DAY from a preventable cause. Which personally scares me. Especially since we are always talking about the “Physician Shortage.” The new CDC report notes that: “In 1999, the age-adjusted rate of suicide was 10.5 per 100,000 of the population. In 2014, it was 13.0, representing an overall rise of 24% The rate increased by 1% per year from 1999-2006, and then doubled to 2% after that” That means that each year there are 41,457 suicides in the United States alone (I used the current 2014 population data of the US having 318.9 million people). Mental health is extremely important. Poor mental hygiene costs lives. To put this into perspective a little bit Ebola in 2014 costed 4,033 deaths according to the CDC. That means more than 10 times the number of people are killing themselves each year. (And please note, I am not claiming that suicide is any more or less devastating than Ebola, lives lost are all equally saddening to me). (Here are links for these topics: Medical student suicide: It's impact is devastating. This case proves it., petition: Stop the suicide epidemic in medical schools and residency programs!). Physician Burn-out is very real, and something that many people are trying to work on.8. The actual entire process of what is expected to happen into medical school and residency and beyondThis to me is the funniest thing that ends up happening in medical school which is something that I have heard from numerous sources. Many just had to sort of figure out how medical school plays out as they went along. When we all enter medical school many of us didn’t know that there was a licensing examination that was broken up into 3 parts that is needed before we are allowed to practice (Step 1, Step 2, Step 3). And for those that did, they weren’t sure of when those tests would be taken, unless they were fortunate enough to have someone in the family who had been through the process before. In addition, many of us are not informed that you need to know what kind of doctor you want to be by the end of 3rd year because you have to know before you apply for residency since it is a large headache to switch from one specialty to another and it can even be nearly impossible to (for example if you wanted to switch from a primary care practice of family medicine to Orthopedic surgery or Ophthalmology). Most of us learn of these things either from the school or through word of mouth as we are going along. Mainly because we are so overwhelmed with trying to learn the medical knowledge, trying to plot your career path for the rest of our lives is something most of us aren’t even thinking about…but we should be because well…it’s the career path for the REST OF OUR LIVES. Note this may sound grossly exaggerated, but ask any doctor how hard it is to switch from one specialty field to another in the case interest changes, and you will be surprised at how hard it truly is. I have met very motivated physicians who really wanted to switch and basically had to start back at square one as a resident physician and work their way back up, that is if they get into any of the already limited residency positions.These are a few of the personal things that I have observed are missing. Again this is MY personal experience with MY institution, I can’t say that this is how it feels everywhere, but I have spoken to numerous friends at at least 10 different institutions who agree that they felt the same way as well. This includes individuals who decided to leave medical school altogether because of some of these issues.Phew, now this was an extremely extremely long post. I hope that it was at least somewhat helpful, thank you for reading all the way through. If I came off as just a complainer, I apologize because that is not what I wanted to do at all. These are observations that I have made as someone who is extremely passionate about education with an extensive background in it. I am personally trying to find a job in medical education as well currently so that I hope to be able to make some changes to the field. If anyone has any comments or questions please don’t hesitate to ask! I love to answer :)Thanks again for reading and have a great one! It would mean so much to me if you could up-vote this post and share it as well if you find it helpful because I really want to shed more light on the path to becoming a doctor and the medical system in general. It is such an important topic for even those who don’t want to be doctors to understand since we all eventually get involved in the medical system one way or another.Thank you so much once again.

100 Interesting Facts About . . .IslamIslam is the name of the religion. A person who practices Islam is known as a Muslim. The adjective “Islamic” usually refers to objects and places, not people. The term “Mohammedanism” is an outdated term for the faith and is usually considered insulting.eIslam is an Arabic word that means “peace,” “security,” and “surrender.” Muslim means “one who peacefully surrenders to God.” Anyone from any race could be Muslim; in other words, “Muslim” does not refer to a particular race.dFamous Muslims in America include Janet Jackson, Muhammad Ali, Shaquille O’Neal, Mara Brock Akil (writer/producer of the series “The Game” and “Girlfriends”), Mos Def (Yasiin Bey), Mike Tyson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Ice Cube, Akon, and Anousheh Ansari, the first Muslim woman in space.hMohammad’s flight (the Hegira) from Mecca in A.D. 622 is the beginning of the rise of Islam. It also marks the beginning of the Islamic, or Hijri, calendar.cMohammad ibn Abd Allah was born around A.D. 570 in Mecca, Arabia (present-day Saudi Arabia) and died on June 8, 632, in Medina, Arabia. He claimed that when he was 40 years old, he received his first revelation from God.iThe Islamic Golden Age, which is traditionally dated as being the 8th–13th centuries, was marked by the ascension of the Abbasid Caliphate. The Abbasids were influenced by the Quran’s injunction that “the ink of the scholar is more holy than the blood of the martyr.” During this time, the Arab world became an intellectual center for science, astronomy, chemistry, physics, mathematics, philosophy, medicine, and education.bThe Muslims created a House of Wisdom (Bait-ul-Hikmat), which was active during the 9th –13th centuries, where both Muslim and non-Muslim scholars sought to translate the world’s knowledge into Arabic. Many classic works of antiquity that might have otherwise been lost were preserved in Arabic and Persian and later translated into Turkish, Hebrew, and Latin. Here, scholars synthesized and significantly advanced knowledge gained from the Roman, Chinese, Persian, Egyptian, Greek, Byzantine, and Phoenician civilizations.dMuslim scholars Ibn Rushd and Ibn Sina were primarily responsible for saving the works of Aristotle, whose ideas would later dominate both the Christian and Muslim worlds.dInventions that emerged from the Islamic world include the discovery of citric acid (Jābir ibn Hayyān), arabesque architecture, the minaret, the bridge mill, the vertical-axle windmill, teaching hospitals, marching bands, early torpedoes, the guitar, the lute, the water pipe (hookah, narghile,or shisha), early attempts at gliding, algebra, the pinhole camera, the laws of refraction, coffee, and more.bMuslim scholar Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen), who was born in A.D 965, formulated the scientific method and has been referred to as “the world’s first true scientist.” He is also often regarded as the first theoretical physicist. Additionally, he developed what is called celestial mechanics, which lead to the eventual work of Europeans such as Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, and Newton.aThe basic beliefs one must have in order to be considered a Muslim include a belief in 1) the One God; 2) all the prophets of God; 3) the original scriptures revealed to Prophets Moses, David, Jesus, and Muhammad; 4) the angels; 5) the Day of Judgment and the Hereafter; and 6) the divine decree or destiny.iThere are an estimated 1.6 billion Muslims in the world, which is about 1/5 of the world’s population. Due to birth and conversion rates, Islam is considered to be the fastest-growing religion in the world today.cIslam is the second-largest faith community, after Christianity.cAlthough Muslims are often associated with the Arab world, fewer than 15% of Muslims are Arabs. Muslims are found among virtually all ethnic groups, nationalities, and countries.dIn November 2013, Marvel announced that a 16-year-old Pakistani Muslim American girl, Kamala Khan, from New Jersey will be one of their lead superheroes.fMany academic traditions, including the distinction between graduates and undergraduates began at the Islamic university Al-Azhar (“the resplendent”) University in Cairo. The university was founded in the 10th century and is renowned for its philosophical and theoretical scholarship.bA Muslim woman retains her own family name upon marriage, rather than taking the name of her husband. This symbolic act emphasizes that she remains her own person, with her own valid identity.bScholars such as Ibn Sina (980-1037), known in the West as Avicenna, developed the work of the ancient Greeks in both medicine and philosophy. When Christians came into contact with the Muslim world during the crusades, they brought back Muslim scholarship which, in turn, helped spark the European Renaissance.bIslamic astronomy became highly advanced during the Middle Ages. Astronomy was important to Muslims because it could be used to figure out the direction of Mecca so that people knew which way to face during prayers. This is one example of how the Western world is still influenced by Muslim innovations.bThe Islamic world produced the first skilled, specially trained pharmacists, who made their own medicines and worked closely with physicians.bA 13th-century Islamic writer described the circulation of blood some 400 years before this was “discovered” in Europe.bAlgebra, from the Arabic al-jabr, originated in the Islamic world.bWhile originally Muslims had an “un-guilty” approach to sex, this openness has been lost over time and discussions about sex have become taboo. Hoping to change this, Indian-American Muslim activist Asra Nomani has written an “Islamic Bill of Rights for Women in the Bedroom” to “uphold women’s right to pleasure.” Additionally, a new chick-lit novel called No Sex and the City features a Muslim heroine. Both books show Muslim women having open discussions about sexuality, its role in their identity, and their fears and aspirations.gOne famous hadith (Islamic saying) is “Allah is beautiful and loves beauty” Beauty has always been, therefore, very important to Muslims, and developments in the visual arts such as architecture, calligraphy, painting, textiles, metal work, and ceramics were encouraged. However, because of strict laws against idolatry, traditional Islamic art avoided images of humans or animals.iThe Quran stresses that there should be tolerance between Muslims and non-Muslims. Jews and Christians—people who, like Muslims, believe in the One God—are given particular respect in the Quran. Islam does not advocate forced conversion.dDischarge of blood, from a man or a woman, exempts a Muslim from prayer and fasting. This is not only a health precaution, but the presence of blood itself is also considered a violation of ablutions. The bleeding person is not considered unclean, only the blood itself.dMuslims do not describe Islam as a religion. Rather it is a deen, which comes from the Arabic for “way of life.” Muslims believe that Islam is more than a religious belief—it is a way of living in accordance with one’s religious faith.dMuslims believe that everything on earth that follows God’s natural law is “muslim,” in a sense that it follows God’s will.dIslam is one of the three Abrahamic faiths that share many of the same prophets, beliefs, and historical accounts as the other two: Christianity and Judaism.bMuslims believe that Islam, or peaceful submission to God, was the message of Abraham and, thus, Islam technically dates back to the Abraham, who lived before Muhammad (7th century A.D.).eThe Islamic empire once stretched into modern-day Europe, particularly in Spain and the Balkans. Today, there are an estimated 12–20 million Muslims in Europe.cDuring the Middle Ages, the Muslim world had two enormous business advantages: 1) they had a huge range of contacts, so they could trade everything form African gold to Chinese porcelain to European amber and furs, and 2) Muslim craft workers were highly skilled, which meant their goods always found a ready market. Without Muslim merchants, Europeans would have had no rice, sugar, or coffee.cTen percent of the population of Copenhagen, Denmark, is Muslim. In Sweden, Muslims account for 4% of the population. If present trends continue, Muslims will make up 10% of the entire population of Europe by 2020.cIn former Yugoslavia, over 200,000 Bosnian Muslims were killed as part of a widespread ethnic-cleansing campaign in the mid-1990s.cApproximately 5–8 million Muslims live in the United States, and there are over 1,200 mosques. Muslims have been a part of the cultural landscape in America for the past two hundred years.cMost historians agree Columbus was not the first person to “discover” America and that explorers, including Muslims from West Africa, arrived several centuries before Columbus. In fact, when Columbus made his historical journeys, he relied on the maps and geography studies of the 12th-century Muslim scholar Al-Idrisi.dThe first mosque built in the U.S. was the “Mother Mosque of America,” which was built in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 1934. It is still used for worship today.dIn the United States, about 30% of Muslims are African-Americans and 33% are South-Central Asians descending from Indian, Pakistani, or Afghani immigrants. Muslims of Arab descent make up about 25%, and immigrants from the African continent make up another 5%. There are also sizable groups of American Muslims of Iranian, Turkish, Southeast Asian, and European descent. Between 17% and 30% of American Muslims are converts to the faith (nearly 2/3 are African-Americans).dThe vast majority of Muslims do not speak Arabic as their native tongue. Most Muslims are not Arab.dIndonesia has the largest number of Muslims (120 million), followed by Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh.dThe pre-Islamic period in Arabia is commonly called Jahiliyyah, which means “the days of ignorance.” Before Islam, the main religion of the Arabian Peninsula was pagan idolatry.dIn Arabic, Mecca means “the place of the drinking cup” which, according to Muslims, was the place where a spring appeared to sustain Hagar and her son Ishmael. When Abraham later returned to visit his son Ishmael, they built a stone building together and dedicated it to the worship of the “one True God.” The building today is known as the Ka’aba, or “the cube.”dMuslims hold that there have been over 124,000 prophets sent to mankind through history, beginning with Adam and ending with Muhammad. Only 25 are mentioned by name in the Quran.dMary, the mother Jesus, is a prominent figure in Islam and is the only woman mentioned by name in the Quran. Mary is mentioned more times in the Quran than in the entire New Testament, and more biographical information about her is contained in the Quran than in the New Testament.dMuslims accept the original and unaltered Torah and the original Bible as God revealed them; however, since none of their original texts is in existence today in its entirety, Muslims follow what they consider to be the final and preserved word of God: the Quran.dMuslims do not believe in vicarious atonement but, rather, the law of personal responsibility. In other words, Islam teaches that each person is responsible for his or her actions. On Judgment Day, Muslims believe that everyone will be resurrected and will have to answer to God for every word, thought, and deed.dIn Europe, Muslim trade goods were a sought-after status symbol. Arabic style, wealth, and power were similar to a Gucci logo or the Nike “swoosh” today.bIslam’s tradition of oral recitation developed into an efficient vehicle for mass-produced handwritten literature. A single Muslim reciter would read a book out loud to a group of scribes, who copied his spoken words simultaneously. Europe, in contrast, used a much slower system: monks copied books, individually and one at a time.bGutenberg’s movable-type printing press (1450) was ill suited for cursive Arabic and was only slowly adopted by Muslims. However, when lithography was invented in Germany in 1796, which used drawing on stone with ink to produce illustrations, Muslims eagerly adopted this method of printing. It replaced hand-copying to make multiple copies of Qurans and Arabic newspapers and books.bIn 10th-century Cordoba, an Umayyad (Islamic dynasty) city in Spain with over 70 libraries, the palace library alone had over 60,000 volumes, all written by hand. At the time, the best Latin library in Europe had only 600 parchment books.bWhile the Chinese invented paper sometime before the 2nd century B.C., Muslims were the first to mass-produce paper on an intercontinental scale, developing a culture dependent on its abundance. As the price of paper dropped, literacy rose and booksellers and libraries became integral parts of every Muslim city.iThe 15th-century Mongol warlord Tamerlane (Timur) created a richly decorated 5′x7′ Quran, with seven lines of type per page. Wealthy Muslims often used paper to show off.iMuslim caliphs would use thin, ultra-light “bird paper” attached to birds to quickly send and receive messages across the empire. It was the email of the day.iIslamic advances in the use of paper are the primary reason we read books rather than scrolls today.bArabic numerals, the numbers the Western world uses today, were developed by the Muslims.bContrary to the biblical tradition (Genesis 22:1-2), most Islamic scholars designate Ismail rather than Isaac as the intended victim in the story of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son at God’s command (Quran 37:99-113).dLike Judaism and Christianity, Islam originated in the Middle East.dQuran (Koran) means “recitation” in Arabic.dMuslims believe that the Quran, as well as the Torah and the Gospels, is based on a tablet written in Arabic that exits in heaven with God.dMuslims believe they are members of a worldwide Muslim community, known as the ummah, united by a religious bond that transcends tribal, ethnic, and national identities.dJesus is an important figure in the Quran. Like Christians, Muslims believe in the virginal conception of Jesus by God’s spirit; however Muslims do not believe Jesus is the Son of God. He is one in the long line of righteous prophets and second only to Muhammad in importance. For Muslims, the concept of the Trinity represents a form of polytheism.dMuslims do not believe in the concept of original sin, so there is no theological need for the all-atoning sacrifice of Jesus through his crucifixion and resurrection. Muslims believe we will be held accountable before God for our own actions and responsible for our own salvation. We will not be able to rely on anyone else, not even Jesus or Muhammad to save us from our sins.dMuslims believe God took Jesus to Himself in a manner similar to Elijah.dMuslims celebrate two great Islamic holidays. The first is Eid al-Fitr, the Feast of the Breaking of the Fast of Ramadan, and the second is the Eid al-Adha, the Feast of Sacrifice.dIslam does not have an ordained clergy or representatives of a church hierarchy in the way that Christianity does. Any Muslim can lead the prayer or officiate at a wedding. However, every mosque has an imam, or the one who “stands in front” to pray and deliver the sermon.dAlthough there are no denominations in Islam like those that exist in Christianity (Roman Catholic, Methodist, Episcopalian, Lutheran, etc.), like all faiths, Islam has developed divisions, sects, and schools of thought.dAfter the death of Muhammad, Islam split into two major branches, Sunnis (85% of all Muslims) and Shiites (15%). There is also a small, radical branch called the Kharijites. The split occurred due to disagreements about who should be the successor to the Prophet Muhammad.dSunnis make up 87%–90% of the worldwide Muslim population. Shiite Muslims make up about 10%.dA number of basic beliefs in the Black Muslim movement (which was in response to what was viewed as the “white supremacy” of Christianity) differ significantly from mainstream Islam, which teaches equality among all the races.cThe Quran states that “There is to be no compulsion in religion” and that God has created not one but many nations and peoples.dJudaism, Christianity, and Islam—in contrast to Hinduism and Buddhism—are all monotheistic faiths that worship the God of Adam, Abraham, and Moses. They share a common belief in the oneness of God, sacred history, prophets, divine revelation, angels, and Satan. All stress moral responsibility and accountability, Judgment Day, and eternal reward and punishment. All three emphasize their special covenant with God—for Judaism, through Moses; Christianity, through Christ; and Islam, through Mohammad.dTo become Muslim, a person of any race or culture must say a simple statement, or creed: the Shahada, which bears witness to the belief in the singularity of God and in Muhammad as His prophet.dThere are 25 countries in which more than 95% of the population is Muslim.dMuslims believe there are five actions that they should perform. These are known as the Five Pillars of Islam: 1) Shahada (the declaration of faith), 2) Salat (the duty to pray five times a day), 3) Zakat (giving to charity), 4) Siyam (fasting during the moth of Ramadan), and 5) Hajj (making a pilgrimage to Mecca).cKeeping clean is important in Islam. Muslims burn sweet smelling incense after cleaning their homes. On special occasions, they sprinkle guests with rose-scented water.cIslamic law divides food and other products into three different types: 1) Halal (foods that are allowed), 2) Makruh (foods that may be eaten but that are discouraged), and 3) Haram (forbidden foods, such as pig, carnivorous animals, certain types of cheese, and anything that causes addiction, such as alcohol).dAllah has 99 names. Each name has a meaning, such as Al-Rahman “the Merciful”; Al-Aziz, “the powerful”; and Al-Hafi “the Protector.”dMohamed left Mecca and traveled to Medina in the year A.D. 622. This event is called the Hegira migration. The Hegira marked the starting point of the Muslim calendar and years are counted from this event.dThe Islamic year is 11 days shorter than the year used in the Western world. This is because the Western year is based on the orbit of the Earth around the Sun instead of on the phases of the moon.dThe Quran emphasizes modesty, although there is no specific prescription. Veiling women did not become widespread in the Islamic empire until three or four generations after Muhammad’s death. It was originally a status symbol—not to separate women from men but from the lower classes.eWhile some blame Islam for the oppression of women, others see it as a means to reform. The status of women in Muslim countries differs as much as the countries themselves. Restrictions often originate not from Islam, but rather from cultural customs sometimes wrongly justified under Islam.eAs in Judaism, circumcision for males is required in Islam according to both tradition and Muhammad’s example. Symbolically, circumcision represents the religious process of submission to God’s will and commands, and the submission of base passions to the higher spiritual requirements of Islam.eMuslim men are allowed to marry Christian or Jewish women because these women are “People of the Book,” or those who have divine revelation. However, Muslim women must marry a Muslim or someone who converts to Islam.cIn contrast to Catholicism, marriage is a contract in Islam, not a sacrament. Islam has always recognized the right to divorce under certain circumstances.cDogs in the Islamic world are typically not allowed inside the house because they are considered to be unclean. Many Muslims believe that if anyone comes into contact with a dog’s saliva, that person must repeat the ritual ablutions (washings) prior to prayer.cBoth alcohol and pork are forbidden in Islam.cJihad (to strive or struggle) is sometimes referred to as the sixth pillar of Islam, though it has no official status. Its meaning is controversial, but most scholars agree it means both 1) the inner struggle that one endures in trying to submit their will to the will of God, which is the “greater” jihad, and 2) the physical struggle against persecution and oppression, which is the “lesser” jihad. Some scholars suggest a third meaning, which is the struggle to build a good society.cThe translation of jihad as “holy war” is incorrect. In Arabic, the phrase would be harbun muqaddasa tur, a phrase that is not found in the Quran or in any other form of Islamic literature.cIslam and Islamic law have consistently condemned terrorism.cIn Islam, as in Judaism, marriage between first cousins is quite common.cIn Islam, homosexuality is considered abnormal. In some areas, it is treated as a crime punishable under Islamic law; in others, homosexuality is tolerated but homosexuals are still set apart socially. Today, some gay Muslims have pressed for recognition of their rights in their communities.dMuslim scholars agree that after the “ensoulment” (infusion of the soul) of the fetus (thought by some to occur at fertilization and by others at 120 days), abortion constitutes homicide and should be punished. Abortions are generally approved when the health of the mother is at stake.dWhile the Quran does not address birth control, a few hadith (traditions) mention coitus interruptus. However, the majority of ulama (Muslim legal scholars) in the 21st century believe that temporary birth control is permissible as long as both husband and wife agree.dIslamic councils and jurists have ruled that there is nothing wrong with organ donation in Islam as long as the procedure poses no danger to a living donor and is performed respectfully on the deceased donor.dWhile Christians cite the New Testament injunction to render unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God (separation of church and state), Muslims believe that their primary act of faith is to strive to implement God’s will in both their private and their public life. Through history, Muslims have believed in an Islamic state government by Islamic law.dJerusalem is a revered city by all three of the great monotheistic faiths. For Muslims, Jerusalem was the original qibla (location that all Muslims face when they pray) and Mohammad’s destination in his Night Journey from Mecca.dThe absence of democracy in the Muslim world today has led many people to ask if there is something about the Muslim culture that is antithetical to democracy. The answer to this question lies more in history and politics than in religion.eWhen it is time to pray, a man called a muezzin calls out from a minaret, which is a tower on or near the mosque. Sometimes his call to prayer is played through a loud speaker. He will turn to the four compass directions (north, south, east, and west) and at each turn will declare the Shahada, or Islamic creed: “God is most great. There is no God but Allah. Muhammad is the prophet of God.”eEvery Muslim tries to visit Mecca at least once in his or her lifetime. This special visit is called a hajj. More than 2.5 million pilgrims visit Mecca during the annual hajj.e Common Muslim Names d Girls Boys Amal (hope) Adil (fair, honest) Anisah (friendly) Akram (noble) Hanan (mercy) Bassam (smiling) Iman (faith) Faris (knight) Manal (achievement) Fuad (heart) Jamilah (beautiful) Hassan (handsome) Nasreen (white rose) Imad (pillar of support) Nawal (gift) Mansoor (victorious) Rana (elegant) Nadir (rare, precious) Salwa (solace) Rashad (wisdom) Widad (affection, love) Tariq (morning star) English Words of Arabic Origin d English Arabic Admiral Amir Alchemy Al-kimiya Alcohol Al-kohl Alcove Al-qubba Algebra Al-Jabr Algorithm Al-Khawarizmi (mathematician to introduced the concept Almanac Al-manaakh Atlas Atlas Camphor Kafur Cipher/zero Sifr Cornea Al-qarniya Cotton Al-qutn Elixir Al-aksir Gauze a-gazz Monsoon Mawsim Safari Safara Sofa Suffa Talc Talq Typhoon Tufaan Vizier Waxir Zenith SemitReferencesAl-Khalili, Jim. “The ‘First True Scientist.’” BBC. Updated January 4, 2009. 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