More from Stark's book

The last section of Rodney Stark's book ( How the West Won) focusing on the so-called Dark Ages is titled "Freedom and Capitalism."

He says one of the most important ideas facilitating the rise of the West is the belief in free will because it created a tendency for people not to be resigned to things as they are but rather to attempt to make the situation better. The Greeks and Romans had gods who lacked virtues and did not concern themselves with human misbehavior. However, the Judeo-Christian God is a judge who rewards virtue and punishes sin. This conception of God is incompatible with fatalism, according to Stark. The admonition to "go and sin no more" is absurd if we are captives of our faith. The doctrine of free will called into question the legitimacy of social structures and customs that limited the individual's ability to choose freely.

One result of this belief in free will was the rejection of slavery in Europe. All early empires made extensive use of slave labor. Now, Stark says, some historians will insist that there never was an end to medieval slavery, that there was only a linguistic shift in which the word "slave" was replaced by the word "serf." But there is a big difference. Serfs were not chattel; they had rights in a substantial degree of discretion. It's true that they were not free in the modern sense, but medieval peasants were not slaves. Overcoming slavery, which had essentially disappeared from Europe by the end of the 10th century, gave this area an immense economic advantage over the rest of the world. Slavery ended in medieval Europe only because the church extended its sacraments to all slaves and then banned the enslavement of Christians and the Jews.

Unfortunately, slavery reappeared with a vengeance in the New World. The church responded vigorously with 16th-century Popes issuing a series of angry bulls against New World slavery. But the Popes had no serious temporal power in this era, so their vigorous opposition did little to prevent the rise of slavery again. Stark points out that the theological conclusion that slavery was sinful has been unique to Christianity. Of all the major world faiths, only Judaism and Christianity have devoted serious and sustained attention to human rights.

Stark contrasts this with Islam. There is an insuperable barrier to theological condemnations of slavery because Mohammed himself bought, sold, captured, and owned slaves. The fundamental morality of the institution of slavery was not in doubt, and widespread slavery continues in many Islamic nations today.