The Miracle of Freedom

What a read!  I truly haven't had such an eye opening read in a while, and I can't recommend this book enough..  The Miracle of Freedom - 7 Tipping Points that Saved the World by Chris & Ted Stewart was both enlightening and sobering.  At times the stories relayed in it were hard to take in, but challenged my mind in ways that strengthened my sense of being and my dedication to all that I believe and hold dear.

As this was such an in depth book, it's hard for me to not quote the entire thing in my "favorite passages", but alas I will refrain:

"Noted American scholar Thomas Sowell relates that once a student asked his professor of history, "Where did slavery come from?"  The professor replied, "You're asking the wrong question.  The real question is: Where did freedom come from?  ..Slavery is one of the oldest and most universal of all human institutions.  Slavery has existed among peoples around the world, as far back as recorded history goes.  ..It is the idea of freedom for the great masses of ordinary people that is relatively new."  How was freedom born?  And how does it survive?"

"We content that freedom exists because Christian Europe created an environment where an incredibly rare combination of values - commitment to reason, personal accountability, individual freedom, equality, rule of law, the right of self-government - provided a philosophical nursery that allowed these ideas to take root and then to flourish.  Because of this evolution in human thinking - which took place uniquely in the West, along with a commitment to expend blood and treasure in its defense - billions of people today enjoy the blessings of living free."

"The rarity of freedom is matched only by its fragility, its ebbs and flows unpredictable and unsure."

"We are living a life that the vast majority of the earth's historical inhabitants could not have imagines, a life they never could have hoped to enjoy.  Do we have proper appreciation of that fact?"

"Do we want these things?  Will we still work to claim these blessings?  Will we fight to preserve the miracle of freedom that we enjoy today?  In fact, could the answer to these questions be the thing upon which the future of the entire world depends?"

If you are fascinated by culture and religion and the psychological ramifications of them, how they shape who we are (sometimes without even realizing it), then this is a must read.  It will challenge your understanding and change the way you think about things that we all too often take for granted.  LOVED it!