Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look at an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth.

For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street.

Imagine a world that's simultaneously obsessed with sex and yet opposed to having children,

in which girls are forced to marry before puberty and abortion is an acceptable means

of ending embarrassing pregnancies, but often resolved in the sterilization or even death of the mother.

In this kind of world, infanticide, especially of babies born female or disabled, is both legal

and common, and those lucky enough to be rescued are often forced into lives of prostitution.

And due to what might be called a legalized gender side, there are about 131 to 140 men for every 100 women.

Imagine just how brutal that world would be for women and for children.

That was the Roman Empire.

Now imagine that an unpopular minority religious group emerges.

Its adherents see women as spiritual and moral equals, treats them with respect and honor,

young girls are cared for and not forced to marry, and only do so when they are of age.

This group not only rescues victims of attempted infanticide,

but adopts them, raises them in their own homes.

In this group, extramarital sex is prohibited,

both for husbands and for wives as is divorce abortion and

infanticide. Widows with nowhere else to go are also taken in and taken care of.

Imagine just how popular that group would become, especially with women and children.

That was the early Christian Church.

Now Rodney Stark documented these historical details

and a masterful book called The Rise of Christianity.

...