How did Europe lose confidence in its own civilization?, Frits Bolkestein asks:
In their modern forms, the noble Western traditions of self-assessment and self-criticism have often degraded into sentimental self-flagellation. Consider Africa, whose underdevelopment many people blame on the West. This guilt over Africa’s poverty is a sentiment that underlies Western development aid. But the question to ask is not, “Why are poor countries poor?” The right question is, “Why are wealthy countries wealthy?” In the beginning we were all poor.
Whoever wants to study the rise of the West and the roots of our prosperity should go back to the Renaissance, if not to classical antiquity. Colonizing Africa had nothing to do with it; the interior of most of Africa was inaccessible until late in the 19th century. European colonizers also came late to North Africa and the Middle East, which for many centuries was ruled by the Ottomans. Europe is no more responsible for the underdevelopment of Africa than Rome was for the underdevelopment of Gaul.
Whether we like it or not, he says, our civilization remains deeply marked by Christianity:
Consider the Gospel of Saint Matthew, which states that “whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted” (23:12). Friedrich Nietzsche characterized this as “slave morality.” But one does not have to go that far to realize that this saying, along with instructions to “turn the other cheek” and “go the extra mile,” do not exactly prod people to stick up for their own.
If Islamic civilization may be described as a shame culture, Christianity is a guilt culture. Listen to Bach’s “Passion According to Saint Matthew.” The chorus—that is to say the people—sings, “I shall be punished for what you [Christ] have suffered,” and, “You are no sinner, like we and our children.” Pride joined guilt and we in Europe soon came to believe that the mote in our eye was heavier than the beam abroad.
This would not be a problem if the burden of a bad conscience came with atonement, forgiveness, confession, expiation or any of the other theological or liturgical forms for purging guilt from the sinner. Formerly, Catholicism and Lutheranism provided for the atonement of guilt. But these traditions no longer have credibility in Europe. Feelings of guilt are not sublimated. This also goes for Calvinism, which in its purest form knows no remission of guilt in this life. Its effects have been deep in Europe and outlast the doctrine.
I think this explanation starts late and stops short. Guilt for sin is a human given, part of paganism — at least in agricultural societies. Christianity offered forgiveness — much joy! Then when the intellectuals went apostate they had the guilt for their sins but without the forgiveness. That was the era of ‘liberal guilt’. But for the past several decades they have been abolishing the sins — by moral inversion (i.e. political correctness). So they now feel proud of what used to be sins — but as a byproduct they feel ashamed of what used to be virtues…
What a mess!