Thinking about Western Civilization

I listen to a Catholic call-in radio talk show, and in August I heard a question that sounded like the man had been to one of those “gaslighting” workshops where the audience is led to believe that western civilization, especially “white” people, has ruined the world (instead of being the gift it is in architecture, music, literature, economics, etc.). How it works: The presenter will move from broad strokes with snippets of truth buried in mountains of lies to the individuals in the room who have probably been forced to attend. They are then brainwashed about white privilege and micro aggression and made to feel responsible for the KKK, Jim Crow and police killing black criminals.

The gist was:  “Why are all the disciples’ names in the Bible, “white” when they all lived in the middle east? “ Yes, the  caller identified certain names, “white.”  I almost giggled when I heard it, except I know he probably didn’t come up with that on his own.  Dr. Anders, the host, was very kind and explained (and I paraphrase), “In the English translation, all the names are anglicized, translated from the Latin and Greek, which were Hellenized from the Aramaic or Hebrew, the original language Jesus and his disciples spoke.  Peter is Pedro in Spanish, and Pierre in French, but it was Kephas or Cephas (stone, rock) in Aramaic, and Petros (rock, stone) in Greek and Petra in Latin (stone, rock).”  

However, the mistake the caller made is one many make when they read or hear a name and make assumptions about race, religion or sex, so I won’t fault him for being misled—if that is what happened.

 

If you click on that show, you'll find my question at about minute 11:12. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubz1YHTVrPY