The Berlin Wall Comes Down

"Twenty years ago, on November 9, 1989, the most visible symbol of totalitarian evil, the Berlin Wall, tumbled down. Two years later, the Soviet Union officially dissolved on Christmas Day 1991. The fall of the Wall and the dissolution of the Soviet Union transpired in relative calm, but they followed decades of repression, cruelty, and murder by the Soviet regime.

"The trumpet blasts that finally destroyed the Berlin Wall in a peaceful revolution and brought freedom to millions in Eastern Europe were political, economic, diplomatic, and military in character. But it became evident to us in working on our new documentary, Nine Days that Changed the World, that spiritual factors were decisive, as Pope John Paul II and President Ronald Reagan rallied the West to a defense of freedom and human dignity."

Dubious Moments in the History of Christianty Post of the Day

Justo Gonzolaez, in The Story of Christianity, on the Church of England and the early Puritan settlers in America doing "little for the conversion of slaves," pp. 219-220:

The Church of England did little for the conversion of slaves. One of the reason for this was that there were ancient principles prohibiting Christians from hold fellow believers in slavery, and some insisted that those principles were still valid. Therefore, to avoid difficulties, slave owners preferred that their slaves not be baptized. In 1667, a law was passed declaring that baptism did not change a slave's condition--another indication of the degree to which established religion was willing to bend to the interests of the powerful. But even then little was done for the conversion of the slaves, since many owners felt that keeping them in ignorance was the best way to be assured of their service and submission.