You seem to be blind to the amazing impact the New Testament message has had on the civilisations which adopted Christianity. The whole of western civilisation has been built upon the values set out in the NT. The impact of this amazing turn round in human values is still reverberating around the world. On the evolutionary time scale, Christianity is still in its infancy and we have yet to see the fruits of nations adopting the full message of the NT instead of trying to cherry pick the bits we like.
As Torridon has pointed out, my point was about the content of the Bible, not about the imact of Christianity. Torri is also right when he draws attention to the complexity of the question about impact. I'll start with a few words about the
cultural impact of Christianity on me, personally. The artistic legacy is profound. For me, this has been predominantly musical.
Along with that well-known atheist, bluehillside, I rate Bach's St Matthew Passion as one of the highest watermarks of western musical culture (along with his B Minor Mass). The whole gamut of Christian-inspired music (apart from more recent happy-clappy contributions) has always moved me profoundly.
However, this has always been tinged with a kind of divided psychological response, especially when I analyse the words about sin and guilt. I suppose this is quite common even among the great composers who didn't really believe, such as Verdi, who could write a marvellous Requiem, full of such feelings, but not deep-down attributing them any true religious significance (i.e. matters of redemption etc.)
That's a particularly personal view. The history of European Christian culture is enormously complex, and to sift the positive contribution of Christianity from the negative, the work of a lifetime; and even then, the conclusions would very be biased according to one's personal philosophy. There's certainly something to be said for the view (as Khatru said) that Christianity kept scientific thinking in the dark for a very long period, whilst the Muslims were actively promoting it. It's also arguable that the immediate consequences of the Reformation instigated a totally tragic and ludicrous war lasting decades, which did not advance civilisation one iota. And though Protestantism may have given rise eventually to a more individualistic, independent kind of thinking which was beneficial to science, it also gave rise to the possibility of the appearance of a multitude of cranky religious sects, each thinking that they have the ear of the deity, and all convinced that they and only they are in possession of divine truth.
The harmful guilt promoted by Christianity over what some might consider trivial matters is not something Christians should be proud of - particularly when, having caused the disease, they then proclaim that they alone have the cure.
Fortunately, Christian music, art and architecture have managed to convey life-enhancing qualities largely untainted by such matters.
