Socio-preventive role of the Church.

   Being the guardian of the moral norms of a society and a factor of social stabilization, the Church has had a strong influence upon the history of civilization. Although the Church has often been identified with the reactionary or antirevolutionary forces in an evolving society, this has been proven false. For example, the unitarian Catholic Church has preserved Europe from total social chaos and devastation after the decadence and the ruin of the Roman empire, and, under the reign of Charlemagne, it has helped to rebuild, at least temporarily, at this time, an united Europe.    In any case, it has been a good stimulus in the building of civilization, in Europe. Similarly, Islam has been a factor of unity in the Middle East and a strong anticolonialist and independentist force like, for ex., in Algeria. In China, strong religious beliefs have spurred the Opium War and the Boxer Rebellion against the "drug" deal of the occidental barons and the partition of the nation imposed by the British and the other Occidental nations.