Secularists Proclaim Victory Against Christianity

For decades, the movement to uproot Christianity from America has been the life work of secular fundamentalists as represented by groups such as The American Civil Liberties Union, People For the American Way, Freedom From Religion Foundation, American Humanist Association, and many others. They are now proclaiming victory. They have succeeded not just in their avowed purpose of separating Church from State, but more effectively, in divorcing the state from God, and arrogating unto the state some prerogatives of God. They have stirred up hostility against the Church, and are in a position to inflict greater restrictions on the the practice of faith in America.

Barack Obama himself added his presidential voice to the atheistic cacophony against Christianity when he said in Turkey, on April 6, 2009, "We do not consider ourselves a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation; we consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values." Those are the three major theistic religions of the world. Obama effectively proclaimed victory for secular humanism in America.

Dr. Jonathan Schaeffer, pastor of Grace CMA church writes an excellent commentary, "Christianity in America," (reprinted with permission):

Maybe you saw last week's issue of Newsweek, in which Editor Jon Meacham writes (somewhat cheerfully, it appears) the cover story: "The Decline and Fall of Christian America." The title has a doomsday feel, and is overly pessimistic. And, it's an unfortunate title as well. I would prefer to speak of the influence of Christianity in America rather than "Christian America" since our nation was not founded as a religious institution (though there are many underlying principles that are undeniably rooted in a Judeo-Christian heritage).

If you're in conversation with a friend or colleague on this subject of how Christianity has influenced America, it might be helpful to consider what a number of scholarly sociologists are saying.

Without any collusion, Rodney Stark from the University of Washington and Samuel P. Huntington from Harvard have both found that the animating features that have made the West great-modern science, medicine, democracy and its attending freedoms-were the products of irreducibly Christian thinking derived from central biblical traditions (see Kairos Journal, April 2009).

In his 2004 book, Who Are We?, Huntington, arguably the most respected political scientist of our time, writes that it is the Anglo-Protestant culture that arose from scriptural foundations that made the United States great. Attempts to undermine this tradition, he argues, are a misguided and dangerous social experiment which could unhinge the entire project.

In a similar manner, sociologist Rodney Stark tackles the secularist's argument that serious Christianity inhibits progress. Stark argues that this is pure myth, demonstrating with compelling historical detail that "science could only arise in a culture dominated by belief in a conscious, rational, all-powerful Creator" (see Stark's book, For the Glory of God). He states that only people who believed "slavery was an abomination in the eyes of God" were poised to defy the evil. "It was that conclusion," writes Stark, "and only that conclusion, that enabled the West to abolish slavery." The fear of God, in other words, means freedom for people.

You can read statistics in very different ways, and whatever the truth is about the state of Christianity in America, we can still rest assured that the unchanging promise of Jesus in Matthew 16:18 is true: "I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it."

Secular humanism is a loosing and parasitic ideology. It tries to live off the fruits of Christianity but denies it owes its values to its roots. By cutting itself off from its Christian roots, Secular humanism in America is doomed to a bankrupt future. The signs of decay are already obvious.