Pulling up in traffic, I sat behind a mini-van waiting to turn into a school parking lot. Three bumper stickers stared at me. They read, “Rome Needed More Lions,” “God was my co-pilot but I crashed in the mountains and had to eat him,” and the third stated “Don’t pray in my schools and I won’t think in your church.” Fairly antagonistic toward Christians.
God provided His Holy Word so that we’d have an “Owners Manual” on how we should live if we wanted things to go well. Jesus came down to earth to do what we can’t do for ourselves – save our souls. The Apostle Paul traveled to Rome to face prosecution, in order to reach the unsaved in the “ends of the earth.” Gutenberg invented the mechanical printing press in order to put the Bible in the hands of ordinary people, so they might have a direct link to God’s Word instead of having it interpreted for them. The Separatists we refer to as “the Pilgrims” fled Europe because the Bible was being abandoned as King Henry and his successors began watering it down or ignoring it with their self-proclaimed position of intercessor. Public schooling was mandated in the New England colonies with the primary focus being of teaching children reading – so they could know what God says. Harvard began as an institution to prepare men for ministry. Our Declaration of Independence reads, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed...”
How have we come so far and left it so quickly? Why are people SO angry at Christians and why do they feel so justified in publicly expressing their hatred? While I didn’t talk with the lady-of-the-van, I am going to assume that she is anti-hate. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe she’d just as soon have bumper stickers which read “Hitler Needed More Extermination Camps,” “Buddha was my visionary but we needed more lard for the candles,” and “Don’t meditate in my yoga class and I won’t stretch at your shrine.” Perhaps her hatred covers all groups which differ from hers. But I didn’t see any additional stickers stating such.
As a Christian, I know I am supposed to forgive her. I get that. What concerns me is public policy which becomes comfortable in defining what we are allowed to think and say lest it be incendiary, hate mongering speech (at least towards certain groups). Ethnic slurs? Banished (unless aimed at whites). Sexist comments? Grounds for termination of employment. Alternative lifestyle concerns? Clear symptom of hate mongering. Questions about Islamic fundamentalism? My guess is, pretty soon you won’t be allowed to ask any.
While I don’t believe that Christians should get any “special” rights, I do feel we have an obligation to protect the cultural respect of Christianity for our posterity. Sure, I can continue to remain silent and meek. But what is happening in our country is a pushing of my cultural beliefs, based on Christianity, into a silence which offers no resistance. The lack of resistance acts as license to agnostics and atheists to take control of the moral fabric of this country, dismantling the tapestry of our fundamental beliefs thread by thread. We cannot pray in public schools, despite diligently paying our taxes. We cannot have the Ten Commandments posted in courthouses. We cannot assemble in prayer on the steps of Congress. Benedictions are no longer allowed on public property.
The Cornerstone document of our country’s history is the Declaration of Independence. That document declares that our rights came as a gift from God (endowed by their Creator). That document continues by saying that government is established for this reason: ...that to secure these rights. I ask you again: How did we get to this point? Our government is supposed to be protecting the rights given to us by God, and now we can barely mention His name.
The other famous document – the Constitution? Within the Preamble, we read ...and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity... Our freedoms are not just for ourselves, they are for our posterity (future generations). What I’m saying is this: Accepting the assault on Christianity as some sort of pious tolerance is really selfish in the long run. If this trend continues, our posterity will be reading about the once dangerous presence of religious bigotry in our country which was eventually stamped eradicated due to its dangerous teachings. “History is written by the victors.” (Winston Churchill).
If Jesus came to serve as an example, apparently there is a time and place to turn over some tables.
