Just What Exactly is Secularism?

The primary definition according to The American Heritage College Dictionary is: “Religious skepticism or indifference.” But that is not truly what is at issue as much as the second meaning from the same source: “The view that religious considerations should be excluded from civil affairs or public education.” And this is what modern day Liberal Secularists are striving to achieve in our culture. If you fail to see that their intentions and desires are for a godless society, than you are intellectually dishonest, because that is exactly what they want. It is imperative to understand that with a godless society, there is nothing or no one to declare what is absolutely good or what is absolutely evil (bad is the word they might use). When there is a culture without any clear moral guidelines, then “anything goes” (as the debauched songwriter Cole Porter once wrote and practiced). The end game of secularism is to reduce our country to an anarchistic society. We will have a front row seat to watch our country crumble from within - just like the decadent civilizations of Rome, Greece, Babylon, Sodom and Gomorrah.

Secularism is an evil that is slithering (and in some places running rampant) into our great country. It can be likened to the evil of Communism that infiltrated Russia in 1917; or the malevolence of Nazi-socialism that engulfed Germany prior to WWII. Secularism is not American – it is not what was intended by our Founding Fathers.

Therefore, it can be concluded that those who are Liberal Secularists are antagonistic towards the traditions of the United States of America, and it is no wonder that they voted for someone who promised to radically change our country, from a Godly nation to one that is godless in all of its aspects.  

Take the public school system as a good example. Most people do not realize that the public school idea initially began by Christians who were interested in, teaching children to read so that they would be able to read the Bible. The intent was so they would be able to learn to live a godly life and become effective members of our great country. Secularists do not want anything of a religious nature in public school education. The children must learn everything based solely on secular/humanistic ideology. They say that morals should be taught at home, and yet they are not allowed to be expressed in public for fear that someone may be offended.

Secularists also do not want our laws to be based on anything more than the majority rule, devoid of any moral guidance. Our laws and the Constitution, were based on Judeo-Christian law designed to provide a moral guidepost, equal rights, liberty and freedom, and to safeguard “We the people” from the evils of anarchy and moral deprivation. And Christians – especially those who claim to be Christian and reject Biblical authority – who subscribe to the secularists philosophy are simply tools used to open the doors wider for the destruction of our great nation.

Has Christianity Ruined Our Culture?

We live in a day where the liberal agenda is to force secularization upon our culture. These are some of the disingenuous measures they have employed to exploit their ideology: 

FALSE ISSUE – Separation of Church and state 

Amendment I of the Constitution of the United States of America simply states: “Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion…” To define this literally (and all legal/historical documents should be interpreted literally), Congress is not allowed to establish (enact) a law that would declare a religion or a sect of any religion to be the only religion recognized by the United States of America – making the observance of any other religion illegal.

Nowhere does it state or imply that “We the people” should eradicate any and all moral influences derived from the Judaeo-Christian traditions of our Founding Fathers. To deny this is to be intellectually dishonest. The Declaration of Independence affirms their belief in the Creator: “All men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights”; and in the Supreme Judge of the world: “…appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions.”

The image of Moses holding the Ten Commandments is at the center of the facade over the entrance to the Supreme Court building. It’s rather interesting, don’t you think, that just 78 years ago (1935) our government recognized that our code of law has its foundation in the Law of Moses and made certain to remind “We the people” of this fact.

In 1957, the official motto of the United States was adopted: In God We Trust (I suspect the “we” represents “We the people”). This motto is on all of our currency to this day. It also appears in the fourth stanza of the Star Spangled Banner.

In 1918, Irving Berlin penned another American anthem, God Bless America. Also in 1895 Katharine Lee Bates penned a poem that has become known as America the Beautiful. These songs have been sung by millions of “We the people,” and in each song there is a mention of God – the God of the Bible. (I wonder if the liberal secularists sing these songs and hold their noses when they come to the word God?)

The tradition and intentions of the Founding Fathers was to create a Federal government that allowed all citizens to enjoy the liberty and freedoms of this great country; to express their religious beliefs freely. But they did not intend for this great country to become secularized.

WHAT IS TRUTH?

The Lenten season is upon us: Holy Week begins March 28^th (Palm Sunday), which includes Good Friday, and followed by Easter Sunday which commemorates the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

But it is Good Friday which has always been an important day to me because of its stark reminder of the reality of the Passion of Jesus Christ. I recall from my youth, when my brother and sister and I, at our father’s direction, would pause on this day between noon and three o’clock and read aloud from our Catholic Bible History book and quietly reflect upon those solemn events.

In the years since, I have studied these events in more detail. I am intrigued at the number of trials that Jesus had to endure, especially the one with the Roman Procurator, Pontius Pilate. Jesus having been brought before Pilate was charged with proclaiming to be the Christ and a king (Luke 23:2). His accusers intentions were to characterize Jesus as a threat against Rome.

In the Gospel of John chapter 18, we observe Pilate questioning Jesus concerning this charge against Him. In verse 33, Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the King of the Jews?” While Jesus avoided answering yes or no, He assured Pilate that His kingdom was not of this world. Pilate answered as if annoyed, “So you are a King?” Jesus replied, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” In apparent frustration, Pilate asked, “What is truth?” Nevertheless, even though he found no guilt in Jesus but because of political expediency, Pilate sent Him to be scourged and crucified.

This question of Pilate’s has reverberated throughout the ages: What is truth? Theologians have suggested various ideas of what Pilate meant by his question, although the context shows that Pilate was certainly perplexed by the situation that confronted him. As he saw it, there was the truth of Jesus’ testimony, the ‘truth’ statement of His accusers, and there was also that which he thought to be ‘truth’ - that none of this mattered to him outside of how this unpleasant incident could effect his political standing with Rome. And while Jesus spoke the truth to him, Pilate was confused and would not believe what he heard from Jesus.

So, what is truth? Even today it is very difficult to separate fact from fiction. We have trouble differentiating what is truth within every segment of society: in the workplace, our government, the media, entertainment, and even within the Church. How are we to know what is truth? Are we even able to know what is truth?  Happily we can. For there is a standard which God has provided man – His Word – to enable him to determine fact from fiction and therefore to discern what is truth.

John wrote with reference to Jesus Christ in the opening verses of his Gospel account: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:1&14). Standing before Pilate was the embodiment of truth in the person of the Son of God. Jesus himself testified to this fact in John 14:6: “I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” And He declared as He prayed to the Father: “Your word is truth” (John 17:17).  Pilate literally had a close encounter with the “Truth” and turned instead to his own wisdom.

The rejection of the truth of God, revealed in His Son, Jesus Christ, and explained by His written Word, is what we see in our own culture. His truth is meant to give meaning and purpose for all mankind, and to answer the questions that men have concerning God’s creation. We Christians should endeavor to make known His truth, not by providing a close encounter, but by permeating His truth into every area of our present culture. We should aspire to ensure that no one ever asks: “What is truth?”

ST. PATRICK

On March 17^th, 465 A.D., St. Patrick died and left a mark on Irish history as well as on Christianity. The day is celebrated by many in different ways and for different reasons. There are parades and festivals and there are those who hoist their favorite brew with songs and poems commemorating Ireland and this great man of God.

Patrick was born about 387 A.D., in Kilpatrick near Dumbarton in  Scotland, the son of a clergyman. When he was about sixteen years old, pirates abducted him to Ireland, enslaving him as a herder of their flocks. During his enslavement, the teachings from his youth of Christ were reawakened. He escaped six years later to France or Britain. It is at this point in his life that he declares that he had a calling in a dream. A man named Victoricius begged him to come to Ireland and help them. He then went to Ireland and spent the rest of his life devoted to the conversion of the Irish peoples.

There are many legends which surround the work of St. Patrick in Ireland. And with all legends there are elements of truth contained. He is said to have driven all the snakes from Ireland by ringing his bell from the top of Croagh Patrick, a 2500 feet tall mountain near Westport. However, there is no evidence of snakes in Ireland prior to the Ice Age which separated the island from the mainland. And yet the truth of the matter may be that the druids who were converted to Christianity used the symbol of a serpent in their cultic worship.

A more believable legend is that St. Patrick used the three-leaf clover (shamrock) to teach the very difficult truth of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as the Triune God. He was apparently very successful for the pagan leaders were converted as well as their subjects, and thousands were baptized into Christianity.

An interesting side note: Philip Schaff in his “History of the Christian Church” Vol. 4, writes that “In his [Patrick] Confession he never mentions Rome or the Pope; he never appeals to tradition, and seems to recognize the Scriptures (including the Apocrypha) as the only authority in matters of faith.”

How many Christians today believe as St. Patrick did, that the Scriptures are the only authority in their lives? This truth comes to us from within the writings of the Apostle Paul who wrote that “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). 400 years after Paul wrote this, St. Patrick took this established doctrine to a land and a people that had enslaved him in his youth and revolutionized their thinking from paganism to a faith in the One true God of the Scriptures.

The profound lesson we learn from St. Patrick is that he believed in the sufficiency of God’s Word to direct his life, to the extent that he became faithful in spreading the Gospel of Christ to a pagan people, convincing them to turn from idols and to serve a living and true God (1 Thessalonians 1:9). Are we challenged today to do likewise? We should be. For we live in a culture that is slowly reverting from its original Christian heritage. The idols may be different from St. Patrick’s time, yet the Gospel message remains the same, that God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). It has been given to us who believe to communicate this message to our culture by word and by our manner of living.