Peter Marshall's Column
So What's the Problem with a Secular Public Square?
Several evenings ago, I got into a brief exchange with a 40-something acquaintance at the gym with whom I was attempting to share a little of the reality of Jesus Christ, and the wonderful things He would do in her life if she'd let Him in. She dropped the news that she was "a recovering Catholic" (in her words), that she "lovedJesus" but she could never be a Christian (a complete contradiction in terms, of course!) because of "all the horrible things that Christians had done in God's name." That last is a tired, old, and worn out claim used by those in rebellion against God, but after a few further feeble attempts to shine a few rays of light into her dark and deceived mind, I quickly and politely extricated myself from that conversation and resumed my workout.
There are, these days, in addition to the tiny number of true atheists, millions of other Americans who have the same attitude she does toward the Christian faith. These are the people who see utterly nothing wrong with not only separating Church and State, but making sure that there is no mention of God in public affairs. They are of the firm opinion that one should not bring up God or anything else having to do with religion at dinner parties, because religion is a private matter, and should be kept that way. These are the folks who are likely to label themselves "spiritual, but not religious." That means that they are interested in spiritual things, but never go to church and have lots of very negative feelings about what they term "organized religion." These people believe that tolerance is the highest virtue, but they are instantly ready to be viciously intolerant towards those of us who believe that the Bible condemns things like homosexuality and abortion, accusing us of promoting hatred and bigotry. In my view, we are in a polarizing situation in the world today---the great divide is between the true Christian believers on the one hand, and those who don't want any part of the Christian faith on the other. The numbers of those who are more or less neutral about the whole thing seem to be shrinking.
In practical terms, one either lives as if God exists, or lives as if He doesn't. People that claim to be agnostics, which is supposed to mean that they aren't too sure whether God exists or not, don't live in some neutral zone. For all practical purposes, if you are not sure that God exists, you actually live as if He doesn't.
So, what is the problem with a secular public square?
Before answering that, I would have you first consider the uniqueness of our American system. As I have repeatedly said, this is the only nation in human history (with the exception of Israel in the Sinai wilderness) to be deliberately founded on a creed, a statement of faith, which is explicitly stated in our Declaration of Independence. The cornerstone of that creed is the statement that "all men are created equal, and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights." Jefferson went on to specifically identify three of those rights: "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
I might add, by the way, that the Declaration was not announcing anything radically new and different to the American public. It was simply codifying the belief system of the English Protestant Reformation, which had been handed down from generation to generation of Americans for 150 years prior to the Declaration. Jefferson said that his words were not the product of original thinking, but that he had simply put down "the popularly held ideas of the time."
What this means is that American civilization has been built from the very beginning on a foundation of belief in the Creator God, who has stamped human nature with His image, and therefore highly values each person.
Those who are most likely to push for a secular American society these days are often those who are most vocal about not being told what to do or believe by Church or State. I have in mind militant pro-abortionists ("Keep your hands off my body!"), and militant lesbians or homosexuals ("Keep the government out of my bedroom!"), and the whole company of ACLU types. These people tend to value individual liberties before anything else---in fact, the very name of the American Civil Liberties Union reveals what they believe their purpose to be.
On the face of it, there certainly is nothing wrong with being in favor of civil liberties. The problem is that without belief in God liberty will not be maintained very long. A Godless, secular society, which has purposed to defend free choice and democratic values, ends up destroying both.
By way of illustration, take the example of the young woman who aborts her baby. As far as she is concerned, she is exercising her free choice to deal with the agonizing situation of an unwanted pregnancy. But, making the choice of abortion means choosing the death of another human being, the child in her womb. Freedom and equality have not been maintained for everyone here---the child has not been treated equally and has lost the ultimate freedom: life.
In other words, a society that does not believe that all people bear the image of God, and are therefore of equal worth and value to Him, will always treat certain people as if they had a life more valuable than certain other people's lives. Terri Schiavo was treated as if she did not have a life worth living, as if her coma rendered her life of less value than yours or mine. So she was put to death---not allowed to die, mind you---but deliberately starved and dehydrated. Murdered.
Those unable to defend their humanity---the unborn and the Terri Schiavos of our society---will be overcome by the stronger and more powerful. So, a Godless society that claims to believe in democratic choice will become a society that believes thatmight makes right.
But America was founded on the idea that right makes might. Flinging the Biblically-based ideals of the Declaration of Independence in the face of the most powerful nation on earth, our small 13 colonies threw themselves on the mercy of God and took their stand on what they believed to be eternally right. To paraphrase Esther of the Old Testament, their attitude was: If we perish, we will perish for the truth!
Not only will human life inevitably be devalued in a secularized society, but a nation that rejects God and makes personal choice and preference the primary rule of life will slide into moral relativism. If there is no objective truth, if there are no commandments from God by which to order one's life, then there are no checks on personal preference. Fallen and sinful man has nothing to stop him from indulging his predilections. And once a society falls into moral relativism, it will automatically plummet into moral decadence, for there are no standards of truth, no ethics to arrest its fall. Though total decadence takes time to develop (check the history of Rome), sooner or later it becomes a matter of "anything goes." You see, there is nothing inherent in secularism that can reverse the course. If there is no God, than there is no One who can bring a spiritual awakening from the decadence.
A secular society cannot maintain the belief that all men are created equal. Look around you! How many societies in the world today believe that? Without a belief in the God of the Bible that fundamental truth is not very "self-evident." (Note: Islamic societies believe all males are created equal, but there is no equality between men and women). Nor will a secular society long maintain true liberty, or compassion for the poor, the terminally ill, or anyone else not able to fend for themselves.
Christians, we must not let the public square become secular. Remember the words of our first President: "It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God." Let us do everything in our power---while praying for assistance of God's power---to keep alive the legacy of the Founding Fathers, and heed the warning expressed by John Adams: "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
May God in His mercy save these United States!
Copyright, 2007, Peter J. Marshall. All rights reserved.
This Page was published on 03/12/2007
