Is There a War on Christianity

One of the common issues that is debated in our society is what role should religion and Christianity in particular play in our society. There are those who lament the lack of prayer in public institutions, the resistance to the mention of Christ in celebrations of Christmas and in recent months the regulations in the Health Care Reform Act which requires insurance companies to provide services that many persons of faith find objectionable.

Others observe that whenever Christianity is portrayed in popular culture it is usually done in a negative context.

I am convinced that there are those who are hostile to the Christian faith because the claims of the Gospel challenge their notions and ideas. The truth is that Gospel of Christ calls us to holiness. Christianity reminds us that there is something in our world that is greater than ourselves and greater than our pursuit of pleasure and personal happiness.

The Christian faith informs us that the there is an ultimate truth in our world and that all of us are accountable to God.

There are those whose way of life is threatened by this; therefore there are those that would push the Christian faith to the margins of society and seek to silence the voice of the Gospel when it comes to the issues of our land.

The truth is that our nation while guaranteeing religious freedom was founded upon Christian principles. One cannot overlook the numerous references to God in our founding documents and in the writings of our Founders. Let’s be honest, even the First Amendment with its references to religious freedom, is a product of an era in which religious freedom generally referred to one’s preference among Christian faiths.

That said, we are told that we are becoming a more and more diverse nation when it comes to affairs of faith. That is no doubt true. For example, it is my understanding that there are more Muslims in our nation today than there are Episcopalians. It is not uncommon to meet Hindus or Buddhists and today folks even feel freer to admit to being atheists or agnostics.

I received an e-mail this week which was based on a survey done by the Pew Research Center for the USA Today newspaper. The survey showed that in our country around eighty percent of all Americans claim to be Christians, while sixteen percent claim no faith, leaving around four percent of our citizens as practicing Jews, Muslims, Buddhists or Hindus.

In Georgia, nearly eighty four percent of our citizens claim to be Christians. Even California, which is known for its cultural diversity, finds over seventy percent of its residents profess to be Christians. Statistically it would seem that we are a Christian nation and as such there should be no concern over the future of our faith.

However, there is something in these numbers that should disturb all Christians. Quite frankly, if eighty four percent of the residents of our community are practicing Christians then our churches should not be able to accommodate the crowds on Sunday morning. Most of our churches could not hold the crowds of all of the church’s members were to be present on a given Sunday. Most Christians are not attentive to the worship of God.

I will be blunt; being a part of a church is not an optional requirement to be a follower of Christ. Matthew 16 tells us that Jesus himself established the church; it is not the creation of human beings. If the church were not necessary Jesus would not have established it.

Jesus established the church to provide a community for his followers and carry on his work on earth. If one is a follower of Christ then one should naturally seek to be a part of the community of faith. To be a follower of Christ and not be a part of a church is not unlike being a player for the Atlanta Braves and never going to Turner Field to play a game. Can such a person really be an Atlanta Brave?

So it is that while most persons claim to be Christians they neglect the very institution he founded for his followers. Friends, this is the biggest threat that we have to the Christian faith in our society today. Those who are hostile to the faith are not who brings the most harm to Christianity. The greatest enemy of the Christian faith is not the hostility of its enemies but rather the indifference and apathy of its adherents.