Lately, the attack on Christians by Atheists has significantly picked up speed. In fact, people claiming “no religious affiliation” are now the fastest growing religious category in America. Almost every week, now, we are reading how organizations like the Freedom from Religion Foundation are sending letters and filing lawsuits to intimidate individuals, companies and government entities in their effort to strip any vestige of “religion” from the public square. Atheist organizations are increasingly visible as they seek to organize into cohesive groups in local communities and on the internet, put up billboards around the country encouraging people to doubt their religious faith, and hold political rallies and rock concerts to promote their beliefs and increase their clout in the culture.
One of the main goals of these groups is to “take faith out of the culture.” Their contention is that the public square belongs to all the people, so no religious faith should be visible. They assert that the public sector ought to be a “religion free zone.”
What they fail to realize, though, is that their own Atheism is a religious belief. While they want to pull evidence of Christian belief out of the public square, they want to replace it with their own religious belief – belief that the supernatural does not exist.
Unfortunately, too many Christians have bought into their paradigm and don’t know how to answer when Atheists complain about Christian’s expressing their faith in public. The simple answer is: Why should atheistic faith be allowed in the public square and not others?
It is critical for Christians to grasp this concept if we want to maintain the concepts of freedom of speech and religion in this country. America was founded on Christian principles. This does not mean that Christians ought to be able to keep non-Christians out of the public square. But it is Christian principles which allow for the possibility of people from any religion to express themselves in the public realm. It is the Atheists who are trying to excise those of other faiths so that they can be the dominant religion in the culture.
It is an understanding of worldview which provides us with the knowledge we need in order to grasp the religious nature of Atheism and to give us the means for understanding why an atheistic approach to religion does not represent reality. Christians need this knowledge to effectively stand for Christ in an increasingly hostile environment.
We invite you to take advantage of the many resources available on the MarketFaith Ministries website to deepen your knowledge of worldview from a Christian perspective. Also, please feel free to invite us to come share these principles with your church or Christian group. It would be our great pleasure to do so.