Defending The Faith

THE REVEREND ROBERT JEFFERS, the pastor of big shot Baptist church in Dallas, in an appearance on national Public Radio, made clear several points. Christians, he reminded us,believe that faith in the resurrected Christ, who died to atone for our sins and was reborn, is the only way to enter into the kingdom of heaven. By not accepting this, all non Christians, including atheists, agnostics, Hindus, Muslims, Jews, and members of all other non Christian religions assure themselves of being excluded from heaven. Mormonism, he asserted,, is but a cult, not a part of the Christian faith. He made no mention of all the other modern made in American denominations; Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian scientists, Scientologists, and so forth. Presumably, they too are doomed to eternity in the dark, hot regions. The Christian faith, contends the reverend, is under attack and being marginalized in the United States. As evidence, public prayer, once a mainstay in civic life and public schools, has been banished, since 1962. Christian voices are being silenced across freedom's land, supplanted by the scourge of secular humanism, and the diabolical influence of diverse forms of unholy worship. encouragingly, the good reverend acknowledges that the United States was founded legally not as a purely Christian religion, but as a nation of religious freedom, and that the first amendment explicitly prohibits the instituting of any official state religion. Christian messages and symbols in public places, Jeffers asserts, are not a violation of law. The courts tend to differ, as did founders James Madison and Thomas Jefferson. In a letter to Jefferson, the principle author of the Constitution passionately implored that an impenetrable wall be erected between church and state, between sacred and secular. Jefferson, fearful lest the priesthood gain an undue influence over government and civic life, entirely agreed. The distinction that the reverend Jeffers and devout Christians in general is missing is between an alleged attack on their faith, and the actual voluntary secularization of American culture. there is still a church on every street corner in America, unmolested by any government encroachment. Its just that fewer people attend them. In fact, Madison's message about a big terrific wall (Trump wall?) goes largely unheeded; christian symbols, messages, and ceremonies occurred on public property everywhere in the U.S., illegally, without consequence. What the reverend actually objects to, without evidently knowing it, is not some imaginary war on his faith, but rather, the fact that it is becoming increasingly difficult, after decades of struggle of freedom from religion, for him and his ilk to shove their personal beliefs down our collective civic minded throats.