Background:
In 2002, a divorced
atheist father in California said his daughter objected the inclusion of the
word “God” in the Pledge of Allegiance (“one nation under God”) which students
recite everyday. The ACLU supported his claim. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals
agreed that the word should be deleted. A public outcry followed. The daughter
and her mother (who has custody of the girl) publicly denounced the lawsuit and
said they are Christians. The Congress immediately passed a law to affirm the
use of the word “God”. In December 2003, the lawsuit was heard by the US
Supreme Court.
In Canada, a homosexual
Member of Parliament proposed to delete the word “God” from the Constitution of
Canada. In many places, the term “Christmas tree” is now banned, to be replaced
by “holiday tree”; “merry Christmas” becomes “season’s greetings”.
a. Origin of the phrase
“separation of church and state”:
·
There is actually no such phrase in the US
Constitution. It was created by the US Supreme Court in a 1947 ruling.
b. Meaning:
·
The Constitution simply prohibits the
establishment of religion by the government, meaning that there should not be a
state religion, but at the same time, there should be no interference from
government on the free exercise of religion. The Constitutional amendment
explicitly speaks about free exercise of religion by the citizens. Therefore
the restrictions are imposed on the government only. It does not restrict the
influence of religion on government.
·
But this landmark ruling, which describes “a
wall of separation” between church and state, laid the legal foundations for
the systematic removal of religion from American public life. The “wall”
metaphor, in particular, provided the rationale for judicial decisions
censoring religious expression in schools, stripping public spaces of the Ten
Commandments, and excluding religious communities from full participation in
civic life.
·
This US-based principle has been used widely by
humanist to marginalize Christianity.
a. Secular humanists
routinely use some popular slogans to brainwash every citizen to limit the
influence of religion and thus monopolizing their religion (as secular humanism
is itself a religion) and totally controlling how the government is run.
b. The common slogans
include:
(1) “Separation of church and
state”: The slogan is used to exclude God from all public institutions and
ultimately from human society.
·
The reality is: when any mention of God or
religion is prohibited in the classroom, humanism (which teaches man is God)
and secularism (which encourages antagonism toward religion) are taught to our
children by default and become the society’s new religion. If we do not help
them to establish a firm foundation in our faith, they will become secular
humanists themselves.
(2) “We (or the government)
cannot legislate morality”: The slogan is used to exclude Christian moral values
from laws.
·
The reality is: laws are never morally neutral.
The government is legislating morality all the time. When the law prohibits
certain acts, it is a lesson telling the citizens that those acts are morally
wrong. Conversely, when the law decriminalizes certain acts, it is telling the
citizens that those acts are normal and morally acceptable. For example, the
inclusion of the “sexual orientation” clause in Canadian laws indirectly
encourage more people to practise homosexuality.
(3) “Moral standard is
culture-relative, changes with time and is not absolute”: The slogan is used to
exclude absolute standards from the realm of morality.
·
The reality is: customs do change with time and
vary with culture. But things that are inherently immoral will forever be
immoral because man was created in the image of a moral God.
c. All these are the
rallying cry of secular humanists. Yet the saddest fact is that those mottos
are sometimes adopted and even promoted as truths by many undiscerning
Christians.
d. Both Canada and the US
were established on the foundation of Christian values (such as justice and
equality). In the last few decades, there has been a deliberate and persistent
effort by secular humanists to exclude Christian values and adopt secular
values in the government. The result can be clearly seen from legalization of
abortion, the celebration of homosexual lifestyle, the coming legalization of
same-sex marriage, and the likely future legalization of euthanasia.
(1) Ban the public display of
Christian symbols (like crosses and Christmas trees) from public grounds
(cemeteries, parks), public institutions (schools), and public view (street
intersections).
o
In response, many people start referring to
“Christmas” as “Holiday”.
(2) Ban any reference to God in
public institutions (such as schools).
o
The ACLU tried to dismantle many displays of the
Ten Commandments from public buildings.
o
In Canada, an atheist homosexual MP tried
unsuccessfully to remove the word “God” from the Constitution.
(3) Stop all children from
knowing or learning about God in education by:
(a) stop all celebration of
Christmas
(b) prohibit any mention of
Christianity in schools, such as telling stories from the Bible
(c) prohibite public prayers in
schools
(4) Prohibit any religious
activities in public institutions by:
(a) disallow religious
organizations to receive government grants in providing social services
(b) prohibit religious groups
(such as Bible clubs) from using space in public institutions
a. Christians are being
persecuted in many countries (particularly Muslim countries) for their faith.
However, in Canada and the US, most people identify themselves and Christians.
So secular humanists will never openly admit of restricting religious freedom.
b. There are many covert
ways that the government can use to restrict religious freedom:
(1) controls mass
communications, disallows a TV channel for evangelical Christians
(2) passes laws to impose
secular (im)moral standards on Christians
(3) marginalizes and silences
Christians by labelling their opposition to immoral acts as “hate speech”
o
Bill C-250 (which prohibit hate speech based on
sexual orientation) will lead to declaring the Bible as hate literature because
the Bible describes homosexuality as immoral. It will then lead to restrictions
on the distribution of the Bible such as to high schools and in hotels.
(4) threatens as well as actual
termination of charitable tax-exempt status of churches
(5) makes rulings and sanctions
against Christians by undemocratic liberal judges
c. Future: In the past 30
years, secular humanists and atheists have routinely use the courts to silence
Christians through litigation against anything that they don’t like. Because of
frequent successes of secular humanists in getting the help of the government
and the courts, they are likely to continue their past strategies. The worse
for Bible-believing Christians is yet to come.
d. Conclusion: The
government has the power to put Christians into extreme difficulties. Once an
anti-Christian government took power, we are at the mercy of it. In order to
continue our work of extending the kingdom of God, we must take steps (such as
social action) to prevent (or at least make it more difficult for)
anti-Christian politicians to get political power.