Tag Archives: Christians and global culture

Fear of Secularism

 

” . . . this preemptive assault on secularism with all it entails, strikes me as frightened and antagonistic.”

—Marilynne Robinson, When I Was a Child I Read Books

 

“His disciples remembered that it was written, ‘Zeal for your house will consume me.’”

—John 2:17 (NRSV)

 

No nation has ever belonged completely to God. The Jewish nation repeatedly fell into idolatry. So-called Christian nations, though influenced by Christian teaching, have erred greatly at times from carrying out the principles Jesus taught.

Today in the United States, Christians seem perplexed at secularism’s strength, as though it were something new. Secularism has existed beside Christianity since the first Christian missionaries carried the gospel to the Roman world and beyond.

In the fourth century, the emperor Constantine increasingly favored Christianity as the Roman Empire’s established religion. Before that time, Christianity grew because of the way Christians lived in a pleasure-loving, inhumane world. People were increasingly drawn to the “narrow way” which called its adherents to lives of forgiveness and compassion.

When Christianity became the “established” religion, it tended to succumb to the ways of the world and to seek power. Religious leaders like St. Francis, akin to Old Testament prophets, repeatedly called for a different kind of life, serving as role models for a return to the way of Jesus.

Christians have always lived amid secularism. Secularism wanes when Christians practice what Jesus taught and draw people to him. They are less effective when they seek power.

What Is It You Want To Do?

The best guides and teachers do more than pass along information. They enable followers to find their own unique paths.

I once worked as a planner for historic preservation in five counties nestled in the north Georgia hills. I guided community groups who respected their historic heritage and wished to pass that heritage on to future generations. I understood my job not as one who merely gives out information, but as one who enables.

Typically, a group of citizens from one of the area’s small towns would call me in for consultations on historic preservation. The main task I performed was to ask “What is it you want to do?” When we had determined that, I would guide them in brainstorming the best ways to accomplish their goal.

I think the idea of enablement has carried into the writing I do, including this blog. The objectives are wider now than historic preservation. My later job as a Foreign Service officer turned me on to the wider world, its cultures, and how we, especially we Christians, relate to it. An ever changing world calls for Christians to explore new ways of dealing with it.

I would like to enable Christians and seekers to think about their place in the seething globe we now inhabit. I want to help them understand world events and trends, then to find their calling.

We no longer can concern ourselves only with this country or its domestic issues. Christ’s call is to go into all the world.