Lawsuit Threat Cancels Christmas Concert (to benefit
African children)
These kinds of stories are becoming more frequent around the Christmas holiday.
Some Christian group or church somewhere does something about Christ on
Christmas, some atheist group complains, public officials get worried and the
public display of a Christian Christmas is somehow muted. Each circumstance is different, but there is
an underlying assumption that needs to be challenged.
The atheist public square is not a religiously or morally
neutral public square. It is a false
assumption, though a powerful one in our culture right now, that removing religious
influence from culture somehow makes it more ‘neutral’ when it comes to
religion and morality. Atheism as a
public disposition (what some have called the “naked public square”) is just as
much a religious and moral statement as is the expression of Christianity.
Why would I believe that public discourse where God is not a possibility is better than one where God is?
I have had several conversations in which people want to
claim that atheism is the “objective” point of view simply and humbly aimed at
the truth of the matter, while Christianity is opposed to reason and inquiry
and forces belief on people. This is a
position argued for by the so-called New-Atheists, but it lacks the value of
sustainability. In arguing against the
worldview of Christianity and for the worldview of atheism, people accept, both
explicitly and implicitly, a set of moral and religious beliefs.
Instead of, “there is a God,” or, “there might be a God,”
their assertion is, “there is not a God,” or, “there is probably not a God.” Every one of those propositions will have
consequences in the public square, and to deny that is to plead a special
exemption for your point of view. So if
each assertion about ultimate reality has public consequences, then what is
each believer to do?
Stand up in public and present the best case you can for
your point of view. If each has
consequences that affect our lives in powerful ways, and they all do, then it
really matters how they are presented to everybody else.
What should we avoid doing? Exactly what is revealed in these kinds of
stories – whine about Christians, squeeze them out of the public discourse, and
pretend everything will go along as usual.
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