Anti-Christian Atmosphere in a Post-Christian World

Recently, we formed a racing team for iRacing competition, and dubbed it Team RFC-Racers for Christ.   To recruit new members, we placed an announcement and invitation in several iRacing forums organized according to iRacing Series.  To say the response was a surprise would be an understatement.

The good news is that we gained 12 new members in the first week.  The bad news is that several people used the forum to mock or condemn religion in general and Christianity in particular.  A few proudly announced they were Atheists and rhetorically asked “Can we join the team?”  In one forum for the Skip Barber 2000 Series, several posters decided to make the thread a place for a debate about religion. (One responder displayed a rainbow graphic and the words “#LoveWins” in his post signature—perhaps his deal was that Christianity threatened the Gay Agenda.)  I requested that iRacing lock the thread to avoid continued strife.

The incident reminded me of my experience as the Chaplain for the SCCA Washington DC Region. There, our effort to establish a regular non-denominational Invocation before the racing day began was vigorously opposed by the “Freedom From Religion” crowd.  Also, several participants openly objected to us playing music and singing as part of our outdoor Sunday Chapel worship service.

Clearly, in the world, and in the racing “community” there is not only ambivalence toward religion and Christianity, but outright opposition. 

Unlike some, I would not characterize our present atmosphere as one where Christians fear persecution…yet.  (At least in the America’s and Europe.) I would rather state that the relative dominance of the Christian Biblical World View in the America’s and Europe has been substantially diminished.  People are not yet opposed to private religious belief, but many are opposed to any public display of religion. In other words, it is OK to pray in private and “be religious” at church, but “keep your religion to yourself”.

This attitude creates a serious problem for adherents of Christianity, as well as adherents of Orthodox Judaism and Islam.  These major world religions require their adherents to adopt certain behaviors and a particular world view.  

The Holy Scripture of Christianity teaches that Christ (God Himself as Man) commissioned the Disciples and the Church to “go out into all the world, preaching the Gospel and make Disciples of all the Nations”.  The command was not to “go to church and worship in private” but rather to “go out” and “preach the Gospel”.  Now, the exact actions associated with going out and preaching are not described exactly, but true Christians cannot hide their belief in the “good news” that God Loves Mankind and in Christ He has presented a “way” to achieve Salvation and Eternal Life.  (Who would want to keep that message a secret anyway?)

So how did we arrive in this “Post-Christian” world? Probably the best book that addresses this is “The God Who Is There” by Francis A. Schaeffer. He posits that Europe crossed below a “Line of Despair” in the 1800’s, followed by the America’s in the 1900’s.  Schaeffer writes that man’s despair “arises from the abandonment of the hope of a unified answer for knowledge and life.” 

Since Adam and Eve, Man has been in a state of rebellion against God. Christians teach that Christ provides a way for all men to return to the state God originally intended—in fellowship with Him,  tending to his “garden” here on Earth. Over a period of 1500 years, almost all of Europe adopted Christianity and it become the dominant religion in Europe and the America’s—until the 1800’s. (Many European flags still display the Christian Cross.) Governments were established based on natural “rights” endowed by the Creator.

Up until the 1800’s, Science was the quest for knowledge about God’s Creation.  Then, various philosophers began to question the “absolute” nature of knowledge. Darwin theorized that man was an “random accident” of Nature. Mankind’s urge to stand “equal to God” actually led many to ignore God and even deny the existence of Him. Many began to claim that Mankind had evolved and did not need God or even the idea of Him anymore. 

The Christian Biblical Worldview is that Almighty God created the World. He also created Mankind “in his image”.  Since all men are “image-bearers” of God, they all have certain inalienable rights and deserve a certain respect and dignity.  Morality is not “man-made” but rather “God-made” and therefore absolute.

The philosophers that questioned this absolute nature of knowledge promoted the concept of “average” or synthesis forming from two relativistic, but opposing points of view.  What has developed over time is that morality is what the “average” person in “society” thinks is “acceptable”.  Man’s continued rebellion against God in the modern world had become a demand for complete freedom to do whatever man wants, “as long as it does not hurt anybody”. 

Christians started out as a very small group in a very secular world. (The Roman Empire was about as secular a world as one could possibly imagine.) The power of the Christian message does not require dominance. In a secular world, the Great Commission demands that we be “salt and light” and set an example for others to follow.  An example that is so “attractive” that others begin to join us. 

Perhaps the best course of action is to show what we are for rather than just what we are against---to be less condemning and judgmental of others and more positive—loving one another and displaying a joy that can only come from a personal relationship with a Triune God. And, proclaiming to others that you are a Christian is part of the program.

"Don't shine so others can see you. Shine so that through you, others can see Him."   C. S. Lewis

Donald Wayne Strout, Chaplain

PS.  Outside of Europe and the America's, Christians are arguably the most persecuted group on Earth.  In many parts of the world, Christians are put to death for stating "Jesus is Lord".  Christians should be aware that being a minority can be quite dangerous.  History teaches that Atheistic States have seen Christianity as a threat to their power--where the politically correct man-made moral beliefs of the majority (or the State) conflict with the God-made laws supported by Christians. There is already one European country where it is estimated that there are more Atheists than Theists today. 

Rebellion against, and/or denial of God's existence, with the freedom to set your own rules, can only produce "temporary" happiness and perhaps only for the young. As people's thoughts turn toward the future (for example as parents concerned for their children) and they approach the reality of death, the "despair" defined by Schaeffer begins to surface. Without God and the Gospel in our lives, we "know" that "something" is missing. 

The Christian Biblical Worldview is the only worldview that answers man's basic and most important questions: Why am I Here?, Where did I come From?, What is my Future?  Paul's letter to the Romans states that the existence of God is obvious and those that refuse to believe essentially "suppress and deny the Truth".  It is time for Christians to declare that Science does not prove that God does not exist--to the contrary, Scientific discovery confirms God's existence.  It is time for Christians to declare that true eternal happiness comes only from a personal relationship with Almighty God through Jesus Christ--following the two most important commandments: Love God, and Love Others--and carrying out the Great Commission of preaching the Gospel by living our lives in a way so that others see the "results" of our beliefs.

Apologetics is not about apology---it is based on the Greek word for "defense".  As Christians we are required to "proclaim and defend" the TRUTH through the way we live our lives.

One important caution:  Here is a quote from Brennan Manning.

"The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today are Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and then walk out the door and deny him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable."