Monday, February 15, 2010

War on Christianity




I’ve been doing some reading and studying in the books of 1 and 2 Peter in preparation for a teaching series to start in April. While the Roman government had not taken an official stance against Christianity in the first century, persecution of Christianity was on the rise throughout the empire. A formal decree from Rome against Christianity was on the horizon. Peter wrote these letters to Christians by way of encouragement in the face of growing public sentiment against Christianity.

The climate in the Roman Empire of the first century towards Christians is not unlike the climate in our country today. When I was a college student taking Western Civilization, we were told that it is important to watch the cultural developments in Europe because historically America has lagged behind Europe by only 10 to 20 years. If this is true, that makes the following video report from CBN even more sobering. What is happening in England to Christianity goes beyond “bad” to the “ugly” category. This is an important video report that all American Christians should watch.

So take the 5+ minutes to watch this report… and then go read 1 and 2 Peter.

2 comments:

Neil Cameron (One Salient Oversight) said...

Ridiculous report.

A) CBN is run by Pat Robertson who has made a number of erroneous prophecies over the years.

B) Just 2.7% of the UK are Muslims. There is not going to be any Islamic control of Europe or Britain.

C) There is no constitution of the United Kingdom, and those documents that do exist hardly describe Britain as a Christian country.

D) Secularism is the natural result of a state religion. The Church of England is officially recognised by the UK Government as the state church. Many evangelicals (myself included) do not wish to see church and state linked together in this way. It is this link between the church and the world that has resulted in the world telling the church how to act, who to employ, and so on. If the church is not dependent upon the world's money and special protection from the state, there would be no problems.

E) In all secular societies, freedom of religion is guaranteed. This includes Christianity.

Jeff Crawford said...

One Salient Oversight,

Thank you for your thoughts from "down under."

But it appears that you have completely missed the point of the report perhaps due to a predisposed negative view of CBN. The POINT of the report is the ever growing negative sentiment towards Christianity, in particular, in Britain. The report is not predictive (ergo Pat Robertson) but rather descriptive. Having been to England twice myself and knowing many Christians there, I can testify to the truth of this report.

Some thoughts on your points:

A) Pat Robertson may "run" CBN but that hardly disqualifies the report and to assert as such is a logical fallacy. Rupert Murdoch, a fellow Australian, owns Fox News. One may not like Rupert Murdoch and may disagree with his worldview, but that does not mean that what Fox News reports is illegitimate.

B) The report does not focus on a Muslim take over of Europe or Britain. Rather, the emphasis is on growing secularism and its "war" on Christianity specifically.

C) You are correct that Britain does not have a constitution in the same way other countries do but it has been "constituted" as a country and it has constitutional type documents. Even the link you provide points this out. And the report is correct that the official church of England is the Anglican Church, a Christian denomination, thus essentially making Britain a "Christian" nation in name. I also think that an honest reading of history would inform one that Britain has always been a "Christian" country, at least in name.

D) I see your point but am not sure I agree with the conclusion. The United States does not have an official religion as does Britain yet we too are steaming towards secularism. I also see and understand your point regarding NOT linking church and state together. But the report from CBN is not calling for this but rather is pointing out the ever growing sentiment AGAINST Christianity in particular in Britain.

E) I completely disagree. North Korea is a "secular" society. Freedom of religion does not exist. I would argue that secularism IS a religious belief system in an of itself. The Supreme Court of the Untied States has even recognized Secular Humanism as such. Atheism, the belief in no god, IS a religious viewpoint. So, secularism, in the name of neutrality actually stifles religious freedom. In my opinion.

Thanks for reading and sharing.

Jeff