Praying for Hearts Revived and a Culture Reclaimed
There is a powerful group of people who don’t want to hear from you.
They consider any references to one’s personal faith in public policy discussions as wildly inappropriate, if not outright dangerous.
Naomi Wolf, who is perhaps now best known for the fashion advice she reportedly gave former Vice President Al Gore in his unsuccessful 2000 run for the White House, recently decried the “stranglehold of the religious right on the national debate.”
"Christian individuals are more attuned to matters of culture and entertainment than matters of faith." 2006 Barna poll
Ms. Wolf’s viewpoint is not uncommon. She and her cohort share a laughable fear—real or feigned—that conservative Christians have some sort of monopoly on the “national debate.”
Wolf is part of a vocal segment of our population who are perturbed that Americans of conservative religious faith are exercising their free speech rights. They believe ideas borne out of one’s biblical faith have no standing in discussions over philosophy and policy alike. And it appears they are willing to go to great extremes to insure that some Americans are muzzled simply because of their faith.
Separation of church and state, whatever you think that means, is radically different than the separation of people’s personal faith from their civic activities. While our hope should not rest on what happens in Washington, DC, Americans who love God and cherish His Word have an absolutely critical role to play in our country. Our nation’s future will be deeply impacted by what happens in our hearts, in our homes, and in our churches.
Yet Wolf continued in her remarks during a symposium held by the Institute for Progressive Christianity: “There has never been anything more dangerous than someone with political power who thinks he knows exactly what God has to say.”
Supporting Wolf’s assertion, an anonymous Internet poster provided ample evidence that moral relativism is alive and well and why it is so dangerous: Morality is “dangerous” when it is forced upon someone else. Your morality may not be my morality. Sure, we probably both agree that there are some common denominators in morality (such as murder is wrong), but what happens when your morality conflicts with my morality (such as some believe it’s immoral for women to wear make-up)? What makes your morality right? What makes my morality right? The answer is: to you, your morality is right—to me, my morality is right, but no morality should ever be forced upon someone else.
Hardly a week goes by that I am not interviewed by a member of the national media who is intrigued by those Americans who have a deeply religious faith and who look to that faith to inform their values. At least some of their interest stems from recent elections when “values” were tagged as a determining factor in the support of one candidate over another.
To many Americans it is odd to cite an internal and rigid “code” that determines behavior, including the selection of candidates. While the word values, undefined, floats about like a rudderless boat, I give the word meaning by pointing out that for me it is all about living out—and voting—Kingdom values.
I rely upon the full counsel of God's Word to determine that which serves the greater Kingdom.
I don’t look only to the Gospels. I don’t exclude the rest of the New Testament. And I don’t ignore the Old Testament. I rely upon the full counsel of God’s Word to determine that which serves the greater Kingdom—not in an attempt to reclaim some fictitious notion of America as a “Christian nation,” but in recognition that we are accountable to a transcendent moral authority. Yet as revealed by the Internet entry above, much of what is de rigueur in our culture is a result of a society wherein moral authority is defined by rationalism and subjectivism instead of true Truth.
You may be aware of efforts in communities across the U.S. to gather and ship cartons of Silly String to our troops in Iraq.
Soldiers discovered the children’s toy, which shoots colorful and harmless strands of foam out of a pressurized can, is effective at revealing if a room is booby-trapped. Before entering a dwelling in search of terrorists, the soldiers can spray the strings into the room. If the Silly Strings fail to fall all the way to the ground, it indicates micro-thin tripwires—connected to deadly improvised explosive devices—may be in place.
Living out your faith in contemporary culture is not child’s play. While not always as lethal as those posing danger to our troops, the culture is full of tripwires that can injure our families and their witness. We must be equipped to identify these triggering devices and the disastrous consequences that befall those who get tangled in behaviors that while pleasurable to the flesh and our own interests, dishonor God and distract us from His will for our lives.
A Barna poll released in December 2006 suggests that “Christian individuals are more attuned to matters of culture and entertainment than matters of faith.” The survey discovered that popular entertainers were more recognized than some prominent Christian leaders.
Now, more than ever before, our Light must shine before men. We must remember that while our problems may be beyond our reach, when we allow God free reign He will do a marvelous work in our lives, in our families, in our communities, and in our country (Eph. 3:20-21).
In this New Year, I pray we would have an attitude of repentance. Join me in asking God to search our hearts and reveal anything that is not pleasing to Him. Ask Him to convict us of our disobedience. Ask Him to shape us into the people He created us to be.
It is my prayer that if you looked out across America with the eye of faith and you listened with the ear of hope, you would recognize the gentle stirring, you would hear the soft rustlings, of a long-slumbering giant called the people of God awakening from their spiritual slumber. We desperately need a spiritual awakening in this country! May it begin with you, may it begin with me, may it begin with our families, and may it begin within our churches!
Richard Land is president of The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.
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