Distortion

Senior teachers at a South Lanarkshire school have been removed following a parent outcry over the involvement of a US-based religious group. Some parents have labelled the Church of Christ extremist, and outraged that their children were given books at an assembly questioning evolution and highlighting the church's own religious viewpoints. BBC News 13 Sep 2013

Churches in general, and not just this one have to be very careful in today’s very secular society. We must also acknowledge that our tabloid media play to the gallery when they find something that might pull down any church, and for any reason. A scottish rag ‘news’paper published a photo of one of the leaders of the ‘extremist’ church face painted to provide the image to accompany their smear article. The leader’s face was painted for a bit of fun at a school outing to show what pirate Jack Sparrow might have looked like. The rag failed to mention this. It also failed to say that this same church leadership have been a very active part of the school, without incident, for the past 8 years.

What on earth brought this hullabaloo about? Apparently a book was handed out to some of the schoolkids which depicted the ‘young earth’ position that many other christian scientific academics also believe, ie the earth may be less than 10,000 years old and not billions as some other scientists think. At this point it is essential to say that science does not, and has never, spoken with one voice. Science is not the enemy of faith, but can accompany it. At the same time, primary schools are teaching detailed same sex education to very young minds. I can’t help but wonder which causes more harm?

We should also note that the issue was brought to the media attention by the humanist society of Scotland. Is the penny dropping now? If you thought that this church had an agenda, more so the humanists who want nothing to do with God at every level. It has nothing to do with science or faith after all, it is the humanist society making a headline while they can, and getting their 15 minutes of fame in the process of making maximum damage.

I know many Christians, and some support the young earth view, and some that the earth is billions of years old. They don’t fall out, or shout that the folks who don’t think their way are heretics. There is no fight, just a healthy difference of opinion, and anyway, when we get to heaven we will not be asked how old we thought the earth was, we will be judged on what we did with Jesus and His teaching.

So, the 8 year work and witness in a local community school has been brought to an unfair and abrupt end by a devious humanist, and with the glad help of a rag tabloid, but take heart my friend, if you are a Christian, you will know the end of the story, and guess what? WE WIN!

Secularism?

Definition: Secularism is the concept that government or other entities should exist separately from religion and/or religious beliefs.

For years I have misunderstood what secularism is. I had equated it to a Godless society, where faith is rejected, and yet by definition, nothing could be further from the truth, so in the past I may have spoken out against it in error. You may be like me, so let’s set the record straight. That is why I started with a definition, and not a verse of Scripture, which will come later.

The USA is a prime example of a secular nation, and we have no problem with this. The nation was born out of a deep desire of the Pilgrims to escape the worst excesses and abuses of the state sponsored religion of Great Britain. Yes, the UK is still a non secular nation because the Church of England has safe seats in the House of Lords for archbishops, and so has a direct influence on government. That is the link between the state and religion. When America was setting out its Declaration of Independence, it wanted and needed separation of church and state, to protect the religious organisations (mainly but not exclusively Christian) from those state abuses which drove them there in the first place. So far so good.

There are other examples of secular societies, like France and Iran. Now we hit different problems, because in France where the religious majority is Roman Catholic, the rights of Muslims have been sidelined, and in Iran which is an Islamic state, no other religion is tolerated. My own problem closer to home is that the ‘Secular Humanists’ in the West have hi-jacked the very meaning and intention of secularism, and for them, and therefore us, it means a Godless society. So we are back where we started. It doesn’t really matter what the word meant initially, it now does mean that Scotland and the UK have a job on their hands to prevent secularism. The best words of advice and wisdom come directly from Jesus, and it does us well to remember, and act on them...

And He said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” Luke 20:25 NKJV