“SECULARISM”: “. . . is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on naturalistic considerations, uninvolved with religion.” “Secularism is most commonly thought of as the separation of religion from civil affairs and the state and may be broadened to a similar position seeking to remove or to minimize the role of religion in any public sphere.” (wikipedia.org.)
“DISSOLUTION”: “(b1) Decay, Disintegration”; “(b2) Death”; “(c) Termination or destruction by breaking down, disrupting, or dispersing.”; “(d) The dissolving of an assembly or organization.” (merriam-webster.com.)
“CHRISTENDOM”: “The term ‘Christendom’ largely refers to the worldwide adherents of the Christian faith, with religious practices and beliefs drawn from the teachings of the Bible, primarily the New Testament.” (christianity.com.)
“THE OVERTON WINDOW”: As described in the picture above, it represents the range of acceptable ideas. This can include the acceptable beliefs not only in the broad range of politics, but in the more specific areas of finance, gun rights, abortion, global warming, wars and conflicts, homelessness, immigration, drugs and addiction, and yes, even in religion and matters of spirituality.
We are assured that no two people agree 100% on everything, even in mature relationships, for we are all individuals with our own brains, experiences, environments, and traditions that form our belief structures. We are different, one from another. So goes the saying, “One man’s junk is another man’s treasure.” “THE OVERTON WINDOW” of what is commonly accepted as “normal” and acceptable, is influenced by a wide variety of forces. Some forces are overt and easily seen, and some are covert, hidden from view and recognition. Over time, these forces can, and often do, move “THE OVERTON WINDOW”. The purpose of our blog today is to show how SECULARISM is leading to the DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM. More specifically how the rise of SECULARISM is eating away at the heart of CHRISTENDOM, reducing its influence upon our society and the world at large. THE OVERTON WINDOW is shifting away from CHRISTENDOM and moving to the more “normal”, acceptable SECULARISM. Like it or not, those who have claimed to be in the column of CHRISTENDOM have assisted in the shifting of THE OVERTON WINDOW toward SECULARISM. How is this possible?
A few facts need to be shown. Church attendance is down. Attendance at religious services hit its peak in the early 1950’s with nearly 50% of all Americans attending some form of religious services. “In the four years before the pandemic, 2016 through 2019, an average of 34% of U.S. adults said they had attended church, synagogue, mosque or temple in the past seven days. From 2020 to the present, the average has been 30%, including a 31% reading in a May 1-24 survey. The recent church attendance levels are about 10 percentage points lower than what Gallup measured in 2012 and most prior years.” (news.gallup.com; June 26, 2023; Jeffrey M. Jones.) We contend that if synagogue, mosque or temple attendees were to be excluded from this survey (we don’t have the crosstabs), the percentages for church attendance by Christians would be lower. However, we will claim that there is beginning a resurgence within the Christian faith due in part to the unprecedented lockdowns during the pandemic, and the attack on the Christian faith from the current government and its controlling institutions, in the areas of FREEDOM of speech, and LIBERTY in the right to protest. In the first century Christian churches, their influence spread under persecution. We must trust and hope the same is true now and pray that this resurgence is not too late.
So, what have Christians done, or not done, in assisting the rise in SECULARISM. For too long Christians have bought hook, line, and sinker, the belief that our Constitution states that there is to be a “separation of church and state.” However, a close reading of the First Amendment to our Constitution states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment OF religion . . .”, not “FROM religion” (“OF” is capitalized by us for emphasis). One had better not post the Ten Commandments, or any Bible verse for that matter, in a school today or you will likely be sued. We doubt many public schools today say the pledge of allegiance at the start of classes, because it has within its prose, “. . . one Nation under GOD . . .”, speaking about a deity that is contrary to the ever-evolving national narrative, the apparent moving of THE OVERTON WINDOW. President Dwight Eisenhower signed into law the phrase “under God” to our National pledge on June 14, 1954. The addition was seen as a way to show moral superiority of U.S. capitalism over atheistic Soviet Communism. However, it was even within our Nation’s own religious community where objections to even a National pledge first surfaced. The Jehovah’s Witness won a Supreme Court case in the early 1940’s stating that forcing them to say the pledge was a violation of their First Amendment rights. (history.com; June 22, 2022; Becky Little). Christians have allowed lawfare, legal challenges brought by atheistic individuals, organizations, or even Christian groups, in courts sympathetic to their ideology, to chip away at the founding principles of our Nation. Too often Christians have believed the false narrative of this “separation of church and state” and have failed to stand firm in these founding principles of our Nation and have been content to stand on the sidelines and watch the erosion of what our Founding Fathers, and generations after them, sacrificed and fought for. Christians too often have been divided among themselves, believing another Christian sect was worse than unbelievers, when in fact, they should have joined arms and fought against those forces and powers, often unseen, that are the real enemy to faith and ultimately salvation, not just individually, but also collectively as a Nation, or to world-wide nations more broadly. “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:12.)
Christians have shown timidity and weakness in showing pride that western culture and virtue is based upon Christianity. CHRISTENDOM has allowed moves away from God, the Gospel and family, have become casual in procedure and function, and have allowed drift to occur away from theological bedrocks. Where will Christians draw the “red line”? Evolution of Christian theology has watered down Scriptural foundational principles. As society becomes more “tolerant” of aberrant philosophies, so has CHRISTENDOM. Modernity has moved “THE OVERTON WINDOW”. “Modernity, the self-definition of a generation about its own technological innovation, governance, and socioeconomics. To participate in modernity was to conceive of one’s society as engaging in organizational and knowledge advances that make one’s immediate predecessors appear antiquated or, at least, surpassed.” (britannica.com; Updated October 25, 2023; Sharon L. Snyder.)
Where is your “red line”? Last week we witnessed our current government leaders welcoming to our shores an adversarial nation, the Chinese Communist Party, who in May of 2019 declared a
“People’s War” against our Nation (presentdangerchina.org; August 17, 2022). Did it bother you that the California governor thought it more important to clean up the streets of San Fransico days before China’s visit, shunning the filth and crime residents there had to endure for years without assistance? Were you concerned there were hundreds of Chinese flags dwarfing the few U.S. flags along the route taken by the Chinese motorcade? Are you concerned that the current government administration and President did not confront China about the bioweapon, COVID-19, that China released upon our Nation and the world, killing millions, destroying our burgeoning economy, and bloating our national debt? Were you troubled to learn that the Chinese spy balloon, allowed to fly unimpeded over our Nation for days, was not addressed by our leaders? Were you stunned to learn that our current government leaders did not address the reckless Chinese military maneuvers that threatened the safety of our aircraft and ships in international airspaces and waters? Are you surprised to learn that our current government leaders did not address the Chinese bringing online an average of two new coal-fired energy plants every week, while all of our plants are being forced to close for “global warming”? (abc.net.au/news; March 2, 2023.) Are you concerned that our current government leaders failed to address China’s provocative encircling of Taiwan, often invading their territorial boundaries? Are you worried that the CCP provides the vast majority of our drugs and their ingredients, not to mention poisoning and killing our citizens with their fentanyl? Is our current government concerned about being so reliant upon batteries and their materials from China, and where do old batteries go to die? Is our current government concerned that old wind turbine blades are sent to landfills, both processes not being so “green” after all? But never fear, there is talk that the Chinese may “loan” us a couple more Panda Bears to replace the ones they recalled. We should feel embarrassed! China is treating the United States of America like a spoiled little child, believing a stuffed animal will mute our whimpering and crying. How pathetic is our current government. We are allowing the CCP to invade our institutions, stealing our Intellectual Property, and watching our current government leaders and President, influenced by bribes requiring their inaction, to Kowtow to the greatest threat our Nation faces, the CCP. THE OVERTON WINDOW is being moved subjugating our National and personal FREEDOM and LIBERTY as our current government shows weakness and fear. The atheistic nation of China is cleaning our proverbial clock, while we sit back and watch the destruction of our Nation and its people. We are losing the war for our Nation’s morality and virtue as THE OVERTON WINDOW shifts to what some may feel to be more “normal” or acceptable, but in reality, it is shifting to our damnation.