The War Against Christianity

 

One thing that I have become keenly aware of during our current stay-at-home condition is that the cosmic battle of worldviews is becoming more intense.  One example of this is an article that hit the news this past week.  The timing of the release of this article is interesting considering the fact that school buildings are closed and children are being educated while having to stay at home.

The article I am referring to was published in the May/June issue of Harvard Magazine.  The author presents the views of Elizabeth Bartholet, a law professor at Harvard.  Bartholet views homeschooling as a threat and suggests that it be banned.  Even the picture headlining the article depicts a homeschooled child in prison while other children, supposedly not homeschooled, are outside playing and having fun.

It is interesting that the “jail” holding this child is made up of books.  These books are labeled Reading, Writing, Arithmetic and Bible.  I found it intriguing that a “Science” book was not included.  Of course, it made sense when the professor described the typical homeschool parent as people who “question science.”

The backlash from the article has been swift and strong.  However, most of the responses to this anti-homeschool article have merely defended homeschooling.  Please know that I also believe that homeschooling is a parent’s God-given right and should be protected.

However, what has alarmed me in some ways is the fact that the article and Bartholet are attacking something much more important than the practice of homeschooling.  This article is attacking Christianity.  This is evident when Bartholet is quoted, (all emphases mine)

Surveys of homeschoolers show that a majority of such families (by some estimates, up to 90 percent) are driven by conservative Christian beliefs, and seek to remove their children from mainstream culture…some of these parents are “extreme religious ideologues” who question science and promote female subservience and white supremacy. 

This is the crux of the worldview battle that is intensifying throughout today’s culture.  Christianity or a biblical worldview is the real focus of the article’s attack.

This article isn’t the only evidence that we are engaged in a cosmic battle between God’s truth claims and Satan’s deceptive lies.  Let me share some other hard evidence of the war that is raging against biblical truth.  Here are some statements that have been made by government leaders this past week.  These statements are all related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ultimate victory in this war will be made possible by America’s scientific brilliance.  POTUS

This crisis has shown that government matters. Expertise matters. Science matters.  NY Governor Cuomo

…a group of highly qualified evolutionary virologists looked at the sequences there and the sequences in bats as they evolve, and the mutations that it took to get to the point where it is now totally consistent with a jump of a species from an animal to a human.  Dr. Fauci

If these statements don’t alarm us, then this statement will surely wake us up.

The number is down because we brought the number down. God did not do that. Faith did not do that. Destiny did not do that. A lot of pain and suffering did that . . . That’s how it works. It’s math. And if you don’t continue to do that, you’re going to see that number go back up. And that will be a tragedy…   NY Governor Cuomo

I want to make myself clear about where I stand on these issues.  Science can’t do anything.  Science is merely studying the creation ordinances by which God created and sustains the universe.   The same is true when you see a program on the Weather Channel titled, When Weather Changed History.  Weather hasn’t and can’t change anything.  God can and has used weather to change history but weather has no power of its own.

People can use science to accomplish many wonderful things.  However, that doesn’t tell the whole story.  This can only happen because man, created in the image of God, has been given the ability, from God, to research, discover and synthesize things such as vaccines etc.

In most of these statements, the implication is that man is autonomous.  Other than Cuomo’s bold statement that God didn’t do anything, the others simply ignore God’s existence and His involvement in the affairs of man.

Getting back to the original article mentioned in this post, it must be noted that the Bartholet and a professor from the College of William and Mary are holding a summit at Harvard.  This summit, according to reports, is by invitation only and is called, The Homeschooling Summit: Problems, Politics, and Prospects for Reform.

The co-sponsor of the summit, Dr. James Dwyer, has made the following statements in interviews and written reviews.

The state needs to be the ultimate guarantor of a child’s wellbeing.  There is no alternative to that.  The reason why parent child relationships exist is because the state confers legal parenthood on people through its paternal and maternity laws.  It is the state that is empowering parents to do anything with children – to take them home, have custody and to make any kind of decisions about that.

…the claim that parents should have child-rearing rights—rather than simply being permitted to perform parental duties and to make certain decisions on a child’s behalf in accordance with the child’s rights—is inconsistent with principles deeply embedded in our law and morality.

I have been pounding the drum for years that education is never neutral.  All education is driven by the desire of one group of people to instill certain beliefs and values into the next generation.  Education isn’t about academics, athletics or fine arts.  It is about worldview formation.

Again, Bartholet’s own words illustrate that education is about instilling one’s beliefs and values in young hearts and minds.

From the beginning of compulsory education in this country, we have thought of the government as having some right to educate children so that they become active, productive participants in the larger society. This involves in part giving children the knowledge to eventually get jobs and support themselves.  But it’s also important that children grow up exposed to community values, social values, democratic values, ideas about nondiscrimination and tolerance of other people’s viewpoints.

The problem with many Christians is that they have not gone through the process of renewing their minds.  Therefore, they do not think and act from a biblical worldview.  The devastating result of this is that parents, church leaders and educators are not equipped to instill a biblical worldview in the next generation’s hearts and minds.

I am fully aware of the challenges we are currently facing due to the restrictions that have been placed on our lives because of this pandemic.  However, parents, church leaders and educators must be trained to know and embrace a biblical philosophy of education by developing a biblical worldview.

If you or your school is not already a KEM Prime Member, I urge you to consider becoming one today.  The resources that are available to members have been developed to accomplish this very task.  School heads can email me to find out about special pricing that is being offered right now.

We cannot afford to lose this battle!  The future of our children and grandchildren hangs in the balance!