By Jeff Lukens
In this great country, it's not a crime to be a Christian — at least not yet.
Free expression of religion is not just shunned. It is ridiculed and mocked. Anti-Christian bigotry is the only form of acceptable intolerance remaining in this country — to be encouraged and incited by our "tolerant" liberal friends in academia, the media, and entertainment.
The battle to destroy Christianity is really the battle to destroy America. The intolerant Left is replacing the structure of an orderly and benevolent norm with falsehoods, distortions, intimidation, and violence. Unfortunately, traditional American Christians have been on the losing end of the culture war for a long time.
America's Christian heritage centers on the idea that we are born with equal rights in the eyes of our Creator. It follows that our laws should be applied equally to all and that freedom of conscience and freedom of speech would be hallmarks of this republic. In view of these beliefs and the different denominations living side by side, it meant that in America, there would be no institutional or governmental mediator between the individual and God.
A vigorous new secularism in recent years, however, has propelled ridicule of Christianity into the mainstream of acceptable behavior. It has become part of the larger pop culture. Today, Bible-bashing and Christian-mocking are a favorite pastime on television, in movies, and on social media, complete with ugly insults and death wishes.
Christian beliefs in the sanctity of life, free will, and the flawed nature of humanity are the principal bulwarks against a descent into barbarism that progressivism promises. To the degree that Christians speak up for biblical virtue and sexual purity, and to the degree they preach the Gospel as the one true way to God, they are scorned and ridiculed.
The attack on the free exercise of religion now moves beyond prayer at football games and commencement ceremonies to legal battles over wedding cakes. Bible-believing people are frequently likened to ISIS, charged with wanting to create a Taliban-type theocracy of haters.
Many Christians are concerned with what they perceive to be the increasing secularization of popular culture today. They express concern that Christianity will one day become hated and persecuted in America as it is in much of the world. That day may not be far off.
A relatively small group of atheistic and radical activist organizations such as the ACLU, and the judicial activism of the courts, have succeeded in banning prayer from schools and Christian symbols from public buildings. At the same time, religious speech has been banned in political debate, and Christianity is extricated from the common way of life. David Horowitz chronicles this activity in his excellent book, Dark Agenda.
The Left's goal is to replace religious faith with the progressive socialist agenda as the ruling norm in their new world order.
This is the culture war, plain and simple. The effect is cascading beyond America. This, plus the relentless advance of radical Islam, has made Christianity the most persecuted religion in the world.
The hostility against believers is reaching a watershed, and things could get even uglier in the time ahead. The faithful believe that God is in control, and that is a great comfort for them. The great irony is that liberals tell them to "coexist" when liberals are completely incapable of doing just that.
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