The Dawn Treader

The religion of Secularism has a healthy 7.5% following according to a 2004 study done by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.  When you throw in cultural (nominal) Christians and Jews, the 7.5% number is much, much larger.

Klinghoffer writes,

"For each element in the Judeo-Christian family of faiths, secularism has its counterpart: a strict ethical code, albeit focusing on health issues ("Thou shalt not smoke," etc.); the use of shame when individuals disregard ethical rules (e.g. fat people); a related promise of eternal life through medical advances; a creation story (Darwinian evolution); and so forth. All that's missing is a deity, but not every religion has one, as the case of Zen Buddhism attests.

The secular church is populous and dynamic, with a membership far exceeding that figure of 7.5 percent. Many individuals who identify nominally as Jews or Christians in fact are devout secularists."

The problem, from my perspective, is the free reign that Secularism is given in public education.  As Klinghoffer points out,

"All this would be fine—after all, America is a big country with plenty of room for every spiritual predilection—but for the tendency of secularists to use aggressive means in advancing their political agenda and spreading their faith."

In state education, the Secularists get to teach their creation story but no one else does.  What about Secularism's ethical teaching?  Kinghoffer writes,

The influence of Secular institutions on education needs to be reexamined. Young children are plainly being targeted for conversion to Secularism, whether in schools or otherwise. The Anti-Defamation League—a group that is Jewish only in the sense that bagels are Jewish—has been advocating a reading list of books for children of kindergarten age through sixth grade. While the emphasis is ostensibly on "anti-bias education," any child who takes to heart the message of these books would be adopting, among other things, a bias in favor of the Secular teaching on homosexuality.

Two of the recommended books, for third-graders and under, are Gloria Goes to Gay Pride ("A young girl participates in the Gay Pride Day parade," as the ad's website summarizes the book) and My Two Uncles ("A young child's grandfather has trouble accepting the fact that his son is gay"). This amounts to targeting kids for conversion to the Secular teaching on homosexuality. Incidentally, "targeting for conversion" is what the ad charges that Christian missionaries want to do to Jews.

Targeting kids for conversion.  And it works.

Dr. James Emery White, the author of Serious Times, addresses Klinghoffer's column in White's essay entitled The Twilight of Atheism and the Dawn of Secularism

"As encouraging as the “twilight” of atheism may be, evidenced by the celebrated conversion to theism of philosopher Anthony Flew, atheism is not at the heart of the Secular religion nor its principal challenge to Christian faith.  The heart of the Secular religion is moral relativism, a functional atheism, if you will, which holds that what is moral is dictated by a particular situation in light of a particular culture or social location.  As I wrote in Serious Times, with moral relativism “Moral values become a matter of personal opinion or private judgment rather than something grounded in objective truth.” 

So rather than rejecting the idea of God, the Secular religion simply ignores Him. "

Bingo.  Dr. White nails it.  Secularism is not about atheism.  It is about relativism.  God is not dead in the religion of Secularism -- He is irrelevant.

Friends, the greatest threat to the body of Christ is not atheism.  It is relativism.  And the rapidly growing church of Secularism.

White adds,

"Intriguingly, an online poll conducted by AOL soon after the selection of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger to be the next Pope revealed what people perceived to be Pope Benedict XVI’s greatest challenges.  “Sanctity of life” issues, such as cloning or stem cells, came in first, followed by the priest shortage.  Distant on the list was the rise of secularism.  Fortunately, the new Pope does not seem driven by polls, exhibiting a sound awareness (as he has for many years) of secularism’s threat, wisely discerning that “Sanctity of life” issues, along with the priest shortage, are the symptoms of secularism’s rise (see his book, The Salt of the Earth: The Church at the End of the Millenium).  Benedict XVI has had a courtside seat to secularism’s deadly effects in Western Europe, and specifically his German homeland.  Fewer than one of every 10 Germans worships even once a month, and a majority of Germans and other northern Europeans confess that God does not matter to them at all (which accounts for the absence of any reference to God in the draft of the proposed European constitution).  Little wonder that in Ratzinger’s pre-election sermon to his fellow cardinals he made the following declaration:  “We are moving toward a ‘dictatorship of relativism…that recognizes nothing definite and leaves only one’s ego and desires as the final measure."

Would that we be so wise and discerning.  We need to recognize Secularism for what it is -- a religion that is freely taught and targets converts.   Klinghoffer suggests we raise public awareness of the conversion efforts of the Secular priests.

With tongue in cheek he adds,

"Finally, since raising public awareness is the best way to counter conversionary efforts, it would be helpful if a nonprofit organization were established to educate the citizenry about the tendency of the Secular Church to overstep that precious line that is supposed to keep our public institutions free of undue church influence. Such an organization would be dedicated to protecting American civil liberties. You could call it the American Civil Liberties Union."

Touche.

I would add that we need to understand how to defend truth and engage worldviews.  Secularism is a worldview, and it is not the same as atheism.  Learn how to expose the contradictions in its presuppositions -- or as Schaeffer used to call it, learn how to "take the roof off".