Secularists are working aggressively to eliminate any reference to Christianity from the culture. We are already seeing more of the intolerant left calling for Christians to keep their Christianity in churches and homes but out of the public arena. The battles to remove Christian symbols are becoming increasingly common, as certain atheist groups seek to replace Christian symbols with their religion of atheism. In past blog posts, I’ve noted many of these instances and, sadly, there are surely more to come.
One of these many battles recently took place in King, North Carolina. According to the Washington Times, a battle has been raging in this town for four years because of a veteran’s memorial that features a soldier kneeling and praying beside a cross as well as a Christian flag. Reportedly, the costs of continuing to fight the lawsuit were much too high, so the city resignedly voted to remove the memorial and flag.
Sadly, this is just another example of Christianity, the faith that strongly influenced this nation, being removed from the culture. Now, by removing the Christian symbols from the memorial, neutrality has not been achieved. Instead, Christianity has been removed in favor of a religion of atheism. Christians need to wake up and understand what God’s Word teaches:
He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad (Matthew 12:30).There is no such position as a supposed neutral one! Also, it is important for Christians to remember the following:
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. (Romans 8:7)Sadly, there are Christians who think that Christian symbols should be removed because then no religion is being promoted, but that is simply not true. We must understand that one is either for or against Christ—that the non-Christian is at war with God and His Word. Those who are against Christ, we are warned, work hard to “suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (Romans 1:18).
According to their website, a group that was behind the lawsuit in King, North Carolina, was Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU). So what we need to understand is that when groups like AU are successful in removing a Christian symbol from a public place, here is what has really happened—a group that is against God’s Word, that wants to suppress the truth in unrighteousness, has been able, in their war against Christianity, to impose their anti-God religion on the culture as their intolerance of the Christian worldview festers.
Intolerant groups like this have been behind the attacks on Ark Encounter. As a result of the pressure that groups like the anti-Christian Freedom From Religion Foundation put on the state of Kentucky, it seems this was a major reason why the state decided not move forward to give us a tax rebate incentive that is offered to many different tourist attractions built in Kentucky. This is unlawful because it means that the state is showing hostility and discrimination towards religion—something it is not allowed to do! This is blatant viewpoint discrimination. I encourage you to stay updated on that situation and to please pray for us as we go forward. AiG’s battle with the state over the tourism rebate incentive is over much more than just rebates—it is over the free exercise of religion. Stay tuned on this matter!
We need to be bold in standing firmly in our faith and sharing the life-changing gospel of Jesus Christ with others. After all, it is only the change that the gospel brings that can bring America back to its Christian roots!
Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken
This item was written with the assistance of AiG’s research team
Answers in Genesis is an apologetics ministry, dedicated to helping Christians defend their faith and proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ.