The Infection that is Attacking Christianity

Did you know that many hospitals in Australia are now banning the placement of Bibles in patients’ rooms? Could that ever happen in America?

Are you aware that a well-known Oscar-nominated Hollywood actor recently stated that Bibles should have a disclaimer pasted inside, warning that it’s fiction? Could such stickers ever be placed inside Bibles in America?

Surely not in the land of the free—the nation that was founded on the Bible. But then again, who would have thought 50 years ago that

• abortion would be legalized … and “gay” marriages would be conducted?
• prayer, Bible reading, and the teaching of creation would all but be banned from public schools and other government-run places?
• the name of Christ would be increasingly taken out of Christmas?
• there would be threats to take the name of God out of the Pledge of Allegiance, and that prayer would be banned at school graduations?
• the Ten Commandments and nativity scenes would be removed from public places? … and the list goes on and on!

There’s no doubt that Christians are becoming marginalized in America.

Someone actually has begun placing disclaimers in the front of Bibles! A Delta pilot from Atlanta (and a friend of AiG) found such a sticker in the front of a Gideon Bible placed in a drawer of his Salt Lake City hotel room (pictured, right). There’s no telling how many of these stickers have been applied to other Bibles found in hotels (and other places).

As you can read, this anti-Bible sticker is related to the creation/evolution (origins) issue. Now, where did this sticker’s wording originate? Look at the sticker below. It was applied to textbooks in Cobb County, Georgia, where the school board was concerned that science books were presenting evolution as fact to its students.

The board had voted to place stickers in the front of some public school biology textbooks to inform students that evolution should be studied critically. (You probably remember the controversy that ensued when “civil rights” groups and some county residents objected; the lawsuit they filed resulted in a judge ordering the stickers to be removed. On appeal, a federal court ruled in May of this year that the case has to be retried for various reasons.)

As you compare the two stickers, you’ll quickly see that the sticker found in the hotel Bible was meant to mirror (mock) the textbook sticker. Such mockery just illustrates again that the creation/evolution controversy is really a foundational issue in the battle between secular humanism and Christianity.

At the rate things are going in America, I must admit: it wouldn’t surprise me if some liberal judges would begin mandating that such stickers be placed in Bibles.

In this vein, The Da Vinci Code movie is permeating the culture with another blatant, anti-Christian propaganda message (though it’s a work of fiction). One of its stars, Ian McKellen, a well-known gay activist/fundraiser (he also played Gandalf in the famous Lord of the Rings trilogy), answered a question about the movie on NBC-TV’s Today Show (May 17). Here’s the exchange:

NBC reporter Matt Lauer: “How would you have all felt if there was a disclaimer at the beginning of the movie? Would it have been okay with you?”

McKellen: “Well I’ve often thought the Bible should have a disclaimer in the front saying this is fiction. I mean, walking on water? It takes an act of faith and I have faith in this movie—not that it’s true—not that it’s factual—but that it’s a jolly good story …” [emphasis added].

Not long after this explosive interview, I read some Australian newspaper articles that reported on a number of hospitals that were banning Bibles from being placed in rooms. Australia’s national newspaper, The Australian (akin to USA Today), reported:

The banning of bibles in Queensland and Victorian hospitals was political correctness gone crazy, Health Minister Tony Abbott says …

Gideons International, which supplies bibles to hospitals and hotels worldwide, said it had been banned from leaving bibles at several Queensland hospitals to prevent giving offence to non-Christian patients [May 24, 2006].

A Catholic news source in Australia reported:

Almost all of Melbourne’s main hospitals have withdrawn Bibles …

In Brisbane … the Royal Brisbane and Women’s and Princess Alexandra hospitals are among the first to stop the Gideon’s testaments being left in patients’ bedside tables. Staff said the Bibles were no longer in keeping with the “multicultural approach to chaplaincy.”

Both news sources stated the Bibles could be a source of infection! One said:

It is also an infection-control measure … some claimed the Bibles were removed because they were a source of infection. Hospital spokeswoman Tanya Lobegeier said: “If someone has a cold or anything and uses the Bible, their germs could be passed on to the next person who reads it.”

Then it hit me: the Bible talks about a kind of “infection”—one that we’re all plagued with. It’s called sin! And a resulting “infection” that arises from that sin is secular evolutionary humanism, which has spread through the education system and media. This infection (evolutionary humanism) is indoctrinating millions in our once-Christianized West to believe that Christianity is a problem—that it needs to be eliminated from the culture!

The Lord is using Answers in Genesis to provide the remedy for this massive “infection” that is spreading throughout the culture and destroying so many lives (with eternal consequences for many of them). And we’re happy to report some wonderful victories. Salvation stories are plentiful, and so are testimonies of Christians who were once struggling:

I was in a spiritual rut. Then I discovered AiG and felt renewed, recharged and ready to be bold again. I am using what I learn through AiG to reach more people in a powerfully new and soul-awakening way. God bless AiG!
– V. A., Washington

Please pray for AiG and continue to support us financially as you are able while we fight this battle in the culture … at a foundational level. As you can see, there is a massive attack being waged on Christianity in today’s world.

Your gift right now is especially needed. The summer presents funding challenges for most ministries: almost all of them see a drop in donations (e.g., people are “distracted” by many things, such as vacations). Please partner with us, so that together we can provide the antidote to the infection that is attacking Christianity in America and around the world. The remedy? To proclaim the truths of God’s Word, starting from the very first verse.