Preaching the Faith of Secular Humanism
You may also be interested in reading the "Christianity/secular humanism Chart"
There has been a great deal of discussion in recent years regarding the taboos established by certain American courts against Christian activity on the part of teachers in public school classrooms. It is now considered unacceptable for Christian teachers to publicly appeal to our God or to discuss our faith to our captive audiences of schoolchildren.
Usually the rationale given for these taboos is the necessity for “neutrality.” The idea is that since teachers are agents of the state, they must maintain “strict neutrality” toward matters of faith.
On the surface this can seem like a logical course of action to protect students (who have no choice about being in your classroom) from undue pressure to adopt a faith-based system the same as the teacher’s faith-based system. But it is of critical and paramount importance that we realize the simple (and obvious) fact that Christian theism is not the only religion or belief system found in the United States. In particular, there is one other very powerful and widespread belief system in the United States called Secular Humanism.
The Faith of Secular Humanism
Secular Humanism is a faith-based system (i.e., a religion) whose adherents believe, among other things, that the material world is all that exists. Secular humanists believe that the highest being that exists is mankind. They do not believe in a supernatural God.
Since secular humanists do not believe in God, obviously they do not believe in a Creator. They hypothesize (in spite of strong scientific evidence to the contrary) that life simply sprang into existence, through a process of chance events. Higher life forms came into existence, they believe (again in spite of strong evidence to the contrary) through the process of biological evolution. They believe these things on the basis of faith, as many of the more honest scientists who are evolutionists have admitted. (You may wish to read some of these quotes.) Many scientists who are evolutionists have explained that to believe in a supernatural God is not “scientific” (in their minds). Therefore they hypothesize evolution to explain the existence of life. They hope to find evidence to support their hypothesis, but so far the vast predominance of evidence points to a Designer Creator. (You may wish to read some of it here.)
Since, to secular humanists, God does not exist, any appeal to His authority would be considered to be foolish. The only authority that secular humanists appeal to is the authority of men who are perceived to be highly educated, brilliant and wise.
Secular humanists believe the Bible to be simply a book of human traditions and ideas. To them, it has no authority. The only writings that have authority for them would be the writing of men and women whom they perceive to be especially brilliant and wise.
Secular humanists generally reject the concepts of moral absolutes and of “sin.” In a situation in which Christians might see a need for repentance and forgiveness and forsaking sinful behavior, secular humanists would more likely see a need for every person to decide for himself what is right or wrong, and to try to build personal self-esteem regardless of an individual’s behavior.
While a Christian’s goals are determined by God and are influenced by the reality of an eternity after this life has passed, the secular humanist goals are entirely focused on this present physical existence.
Faith Masquerading as Neutrality
Now consider the situation in our public schools.
It’s ok for a teacher to talk about the supremacy of man, but not the supremacy of God.
It’s ok for a teacher to teach evolution without a Creator, but not Creation.
It’s ok for a teacher to quote and be an advocate for the teachings of great men, but not those of the Bible.
It’s ok to tell students that they must determine their moral values for themselves, but not ok to tell them that they should consider establishing their moral values on the basis of the Bible.
It’s ok to tell students that their goals should be to achieve academic success or financial success in this life. It is not ok to tell them of the importance of thinking in terms of eternal life.
It’s ok to tell students that they must feel good about themselves, but not ok to tell them that they must repent of sin.
This state of affairs is proclaimed to be “neutral.” To any thinking person, it is obviously not neutral at all. It is the proclamation of faith—the faith of secular humanism. But since it represents the faith of many judges in the U.S. judicial system, it seems pleasantly “neutral” enough to them, I suppose.
In fact, a bit of thinking will make it clear that in these matters there is really no such thing as “neutrality” at all! Either one communicates that God exists, or one doesn’t. Either one communicates the supremacy and glory of man or one doesn’t. Either one believes in evolution or one doesn’t. Either one believes in a Creator or one doesn’t.
The Goal Must Be Freedom—Not Mythical “Neutrality”
Our goal in the public classroom should not be to achieve neutrality. That is an impossible objective. It cannot be done, because neutrality does not exist. Our goal should be for both teachers and students to have freedom to express (or not express) their beliefs in an environment where no student or teacher is being pressured, forced or manipulated to pretend that he or she believes something which he or she really does not believe. Currently, the primary problem is that Christian students and teachers are frequently being expected to pretend that they are secular humanists while at school.
If a student asks, "How do you think life came into existence in the first place?" or "How do you make decisions when things get tough in life?" or "What do you think people's highest goals should be?" or "How can you stay calm when things are falling apart all around you?", a teacher should be able to give an honest (but non-manipulative) answer. It is not neutral to answer these questions humanistically. To answer these questions without reference to God is essentially to give an answer based on the faith of secular humanism!
Exaltation of man, evolution, self-esteem, goal-setting in terms of this life only, the use of the Bible as a merely a book of men’s thinking and tradition, etc. are all considered to be neutral. In fact, they are not neutral at all! They are all part of the foundational belief system of secular humanism.
How can we achieve a more equitable state of affairs? In a word, “freedom.”
Of course, our goal is not to change the situation so that secular humanists cannot be heard (as secular humanists have pretty successfully done to Christians!). Our goal is an atmosphere and environment of freedom to express beliefs—freedom for students and freedom for teachers.
You might wonder how such freedom could work out practically in a classroom. Here are some sample statements that should all be acceptable in a classroom. In order to emphasize that no one’s freedoms are being attacked or undermined, each of these statements might be accompanied by a comment such as, “This is my personal belief. I’m certainly not trying to tell you that you must be just like me!”
“Personally, I look to God for wisdom in situations like this.”
“Personally, I look to the wisdom of great men in situations like this.”
“Personally, I think that I was struggling with depression because I had violated God’s moral laws and need to deal with the problem of sin in my life.”
“Personally, I think that I was struggling with depression because I had such low self-esteem.”
“Personally, I believe that the evidence we currently have supports the Creation of life by a Supernatural Creator God.”
“Personally, I believe that the evidence we currently have supports evolution.”
“Personally, I think it is important for each of us to make decisions in light of eternity.”
“Personally, I think it is important for each of us to enjoy this life while we can, since there is nothing more after it’s over.”
“Personally, I have found the Bible to be a source of great peace in my life.”
“Personally, I have found the writings of Marcus Aurelius to be a source of great peace in my life.”
A quick reading of these pairs of statements will make it quite obvious that one belief system is considered to be acceptable for teachers today, while the other is considered to be taboo in many places.
You might ask, “But how could we make sure that a teacher is not using the classroom situation to manipulate students to accept his or her beliefs?” That problem would be dealt with just like any other problems teachers may and do have—on a case-by-case basis.
Our country was established primarily for freedom. In public education we have moved dangerously close to establishing a state religion—the religion of secular humanism. And in doing so, we have begun the process of denying freedoms to those whose belief systems are contrary to that of the secular humanists. This is an intolerable situation.
What can Christians do?
Pray that God will raise up judges across our country who value freedom more than they value secular humanism.
Vote for elected officials who stand for freedom and will support the nomination and confirmation of judges who do the same.
Voice your concerns at every opportunity.
(Copyright © 2005, Steve Hall)
You may also be interested in reading the "Christianity/secular humanism Chart"
