by Tom Wacaster
A recent
article in the U.S. News (April 9, 2007) reported that in America, we get an
"F" in religion. Jay Tolson reported that "roughly 9 in 10"
of our citizens believe in God, or a Supreme Being. In fact, America is widely
acknowledged to be the "most religious of modern industrialized
nations." Yet, when it comes to knowledge ABOUT religion, it ranks among
the most ill- informed in the Western world. Mr. Tolson pointed out, that
"while close to two thirds of Americans regard the Bible as a source of
answers to life's questions, only half can name even one of the New Testament
Gospels."
The present
generation has simply lost its connection to the word of God. History will
attest to the fact that the Bible was the first "reader" of the
colonists and early Americans, so much so that when they learned to read, they
read from the Bible. Early American's conducted many of their most important
civic debates, including the debate over slavery, in Biblical terms evoking
Biblical principles for decisions in matters of right and wrong on such issues.
Churches, schools, households, colleges and tract societies linked social life
to the principles of morality set forth in the Bible. Like a giant
"chain" that holds the ship to the anchor, the word of God provided a
link to social stability and moral direction. But that chain was broken in the 1960's
by secularists and since that time the ship has drifted further and further
from its moorings. Like so many falling dominoes, we began to see the
destabilization of the world in which we live. Supreme Court rulings outlawed
Bible reading and prayers in our public schools. The Bible slowly became what
Tolson called "a kind of ornament and a source of authority rather than a
book that you actually read." Over the past four decades sermons have
become more about ordinary life and less about Biblical narratives, and Sunday
schools focused more on morality than on the book that taught that
morality. The great paradox is that, while we were becoming less
knowledgeable about the basic facts of the gospel, our nation was becoming more
evangelical. The "Puritanism" of the 18th and 19th centuries gave way
to evangelical impulse in the 20th century. The mind set where we focused not
only upon the heart, but upon the head as the means of religious learning and
practice slowly gave way to a type of thinking where experience and emotion
became the predominant force in our religion. Slowly, ever so slowly, Americans
turned away from learning the facts of the Bible to expressing themselves in
terms of subjective and emotional feelings. The consequence has taught us that
we do, indeed, reap what we sow. The fruit of our failing grade in
religion is now coming to harvest. Abortion, homosexuality, gambling,
drunkenness, rebellious children, filthy language, failed marriages,
pornography, increased crime rates, ungodly and immoral leaders (and citizens)
all combine to show that America is no longer a "Christian nation."
She shed that honorable designation at least four decades ago, if not in
terminology, at least in practice.
I am not so
pessimistic as to think that the direction can be reversed, but history is
against us. Unless God's people let their voices be heard and their lives be
exemplary, this nation of 50 United States will continue to receive a failing
grade in religion. And the consequences are too horrible to even imagine.