“Anti-Christian culture” topped a list of the 10 most important issues facing today’s families in an Internet survey by LifeWay Christian Resources.
“Removing ‘Christ’ from Christmas, banning references to the Ten Commandments, outlawing public prayer, there seems to be a lot of resistance to acknowledgment of the sovereignty of God,” says a Web page announcing the No. 1 topic. “Why is the culture so sensitive to faith? Has a purely materialistic view of the universe become so dominant that matters of belief cannot be tolerated in public?
“What principles of behavior and right dealing can serve as universal values in place of the Christian Gospel? Is a culture that enshrines absolute freedom and radical individualism safe from itself?
“The answer is not known, but one thing is certain–if we continue on this path, it will be.”
In November 2005, the Internet strategies department of LifeWay, an entity of the Southern Baptist Convention, began soliciting participation in the Top 10 Issues Facing Today’s Family online research project.
From the initial list of responses, LifeWay compiled the 20 most frequently submitted answers and sent that list to the original survey respondents. During January, those participants used the same Internet survey tool to rank their top 10 from among those 20 issues.
LifeWay technology marketing manager Gary McClure said in an audio clip that hot-button social issues like pornography, abortion and homosexuality didn’t make the list, while more immediate concerns like materialism (No. 10), balancing work and family (No. 9), financial pressures (No. 6) and Divorce (No. 2) did.
McClure said the No. 1 concern, anti-Christian culture, is “a summation of all the other issues” on the list. “We’re living in an age when our Christian heritage is really being stripped away and being minimalized by society,” he said.
“While the government emphasizes the separation of church and state, the majority of our citizens also recognize that this country was founded on religious freedoms AND God,” said one respondent in a comments section. “Atheists, who represent a very small minority of our population, have had great success keeping this reality out of our schools, judicial system and the public view.”
“Our children are being bombarded in school and in all types of media with anti-Christian propaganda,” said another. “The majority has allowed the extreme minority to dictate social agenda.”
“Christianity seems to be a dirty word and even though it is wholesome and better for a community, it is not looked upon as that way in our day and age,” said a respondent from Hawaii.
“The NEA and public schools have access to our children more than any other entity,” read a comment from Independence, Kan. “Even the church struggles to get even a portion of a child’s time. Due to this fact, the children are indoctrinated into a worldly, politically correct mindset. A mindset in opposition to God’s mindset.”
“The ACLU continues to attack our schools and government entities anytime expressions of Christian values, beliefs, etc. are brought up in these settings,” read another comment. “Christian parents are continually faced with the decision about where their children can get the best education without sacrificing their Christian values.”
Suggested resources for addressing anti-Christian culture include four books published by LifeWay’s Broadman & Holman publishing division: ACLU vs. America by Alan Sears and Craig Osten; Countering Culture: Arming Yourself to Confront Non-Biblical Worldviews by David Noebel and Chuck Edwards; a textbook titled Thinking Like a Christian; and So Help Me God by former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore.
Bob Allen is managing editor of EthicsDaily.com.
Managing editor at EthicsDaily.com from 2003-2009, Allen wrote more than 1,500 news stories during his tenure.
