The temptation of anger in response to militant atheism
By Mark McIntyre
In Rhode Island, Jessica Ahlquist has been the front for a lawsuit against her school district. The result of the lawsuit is that the school must remove the School Prayer from their walls. It is also reported that threats have been made against the girl and she has been the target of verbal abuse. A photo of the prayer pulled from the linked article is shown at right.
I understand the anger at and frustration with a court system which is increasingly opposed to Christianity. I understand how difficult it is to see a militant minority run roughshod over what has been the foundation of our culture for over 200 years. So I get the anger and the desire to lash out.
I feel the need to remind myself and others of a few things in response to this.
- James reminds us that we are to be “slow to anger” because “the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.” (James 1:19-20) Nothing of eternal value will result in responding in anger.
- Matthew 22:39 tells us that the second great command is to love our neighbor. Jesus used the story of the Good Samaritan to illustrate who our neighbor is. This girl in Rhode Island is our neighbor and we are commanded to love her.
- Paul tells us in Ephesians 2:1 that apart from Christ we are spiritually dead. We should not be surprised when spiritually dead people make spiritually dead choices.
‘Like’ The Poached Egg on Facebook! Follow @ThePoachedEgg Certainly threats and abuse toward Jessica are the wrong response on both a practical and a moral level. They accomplish nothing of temporal or eternal value…
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The temptation of anger in response to militant atheism | Attempts at Honesty
“I understand the anger at and frustration with a court system which is increasingly opposed to Christianity. I understand how difficult it is to see a militant minority run roughshod over what has been the foundation of our culture for over 200 years.”
Wow, how incredibly selfish. You want public schools, which have students of different religious views, to promote religious ideas that match your religion — no regard for the religious views of students who may disagree.
Notice that the school is finally being neutral instead of promoting religion. What can possibly be wrong about that?
Brian,
Actually yes, I do believe public schools should and do promote specific understandings of the world.
Your understanding of neutral is not in fact neutral. You are promoting a specific religious understanding of the world. In particular it is an understanding of the world that says that religious truth does not really matter in the “real” world and therefore we do not have to worry about promoting one idea over another idea because they are all equally invalid. Schools apparently should be places that promote only real ideas, and by implication all religious ideas are unreal. These ideas are often just implied by supposed neutral policies, but in many classes and curriculum it is made explicit that religion is not really real.
You may think you are neutral, but you are not. You have specific ideas about what is real and what is not real, and by forcing other ideas out of the public square you are promoting your own ideas to the exclusion of others.
I think Christianity can be demonstrated to be true and in fact should be taught to my children as truth. I also think that many of the ideas that have lead to the flourishing of freedom and justice in America have come a Christian understanding of the world. Therefore, I have no trouble advocating for the right to promote specific truths in public that come from a Christian worldview. Now this does not mean those truths should be unchallenged or untested, but rather that we only when we understand our own history and culture can we truly engage other cultures honestly.
I would encourage you to examine your own worldview and see how distinct it is from other worldviews, and that you are being just as “selfish” as others when you try to exclude other view points from the public square.
“You are promoting a specific religious understanding of the world. In particular it is an understanding of the world that says that religious truth does not really matter in the “real” world and therefore we do not have to worry about promoting one idea over another idea because they are all equally invalid.”
Of course not. Having schools stay OUT of religion isn’t promoting a religious view.
“I would encourage you to examine your own worldview and see how distinct it is from other worldviews, and that you are being just as “selfish” as others when you try to exclude other view points from the public square.”
And now you’re just lying about me. This wasn’t a case of “the public square” because students were not allowed to put anything they like on school walls.
Very well said, Mike. Thanks so much for the comment!