Can the Creator of everything be irrelevant to anything , public or private ?
liberty so intimately in their minds , that it is impossible to make them conceive the one without the other . [ p . 287 ]” 1
Tocqueville noted how different this was from his native France , where religion was relegated to private matters and not mixed with civil affairs . This French way of doing things was signed into law in 1905 , banning all religious expressions in civil affairs . The practice has a name . It ’ s called laïcité [ lay ’ -seetay ’], which literally means secularity .
But America is uniquely different . At least , we used to be !
As shocking as it might sound to our twenty-first-century minds , the U . S . Supreme Court declared in 1892 : “ Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings of The Redeemer of mankind . It is impossible that it should be otherwise ; and in this sense and to this extent , our civilization and our institutions are emphatically Christian .” 2 [ emphasis added ]
Today , the biblical plumbline that Americans formerly used for assessing law , government , economics , education , marriage , family , and gender has been replaced by a different measuring stick . It often goes by the name “ humanism .” Sometimes , by “ secular humanism .” Sometimes , “ secularism .” One might call it “ secularity .”
How ’ s this new measuring stick working out ?
There has been a major sleight of hand in our land . America is turning French . 3
The outcome of secularism has been the privatization of Christianity and the division of life into two separate realms : the “ sacred ” and the “ secular .” But if Jesus is Lord of all , then where exactly is this so-called “ secular ” realm ? Think about it . If Christ is irrelevant to any sort of governance , civil or otherwise , then He ’ s not really Christ . Can the Creator of everything be irrelevant to anything , public or private ?
Our challenge now is to eliminate the Sacred / Secular Divide from our thinking . Especially from the thinking of pastors , Christian educators , and parents . Why ? Because if it can be rooted from the minds of pastors , Christian educators , and parents , there is hope pastors can root it from their congregants ’ minds , teachers from their students ’ minds , and parents from their children ’ s minds .
The process of eliminating SSD is not a quick and easy fix . It takes a focused effort to re-train deeply entrenched habits of the mind . We have been duped for a long time , and getting “ un-duped ” takes some work .
A lot is at stake ! What started out as the privatization of Christianity in a civil society is rapidly progressing toward the demonization of Christianity in an uncivil society . ■
Dr . Christian Overman is the author of Assumptions That Affect Our Lives and God ’ s Pleasure at Work : The Difference One Life Can Make . Dr . Overman has taught on biblical worldview and Christian education across America and Central America , South America , Europe , Africa , and Asia . He and his wife , Kathy , have four adult children and twelve grandchildren . Contact Dr . Overman at overman @ biblical worldview . com .
ENDNOTES 1 . Alexis de Tocqueville , Democracy in America , Henry Reeves , trans . ( New York , NY : George Dearborn & Co ., 1838 ), 281-287 . 2 . Church of the Holy Trinity v . U . S ., 143 U . S . 457 ( 1892 ). 3 . This is not a putdown of the French people but a reference to the French policy of laïcité .
� Free Course Available
To help in the process of eliminating SSD , RenewaNation is making available a free course created by Dr . Christian Overman for pastors , Christian educators , parents , and high school students called Eliminating the Sacred / Secular Divide .
Access the course at www . bit . ly / Eliminating SacredSecularDivide .
� Unfamiliar with SSD ?
A 5-minute video called “ Not Far Away ” will introduce you to the problem .
View at www . bit . ly / NotFarAwayVideo .
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