Why Christians Can’t Live in a Secular Society

Christianity is still a very dominant force in the lives of everyday Americans. Many people still believe in god, although that is certainly decreased, especially among young people. There is a new desire to live in a far more secular society based on shared values that aren’t based on religion but rather on agreed norms encoded in law. However, as society moves towards that, people who hold religious values are vocally rebelling against this change. Why can’t Christians exist in a secular society?

The Pluralism of Religion

Christians can’t live in a secular society because too many people’s beliefs are dependent on constant visual and social reminders of their god. I maintain that because of this simple truth the faith of a variety of christians simply can’t hold up under a secular society or a plurality of religion. Although this country was founded by men who were hardly religions and one of them an atheist (Ben Franklin) there has been this idea that “god” (protestant, white, and male) has been at the center of this country. Many people would have you believe that the Founding Fathers practically wrote the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution on their knees in church at the direction of Jehovah himself. However, the historical record would disagree. However, thanks to a revival of church-going and religions in the 1840s, the past 160 years have been steeped in christian dialogue and symbology in many facets of public life. This behavior became so common that Congress added the words, “under god” to the Pledge of Allegiance in 1959 to combat “godless communism.” Having god in every area of public life was a touchstone issue for Barry Goldwater in 1964. The rise of fundamental christianity in all its forms only gave more fuel to the fire.

The Modern Battle Cry

The modern battle cry really started in the post-modern movements of the 1960s. In the face of a progressive agenda in the United States and competing communism in the Soviet Union it seemed to religious fundamentals that what the exploding world needed was tradition and morals derived from a literal interpretation of the Bible. Fundamental Christians represented 24 million votes who believed that the only way America was going to survive the “onslaught” of the progressive agenda promoting homosexuality, pornography, women’s liberation, birth control, open relationships, and other things that flew in the face of the established traditional order people clung to. Those 24 million votes galvanized around Ronald Reagan and put him the White House in 1980. Ronald Reagan responded to that with policies we are still feeling the effects of to this day. The real crux of the problem is that a desire for markers of religion in government is really a plea for a more traditional order within society. For Christians a secular society is not just an attack on their religion it is destroying a traditional order that they refuse to leave behind.

Traditional Order in Society

Christians can’t and won’t live in a secular society because they believe that a strong belief in god, reflected in society, is the lynchpin of a strong traditional social order. Without god in society the very fabric of the order falls apart. In a secular society, gay people can get married, women can have free access to birth control, pornography is not an issue as long as it does not harm non-consenting adults, and these social issues simply fade away from public consciousness. Many Christians, particularly fundamentalists do not want to live in a society where these things are present. Keeping god in the public eye is a way or preventing that. By using these public places they are working to force society to stay in a traditional order that it simply no longer wants to keep.

The Bottom Line

The values of Christianity and the values of a truly secular and pluralistic society simply don’t mesh. Religion is incredibly valuable but it can hold society back from creating a more equitable future. The reality is that religion is a construct. We are real people with real problems. Religion will simply have to adjust.