Defining Secularism
Google defines “secularism” as “the principle of separation of the state from religious institutions.” This definition reflects the agreement of those who founded the United States of America that, in breaking with England, they would also break with the idea that the national government should have a national church. For in England, the king was head of the Church of England as well as of the nation of England. This separation of church from state was a good decision by the American founders and one from which we should never depart.
If that’s all there was to secularism today, there’d be no problem with it. The problem is unintentionally revealed in the way Google defines the cognate “secular,” which is “denoting attitudes, activities, or other things that have no religious or spiritual basis.” Notice how vastly different is Google’s definition for “secular” from their definition from “secularism” (aside from the detail that one is an adjective and the other is a noun). One definition means separation of church from state while the other means separation of God from state. These two concepts are radically different.
This conflict in definitions demonstrates how secularism is promoted in our culture today. When proponents of secularism want to get buy-in from everyone else, they define it as our nation’s founders did – separation of church and state. But once they achieve that buy-in, they insist on practicing secularism as if it means separation of God from state. Whether intended or not, it is a bait-and-switch process.
We are being forced to live with a “progressive secularism” that our founders never intended. This secularism is progressive not just because it’s consistent with progressive political ideology, but also because it’s constantly progressing by expanding its reach, like a metastasizing cancer does in a human body.
The Last Seventy Years in America
In the 1950’s, the threat of nuclear annihilation from Soviet Russia brought pervasive and palpable fear to America. U.S. citizens reacted officially and religiously:
- In 1954, we added “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance.
- In 1956, we adopted “In God We Trust” as the national motto.
- In 1957, we began imprinting the national motto on our currency.
Does anyone think that the current political climate would allow us to make similarly profound national statements about our view of God today? No. Prevailing commitments to “secularism” wouldn’t allow it. How did we get from there (the 1950’s) to here (today)?
- In 1962, the Supreme Court (in Engel v. Vitale) decided that it was unconstitutional for state officials to compose an official school prayer and encourage its recitation in public schools.
- In 1973, the Supreme Court (in Roe v. Wade) ruled that the Constitution of the United States protects a pregnant woman’s liberty to choose to have an abortion without excessive government restriction.
- In 2015, the Supreme Court (in Obergefell v. Hodges) held that the Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment bestowed all the rights and honor of marriage on “same-sex” marriage.
- In 2020, the Supreme Court (in Bostock v. Clayton County) enshrined and codified into law “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” alongside objectively-determined categories that are protected from employment discrimination like “race” and “sex.”
Note the contrast between the national statements of the 1950’s and those we’ve made since 1962. Notice also the trend line of the years since 1962.
The 1950’s were no golden age – that decade only appears as such when compared to the present time. The television age has been predominantly secular from its beginning in the early 1950’s, but the depravity that progressive secularism fosters has gotten worse with each passing decade. There is no end in sight for this downward trend line. The only hope is a reversal…a turnaround toward light.
Progressive Secularism Is Spiritual Darkness
The gospel (good news) of Jesus Christ is the light of the world. Progressive secularism is Satan’s candle snuffer that seeks to eliminate that light.
- Progressive secularism is like carbon monoxide that drives all the oxygen out of the room and suffocates the occupants.
- Progressive secularism is intentional ignorance of God designed to displace existing knowledge of God.
- Everyone knows that God exists but some seek to suppress that knowledge because of the accountability it implies (Romans 1:18-21).
- Progressive secularism demands that we all interact as if there was no God in the world. God is supposed to be absent from the public square. A congressman is allowed to justify his vote by quoting FDR, JFK, or MLK – but not JC!
Think about the fact that progressive secularism demands that both believers and unbelievers behave as unbelievers. The atheist has to make no adjustments to live in today’s secular environment. It’s suited perfectly to his worldview. What’s amazing is that believers accept such an arrangement, for progressive secularism is, in its effect, the practice of atheism!
We were sold a very limited secularism (separation of church and state) but what we got was a very expansive secularism (separation of God and state, which expands into separation of God and life). A valid American secularism only has to do with church – never with God.
Reject the Bad Bargain of Bait and Switch
Progressive secularism is an insidious monster with an insatiable appetite. It’s atheism by another name. It’s godlessness by another name. It’s actually a form of religion itself – that holds self to be the supreme being. Its purpose is to re-shape society by re-shaping individual minds – which means it’s ultimately about thought control.
Progressive secularism implies that human beings are autonomous because it allows no references to Jesus or the Bible except in private – and even those exceptions are being reduced. If you don’t think so, try bringing up Jesus as your next staff meeting at work or neighborhood block party.
Nine out of ten times that the word “secular” is used, it’s referring to progressive secularism. The tenth time it means the limited secularism that the founders designed, just long enough to assert its legality and constitutionality – and then it’s right back to the ever-expanding monster of darkness. Don’t buy it; it’s a bad bargain. God is everywhere. Practice the presence of Christ.
The Duty of a Man 