Love him or loathe him, President Ronald Reagan is remembered for his pithy observations about the state of the nation—and none, it turns out, more chillingly prescient than: “If we ever forget that we are one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under.”
Judged by the cultural shambles in which we currently live, America’s 40th President was speaking no less than the truth. That, at least seems to be the conclusion to be drawn from a survey by LifeWay Research, the research arm of the Southern Baptist Convention.
According to LifeWay, the culture war may be lost and religious liberty might not be that far behind.
Some 70 percent of senior pastors at Protestant churches say religious liberty is on the decline in the United States, while 59 percent of Christians believe they are losing the culture war, and 11 percent consider it already lost.
The survey’s findings raise “grave concerns about the moral direction of the nation from both the pulpit and the pew,” says Ed Stetzer, Lifeway’s president.
“Ten years ago we were talking about who would win the culture war, and now we’re talking about how will Christian rights be protected after the culture war. We’ve lost our home field advantage.” This “home field advantage” is the subject of this year’s Lenten Series. America’s unique national culture was, from the very beginning, forged by the Christian faith. This year’s Lenten Series will explore the way in which Christianity founded, shaped, and molded our republic—socially, artistically, legally, and politically.
The five part series begins at about 6:45 PM, after Evening Prayer, on Wednesday, February 21st, and will conclude on Wednesday, March 21st. Each presentation, each lasting about an hour, will be self-contained, so that participants need not feel “lost at sea” if they miss one or two.
As usual we will be offering not just food for thought, but food for the body as well—hearty soup, the best bread in Baltimore, and beverages.
Over the past few years, hundreds of instances of religious persecution have been documented in the U.S. And the targets have been exclusively Christians.
Evangelical Christians and Catholics have been labeled religious extremists by the military. Similarly the military has listed Christian organizations including the Family Research Council and American Family Association as domestic hate groups. Students have been ordered to stop praying in front of the Supreme Court, and military and civilian chaplains have been told they can no longer pray in Jesus’ name.
Please join us to study issues that affects Christians of of every persuasion. GPH✠
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