by Bill Nugent
Article #118
Secularism is based on naturalism (atheistic materialism) and there is no moral code in nature. If a lion kills a zebra it’s not murder. If a lion kills another lion there is no moral question. It is simply nonmoral beasts destroying one another. The strong prevail. It’s Kill or be killed.
If human beings are simply the products of nature as our Darwinian education elite claim then there is no philosophical basis for morals, not even for the moral value of tolerance.
The principle virtue or dare I say it — the last remaining virtue — in our secular society is tolerance. In the midst of all the vulgarity and violence in our entertainment and the mass murder of the unborn in the name of choice at least secularism clings to a facade of tolerance as a smug claim to righteousness. But, as we have seen at the beginning of this article, even a cursory glance at the philosophical foundation of secularism reveals that no virtue or moral code is inherent in the secular worldview. An individual secularist may abide by morals but such morals don’t derive from the secular worldview. Such morals are mere preferences.
Since there is no real foundation for morals of any kind in secularism the moral value of tolerance is really just a thin veneer. When secularists come into power the facade of tolerance and open-mindedness quickly crumbles.
A good example of this is the secular political, utopian ideology called communism. Communism can be called secular fundamentalism. The Soviet Union of recent infamy was a thoroughly secular state. The churches were closed, ministers and priests imprisoned and any Christians who even met together were subject to arrest and shipped off to slave labor in the prison camps. The Soviets even began a brutal persecution of Jews after the time of the holocaust when worldwide sympathy for the Jews was at its peak.
Slave labor in the prison camps was a death sentence since few ever returned. The Soviets killed tens of millions this way and by other cruel ways during the seventy year orgy of hate in which they held power. For a complete documentation of secular communist murders see the book The Black Book of Communismby Courtois, Werth, Panne et al. (Available at Amazon.com).
The secular elite who control America’s courts and educational system demonstrate intolerance in that they attempt to exclude any expression of Christianity from public property. This is particularly offensive to Christians because the public sector keeps getting bigger and bigger in this era of big government. Schools, hospitals, parks, senior centers, day care centers and an increasing number of other institutions are publicly financed and run. Virtually any other ideology or political agenda can be taught, discussed and displayed but Christianity is increasingly unjustly banned.
To say that a display of the Ten Commandments is unconstitutional is easily proven false because the US constitution itself makes a verbal expression of faith in Jesus Christ. Article seven of the constitution contains the phrase “in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven.” Which Lord was born 1,787 years before the writing of the constitution? This Lord is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice that the framers of the constitution refer to the Lord as “our” Lord. They didn’t write “the” Lord or simply write “1787 A.D.” but they openly affirmed their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ by calling Him “our Lord.”
The constitution itself makes not just a passing reference to God but a specific reference to Jesus Christ and affirms the framers faith in Him. This is clear endorsement of the Christian faith. Since the constitution is the foundational contract of the American people with their government this is very significant. This reference to “our Lord” is proof positive that the USA was indeed founded as a Christian nation. The USA is not now nor ever has been a secular state.
The first amendment to the constitution rightly forbids the establishment of one Christian denomination as the state religion. In 1787 the word “religion” in the first amendment phrase “establishment of religion” meant a religious society or denomination and not the Christian faith per se. The founders kept the federal government separate from any Christian denomination but certainly did not separate the government from Christianity as a faith.
Secularism has no inherent moral code and when secularism holds power (as under communism) it has proven to be utterly intolerant. The founders of the United States clearly endorsed the Christian faith and its moral code which includes love and tolerance for thy neighbor. The Christian faith is the very foundation of our freedom.