“ One of our great allies at present is the Church itself. Do not misunderstand me. I do not mean the Church as we see her spread out through all time and space and rooted in eternity, terrible as an army with banners.” C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters
“I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were
already kindled….Do you think that I have come to bring peace on earth? No, I
tell you, but rather division.” Luke 12:49, 51
I am currently
reading a book that is at times a joy to read, and other times a
vexation. The book is Impossible People: Christian Courage and
the Struggle for the Soul of Civilization by Os Guinness. Where I was reading a few days ago, Guinness
said that there is a direct link between the militancy of atheism and the
intolerance of the Church, chiefly the European Church. In other words, if the Church had not been so
oppressive and hurtful, atheists would not be so vehement in their rejection of
religion as a whole, i.e. Christendom caused Atheism. From this, Mr. Guinness goes on to say that
modern Christians, specifically Western ones, should humbly beg forgiveness for
the alleged cruelties of the Church’s past. We should also, according to him, cease
our culture war with the secularists, and admit to the fact that we live in a
post-Christian society. Christendom
needs to stop trying to restore the past, but to lay down their arms and form a
new alliance with the Secularists and Atheists so we may all create a new
peaceful society for the sake of freedom.
Some of this I find
laughable, the rest I find sickening. To begin, the idea that Atheism exists because of Christendom is so absurd
it can barely be taken seriously. Those who reject God need no help from other
people, Christians or otherwise. This is
giving the Church too much credit. I
would also state those who claim to be Atheist because they have been hurt by Christians
are merely using their pain as an excuse, and they fail to recognize that
followers of Christ still suffer as humans. As the Apostle Paul tells us, “I do
not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” (Rom. 7:15) As for
Christians apologizing for the past, stopping the culture war, and allying with
our opponents to create a peaceful and free future, the whole idea is
senseless.
Yes, nearly every
Christian today will admit that Christendom has had its dark times where sinful men or even non-Christians were in charge and did terrible things in the name of
God. These must answer for their own sins, those who are innocent should not be
held to account. Also, how drastic the sins of past Christendom were is often a
matter of opinion or in some cases propaganda.
Even the most ruinous times in Christendom were nothing compared to wickedness
of any ancient heathen or modern secularist state. The darkest eras of
Christendom were still within the shadows of the Light, Godlessness is only
dark continually. “If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the
darkness” (Matt. 6:23) “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has
not overcome it.” (John 1:5)
