What's so great about 'separation of church and state'?



Freedom of expression, universal suffrage, and separation of church and state. Our country prides itself on these foundational principles.

In fact, for many Americans, the document enshrining these principles has become an object of almost religious veneration. The Constitution is no mere legal agreement, but a sacred covenant between people and power, a reminder that no king or cleric can rule over us without our consent.

The church historically has always possessed and asserted its temporal powers. It rebuked kings. It crowned emperors. It waged wars, both literal and spiritual.

But what if I told you that some of these foundational principles themselves are the root cause of the current tyranny you’re facing?

Fathers know best?

Let’s take the separation of church and state, for example. The founding fathers, influenced by the Enlightenment, were pioneers of the democratic republic system, meaning they harbored a strong distaste for the theocratic monarchies that populated the European nations for much of the medieval and early modern eras. They saw the union of throne and altar as a source of corruption and oppression.

Many, though not all, leaned toward a rationalist or deist conception of God, meaning they conceived of God as one who designed the universe but refrained from interfering in human affairs. They admired natural law, not revealed law. They were wary of ecclesial authority, especially when it mingled with politics.

So they did something radical: They stripped the church of temporal power. Their primary aim, we’re sometimes told, was the promotion of religious freedom. But that’s simply not the case. The primary objective was to remove the church’s power in government affairs.

RELATED: Yes, Ken Burns, the founding fathers believed in God — and His 'divine Providence'

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Domesticating God

For this reason, they saw fit to design a country that domesticated God, keeping Him confined to the church building. The rest of society and the government, in turn, were to be packaged within a professional secularist framework. “God” was not to meddle with the affairs of men. Hence, the separation of church and state.

Except, that’s not what really happened. A separation never really occurred. It was more of a replacement.

Religious vacuum

Sure, the church lost its temporal powers. But something else filled the religious vacuum. Something else always fills the religious vacuum. Remove one orthodoxy, and another takes its place. And that alternative orthodoxy was secular liberalism.

Instead of priests, we have an endless array of “highly qualified” experts and bureaucrats telling us what the truth is (and inversely what the heresies are). Instead of a bishop crowning a king, we have TV stations announcing the results of our newly elected leaders. Instead of trusting God, we trust “science.”

And then we wonder why we’ve gone so astray. We ask ourselves why we’ve lost all sense of tradition and God. Why does it feel like morality is made up on the spot? Why do our traditionally Christian institutions seem powerless to resist the tides of culture?

It’s because, from the beginning, we accepted the premise that God should not interfere with the affairs of men.

Head and body

I’m aware I speak harshly. But I’m also speaking truly. I grew up believing in the concept of separation of church and state. But the older I get, and the more I peel back the layers of history, the more I realize it was the wrong move. The founding fathers were simply wrong.

Ask yourself what a church is. Is it just a house of worship? No, it’s more than that, right? It’s the body of Christ, after all. So if Christ is head of the church, how is His body serving Him? What action is the body taking? What powers does the body possess? Jesus Christ isn’t just a brain floating in a vat. As head of the church, He has a fully operational and functional body that bends the world to His whim.

The church historically has always possessed and asserted its temporal powers. It rebuked kings. It crowned emperors. It waged wars, both literal and spiritual. It wrestled with the powers of the world, and often won. It has always had real power. It’s only today in our modern society that we believe it belongs nestled away in a hall full of pews.

Secular vision

And yet we are so immersed in secularism that we can barely recognize it as one ideology among others. It is simply "reality," a reality that distorts our understanding of the past. As Andrew Willard Jones writes in "Before Church and State: A Study of Social Order in the Sacramental Kingdom of St. Louis IX,"

Our own vision is secular. Even when we acknowledge the importance of religion, we do so from within the assumption of the secular: that reality itself is ultimately free of the religious. Religions come and go; they are relative. The secular is permanent; it is absolute and universal. To us, the secular is the field on which the game of history—including religious history—is played. Within this secular vision, religion as a sociological category is often considered inessential to the concept of society itself. In this view, religious societies are, in a sense, accidentally religious: their religion can fade away. Secular societies, for their part, do not seem to have a religion proper to themselves at all, even if some individuals within them are religious.

Imagine you were in the middle of a nasty divorce. Ask yourself, could the church overrule the court? In Revelation 2:14, Jesus reprimands the church of Pergamum for tolerating sexual immorality. What is no-fault divorce except for legalized adultery? Yet today, our churches passively accept it and are unable to demand any kind of legal standing in court. Do we think we’re any different than the church of Pergamum?

Likewise, the state has redefined marriage to include same-sex unions. Where is the separation there? Where was it when the state invaded the church’s sacramental territory?

The truth is that the separation of church and state has never been real. It is an illusion. The state always imposes and enforces a theology, whether it’s Christian or not. Which means that the state is the church. And the church is the state. I would go so far as to say that the church cannot be even classified as the church unless it is the state.

If we want a re-emergence of Christendom, it means the church needs to once again wield state power. There’s no getting around it.

How atheism created a terrorist — but his bomb shattered secularism's illusions



Last month, a 25-year-old named Guy Edward Bartkus set off a bomb at American Reproductive Centers, an IVF clinic in Palm Springs, California. Four people were injured, and the FBI said that Bartkus was killed in the blast that tore through the building.

Akil Davis, assistant director of the FBI Los Angeles field office, called it “the largest bombing scene that we’ve had in Southern California.”

Without any standard, we should not be surprised when man begins to act like the animal that secular atheism claims he is.

Though the clinic endured heavy damage and a nearby car was crumpled in a burned heap, Dr. Maher Abdallah, who leads the clinic, said that no eggs or embryos were harmed.

“Thank God today happened to be a day that we have no patients,” said Abdallah. “We are heartbroken to learn that this event claimed a life and caused injuries, and our deepest condolences go out to the individuals and families affected. Our mission has always been to help build families, and in times like these, we are reminded of just how fragile and precious life is. In the face of this tragedy, we remain committed to creating hope — because we believe that healing begins with community, compassion, and care.”

Abdallah’s view of life stands in stark contrast to the bomber’s, as the FBI has confirmed this was an intentional act of terrorism spurred by his ideological position.

In an online manifesto, Bartkus said he was a “pro-mortalist.” Pro-mortalism is the belief that death is better than life and is supposedly motivated by the desire to end suffering.

It is related to anti-natalism, or efilism, as Bartkus called it, which is the belief that it is morally evil to have children.

His manifesto shows that Bartkus viewed humans as parasitic to the planet and other life forms. He also showed a hatred toward religion and God, stating that he preferred Satan over God.

Though he is being called a nihilist, Bartkus saw a difference between his views and nihilism, saying that “religion is retarded but there is objective value in the universe and it lies in the harm being experienced by sentient beings.”

Bartkus also said that “we need a war against pro-lifers.”

He referred to a friend he called “Sophie,” who allegedly had recently committed suicide, and that the two of them had agreed that if one died, the other would also die soon after. He claimed that they both had borderline personality disorder.

In an audio recording, he said that he was committing the attack because “it just comes down to I’m angry that I exist and that, you know, nobody got my consent to bring me here” and “I’m very against [IVF], it’s extremely wrong. These are people who are having kids after they’ve sat there and thought about it. How much more stupid can it get?”

How did we get here?

Though the philosophies to which Bartkus ascribed are not commonly known, they are gaining popularity, even being taught in university courses and recently being platformed by outlets such as the New Yorker.

I believe that these philosophies are not new, but are the logical progression of secular atheism and a society that increasingly is entitled, despises religion, and sees no meaning in life.

Our culture has been systematically stripped of its religious and moral values and our very foundation for what makes life meaningful.

When you tell people from the time they are children that the universe is an accident, life is hopeless, and that man, who is no different from animals, is a parasite destroying the planet, you cannot then expect that they will grow into happy and fulfilled people.

When you lie to people daily that we are in imminent peril of a man-made climate cataclysm that will destroy ourselves and all life on Earth because we are selfish and use fossil fuels, you should expect that at least some of them will begin to believe you.

When you champion the idea that the only life that has value is one free of suffering and promote euthanasia as a solution, you should not be shocked when young people act on such an idea and seek not only to kill themselves and the unborn but to harm those who would bring life into the world.

The reality is that secular atheism — with its desire to eliminate God and any objective morality and meaning grounded in religion — has effectively doomed mankind. All secularism has to offer is: “Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.”

Unfortunately, that isn’t enough, as most people will still seek meaning and purpose. And many will still find that all the supposed fun to be had doesn’t outweigh the hardships and suffering in life.

Without any standard, we should not be surprised when man begins to act like the animal that secular atheism claims he is.

What is the answer to the questions of life, meaning, and suffering?

In short, thankfulness — not thankfulness alone, but thankfulness to God.

G.K. Chesterton — the great author, philosopher, and apologist of the 19th and early 20th centuries — discussed this idea throughout his life, but I want to focus on what he said near the end of his life in his autobiography. You can read the book for free here.

In the final chapter, entitled “The God with the Golden Key,” Chesterton wrote that the “chief idea of my life” was “the idea of taking things with gratitude, and not taking things for granted.”

From his childhood, Chesterton said he had an almost “violently vivid sense of those two dangers; the sense that the experience must not be spoilt by presumption or despair.”

"To take a convenient tag out of my first juvenile book of rhymes, I asked through what incarnations or prenatal purgatories I must have passed, to earn the reward of looking at a dandelion," he wrote. "But in substance what I said about the dandelion is exactly what I should say about the sunflower or the sun, or the glory which (as the poet said) is brighter than the sun. The only way to enjoy even a weed is to feel unworthy even of a weed."

Chesterton noted two other perspectives on the dandelion: that of the pessimist, who saw the dandelion as meaningless, and the “offensive optimist,” who complained by comparing the dandelion to what one may find elsewhere.

He reasoned that such comparisons are “ultimately based on the strange and staggering heresy that a human being has a right to dandelions; that in some extraordinary fashion we can demand the very pick of all the dandelions in the garden of Paradise; that we owe no thanks for them at all and need feel no wonder at them at all; and above all no wonder at being thought worthy to receive them. Instead of saying, like the old religious poet, ‘What is man that Thou carest for him, or the son of man that Thou regardest him?’ we are to say like the discontented cabman, ‘What’s this?’ or like the bad-tempered Major in the club, ‘Is this a chop fit for a gentleman?’”

Chesterton said that younger generations had developed a sense of entitlement to their “right to happiness” and “right to life,” all while claiming that there was no divine source for those rights.

Chesterton responded by saying that rights “came from where the dandelion came from; and that they will never value either without recognizing its source.”

Life includes suffering, but that doesn’t mean it is without meaning or that it isn’t worth living.

He added, “And in that ultimate sense uncreated man, man merely in the position of the babe unborn, has no right even to see a dandelion; for he could not himself have invented either the dandelion or the eyesight.”

Secular atheism, he argued, logically leads to the types of despairing philosophies that Bartkus ascribed to, which undermine the beauty of life.

“When first it was even hinted that the universe may not be a great design, but only a blind and indifferent growth, it ought to have been perceived instantly that this must for ever forbid any poet to retire to the green fields as to his home, or to look at the blue sky for his inspiration,” Chesterton stated.

"There would be no more of any such traditional truth associated with green grass than with green rot or green rust; no more to be recalled by blue skies than by blue noses amputated in a freezing world of death," he wrote. "When there is no longer even a vague idea of purposes or presences, then the many-colored forest really is a rag-bag and all the pageant of the dust only a dustbin. We can see this realization creeping like a slow paralysis over all those of the newest poets who have not reacted towards religion. Their philosophy of the dandelion is not that all weeds are flowers; but rather that all flowers are weeds. Indeed it reaches to something like nightmare; as if Nature itself were unnatural."

Chesterton did not mean that everything in life is always pleasant or beautiful, but that overall, life is a gift from God.

Life includes suffering, but that doesn’t mean it is without meaning or that it isn’t worth living.

But the only way for life to have meaning, or to make sense of the troubles in life, is through God.

The way forward

I sympathize with those who have been failed by the secular philosophers, teachers, politicians, and other “experts” who have given them nothing to look forward to but suffering.

I am a man who has suffered little but does not suffer well. I understand why people like Bartkus feel as though they wish they had never been born. In their worldview, there truly is nothing to give them hope through life’s toils and tribulations.

But for the Christian, there is always meaning, purpose, and hope.

And when one becomes a Christian, it is with the knowledge that we do not deserve anything but God’s wrath for eternity. The key to life is understanding this and knowing that every good thing we experience is the result of God’s grace.

I share with you an anecdote from the 18th-century preacher Matthew Henry that has helped me when I have been suffering.

Henry was on his way home one night when he was robbed. That night Henry wrote in his journal:

I thank Thee first because I was never robbed before; second, because although they took my purse, they did not take my life; third, although they took my all, it was not much; and fourth, because it was I who was robbed and not I who robbed.

As a Christian, there is always something to be thankful to God for — even if in the moment it doesn’t seem like it.

To avoid future tragedies like that of Guy Edward Bartkus, let us endeavor even more to counter the lies of secularism and our pro-death culture with the truth and hope of Jesus Christ and to teach people that peace and happiness will only come from humbly thanking God for every good gift He chooses to bestow on us.

This article is adapted from an essay originally published at Liberty University's Standing for Freedom Center.

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Lead satanist who plotted 'Black Mass' apparently turns violent, gets marched out of Kansas Capitol in handcuffs



Forces of light and darkness converged Friday on the Kansas Capitol in Topeka, where the anti-Christian hate group Satanic Grotto planned to hold a "Black Mass" ceremony.

With Shawnee County sheriff's deputies and members of the Knights of Columbus reportedly posted outside, nearby Catholic churches were packed full of the faithful, engaged in Eucharistic Adoration and prayer for the conversion of the satanists, who detailed in advance their intention to dedicate the statehouse to the devil, destroy Bibles, break crucifixes, denounce Christ, and perform "rites to the black mass."

The steps on the south side of the state Capitol were also crowded by opponents of the diabolic, who prayed the rosary under an American flag and amid Jerusalem Cross flags with a bagpiper occasionally blasting tunes to popular hymns.

As promised, lead satanist and founder of the Satanic Grotto Michael Stewart flouted Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly's directive to keep outside the state Capitol, where he was permitted to engage in provocative displays of anti-Catholic bigotry that were pre-emptively condemned by the Catholic Archdiocese of Kansas City and most state legislators, with the exception of 15 Democrats.

The satanist entered the statehouse, turned violent while dedicating the building to the devil, and was confronted by the only authority he recognizes, video showed.

Footage taken inside on the first floor of the rotunda shows a young onlooker interrupting Stewart's unsanctioned satanic ritual, allegedly grabbing the satanist's mock communion wafer.

Stewart, whose satanic code states that "only might is right and violence is the ultimate source of all authority," appears in the video to viciously attack the individual who interrupted him, throwing at least two punches before law enforcement could tackle him to the ground.

'Approach this situation with all confidence in God's ultimate victory over Satan.'

Video published by KCTV-TV shows police handcuffing the apparently violent satanist, then marching him out of the state Capitol while Stewart repeatedly yelled, "Hail Satan" and "I dedicate this building to Satan."

Blaze News reached out to Kansas Capitol Police but was not immediately provided with details regarding Stewart's arrest and possible charges.

Around the time of Stewart's arrest, CatholicVote — which ran an ad campaign imploring Gov. Kelly to prevent the satanists from conducting their "Black Mass" and invited Christians to protest — reiterated, "OUR GOD WILL NOT BE MOCKED."

Unlike the satanists, Christian protesters appear to have been entirely peaceful, possibly heeding Archbishop Joseph Naumann's recommendation to "approach this situation with all confidence in God's ultimate victory over Satan, sin, and death."

'We want to see these guys come to the Lord.'

Some of the peaceful Christians who gathered in Topeka to protest the planned satanic ritual came from across and even outside Kansas.

Kent Van Amburg, a Catholic from St. Andrew the Apostle Catholic Church in Gladstone, Missouri, told KSNT-TV, "We came here just for this because we feel it's important for us to stand up and show that God is real, Jesus is alive, the powers of evil need to be protested against, and we’re here just to glorify God."

"We want to see these guys come to the Lord," Kelly Lohrke, a pastor at the Cure Church from Kansas City, told the Topeka Capital-Journal. "It's freedom of religion; everybody can be here. But we also have a right to pray."

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High-trust societies die when people don't trust their neighbors



In a better world, people would cultivate virtue and develop habits of right action, practicing them regardless of external pressures. But we don’t live in that world. For most, concepts like honor and morality emerge from community, not individual will. These vital, pro-social behaviors rely on constant reinforcement by others. When daily life consists of anonymous, disconnected interactions, it becomes easier to justify selfishness. But when people must live among and depend on those who observe and remember how they behave, accountability shapes conduct.

Social norms depend heavily on the expectation of repeated interactions — what game theorists call “iterated games.” A functioning society requires widespread cooperation. When people believe they benefit more by acting selfishly than by cooperating, social cohesion begins to unravel. In one-time interactions, the incentive to cheat or defect rises sharply. One can gain an immediate advantage with little risk of social or material consequences.

Many debate distant acquaintances online, try to enforce shared principles across cultural divides, and appeal to ‘common sense’ in a world where little remains common.

Carnival workers and traveling merchants were once known for scamming customers. Sailors and touring rock musicians were infamous for defiling the honor of the daughters of the town. These groups operated without accountability because they never had to face the communities they affected. Their minimal connection to others reduced the costs of antisocial behavior and encouraged defection.

Today, we see a broader breakdown of communal life. We’ve fragmented communities, commodified identity, and isolated individuals. In doing so, we’ve eroded shared moral standards and stripped away even the basic incentives to cultivate virtue.

As a colleague recently observed, communal gatherings used to serve as informal “wellness checks.” Church, for example, grounded both cultural norms and moral expectations. It also required people to present themselves before others. Even atheists or agnostics often showed up on Sunday mornings — not for faith but to signal solidarity and demonstrate their role as contributing members of the community.

Churches noticed what others missed. Underfed or unwashed children caught someone’s eye. A hungover woman felt the weight of disapproval. An unfaithful man encountered the quiet judgment of those around him. These small acts of social accountability reinforced a shared moral order.

For most of history, individual independence was difficult, if not impossible. People relied on their communities for safety, food, education, goods, and entertainment. In many ancient societies, exile was tantamount to a death sentence. Some preferred suicide to being cast out. Reputation and honor mattered more than money because survival depended on others’ trust. A man’s worth reflected the number of relationships he had managed honorably over time.

Today, people can meet most of their basic needs without relying on others. That shift creates the illusion of freedom, but in reality, it has replaced dependence on community with dependence on the state.

Now, instead of interacting face-to-face within tight-knit communities, we operate as isolated individuals within anonymous digital spaces. Functions once performed by churches and neighborhoods have shifted to malls and bureaucracies. But social correction — once a communal responsibility — has become taboo. Attempting to help or intervene risks public shaming as a so-called "Karen" on social media.

The best social worker, no matter how dedicated, cannot match the quiet authority of vigilant grandmothers. And as that kind of local, relational accountability fades, the consequences grow harder to ignore.

A shared religion and common cultural norms significantly increase the likelihood that people will cooperate and act ethically, even among strangers. This dynamic defines what we call a “high-trust” society — one where individuals expect cooperation and moral behavior from others, even without close, day-to-day interaction.

In such societies, cultural expectations and religious beliefs so deeply shape conduct that people often can’t imagine behaving any other way. Even when defection carries few immediate consequences, trust persists because moral behavior has been internalized through habit and community values.

This is why most successful civilizations develop around a unifying religion and dominant cultural framework. A shared moral and social code allows complex societies to function by making behavior more predictable. Without that foundation, everyday interactions become unreliable, and cooperation breaks down.

Still, this model has its limits. Problems arise when a society continues to assume widespread agreement on values long after the cultural or religious foundation has eroded. Without a clear basis for those norms — or mechanisms to enforce them — shared assumptions collapse. The result isn’t cohesion but confusion, fragmentation, and in many cases, failure.

Social norms draw their power from habit and community enforcement. Religious precepts gain strength by asserting transcendent truths. Strip away both, and the incentive to cooperate weakens dramatically.

This is why the popular secular call to “just be a good person” falls flat. What does it mean to be good, in what context, and to what end? Only deep-rooted moral traditions, developed over time within specific communities, can answer those questions with any clarity or authority. When pressure mounts, the only forces that reliably foster cooperation are interdependence, strong communal accountability, or a belief in higher truths — all of which arise from tight-knit communities. Attempts to universalize these concepts without those foundations always collapse in the end.

As Americans confront the consequences of open borders and increasing social isolation, questions of national identity have become more urgent. We’re told Americans value liberty and hard work — and while that’s true, it’s not enough. Many debate distant acquaintances online, try to enforce shared principles across cultural divides, and appeal to “common sense” in a world where little remains common.

To recover a meaningful national identity, we need to rebuild on the foundations of Christian faith and real, local community. Neighbors must be able to depend on one another and hold each other accountable. That’s a tall order in a digital age where every device offers an escape from responsibility. But those willing to embrace that challenge will be the ones most equipped to lead.

Whitlock: Viral high school track assault EXPOSES black secular culture



Last week, during Virginia’s indoor track and field state championships, Alaila Everett, a relay runner from Portsmouth, reportedly gave her competitor, Kaelen Tucker of Lynchburg, a concussion when she hit her in the back of the head with a baton mid-race. The blow was enough for Tucker to fall off the track and out of the race entirely.

Everett, in a tearful interview with WSET-TV, claimed the incident was an accident. “I can admit from the video, it does look purposeful, but I know my intentions, and I would never hit somebody on purpose,” she sobbed.

Her relay team was nonetheless disqualified for "contact interference.”

Now she’s claiming to be the victim.

Jason Whitlock dives into the scandal.

“It’s hard to watch,” Jason says of the video capturing the incident.

“That's someone that doesn't want to take accountability for what she did.”

Everett, he says, was probably not raised in a Christian household where she was taught about her sin nature. Her claims that it was an accident when the tape clearly shows intention is evidence of this.

“The reason why I don't engage in that sort of behavior is because I know I'm capable of it,” Jason says, “and so there has to be a realization that ‘hey, I'm fallen, and my nature is sinful, and without submitting to Jesus Christ, a Lord and Savior, my nature will get the best of me, and I will do things that repulse me, repulse others.”

“There is a penalty for walking away from biblical values and creating a secular culture,” he explains.

“There's a demographic of black Americans that think they're following Jesus Christ, and they're not. They're following feminism; they're following their feelings, and so there is a reason why these types of videos keep popping up,” he adds, noting that he feels called to speak on this, as he’s part of the black community.

“If she were in her right mind, discipled by parents who have submitted themselves to Jesus Christ, they would have demanded that their daughter go on TV and say, ‘Holy cow, I lost control of myself; I'm so sorry; what can I do to make retribution?”’

To hear more of his commentary, watch the clip above.

Want more from Jason Whitlock?

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Seeking lasting Valentine’s romance? Try praying together



This Valentine’s Day, here’s something to consider about romance: Cupid’s arrow lasts far longer if it’s coated in faith and daily prayer.

While this might sound less thrilling or passionate than moonlit smooches or intimate fireplace cottage getaways, Harvard School of Public Health found a 50% reduction in divorce for those couples regularly attending religious services.

Given the hostile takeover of our counseling industry by secular 'experts,' it’s worth asking: Does botched, secular marriage counseling drive couples apart?

The American Journal of Family Therapy reported couples’ prayer reduces martial conflict, and several other studies confirm prayer bonds couples tightly.

This makes intuitive sense. Prayer is an emotionally intimate act. It’s pouring out the vulnerabilities of our souls, expressing our deepest gratitude and needs. While there are no Christian theological grounds for belief in one true soulmate, there’s strong evidence that engaging in prayer with a spouse who deeply cares for your soul can be a true soulmate.

Valentine’s Day has been hijacked into a nearly $28 billion affair, with superficial consumerism trumping deeper connection. Too often, we spend more time wining and dining — nothing wrong with those of course, within reason — than cultivating the substantive soul ties that last beyond chocolate boxes, champagne toasts, and rose petals.

It is a social travesty that every marriage counseling session does not recommend daily prayer. It could save shattering heartache, broken families, and childhood suffering, not to mention costly legal bills (estimated to average $30,000 for lawyering up in a divorce, per the Marriage Foundation).

The societal cost of broken families is enormous, especially when parents become single, further straining our bloated $1.6 trillion welfare social safety net. Single parenthood is one of the strongest, if not the strongest, factors linked to welfare use.

But sadly, our counseling industry is devoid of spiritual understanding and has been taken over by secularists who deny God’s healing power. For example, Sociology of Religion reported that psychologists are the least religious of professors, with 61% reporting themselves atheist (50%) or agnostic (11%). This is nearly the exact opposite of what people actually believe. Gallup found that 81% of Americans believe in God. Thus, we’re being fed “solutions” to deep, soul-filled problems by people who quite often don’t even believe in souls.

This negatively impacts marriages. American divorces skyrocketed as our country secularized.

Scholars Brad Wilcox from the University of Virginia, Amy Burdette from Florida State, and Christopher Ellison from University of Texas-San Antonio also note in the Journal of Marriage and Family that couples who attend church together “are significantly less likely than others to use drugs, to have conflicts over sexual infidelity, or to experience domestic violence.” They also have better parent-child relationships.

Psychiatric Times published a literature review of hundreds of studies, which found significantly less depression and substance abuse among religious people. Both women and men attending weekly religious services are significantly less likely to die “deaths of despair” — suicide, drug overdose, or alcohol poisoning — according to research from Harvard University's School of Public Health led by professor Tyler VanderWeele, a devout Catholic whom the left tried to cancel for sharing his views on traditional marriage.

Staying married significantly shields our mental health. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, along with numerous other places, notes that men and women who are divorced are significantly more likely to die by suicide than married people. The Journal of Epidemiology and Community Healthreported that divorced and separated men were nearly 2.4 times more likely to kill themselves than their married counterparts.

The Good Book had it right: “What God has joined together, let no one separate.” Matthew 19:6 is Jesus commanding Christians in a passage about marriage. Given the hostile takeover of our counseling industry by secular “experts” who are clueless about integrating God into their treatments, it’s worth asking: Does botched, secular marriage counseling drive couples apart?

Couples who pray together stay together. This Valentine’s Day, take that candlelight dinner; buy those earrings or tech gadget for your spouse. But in the name of saving romance, marriages, and lives, it’s time to return God to the center of our romantic relationships. He’s far wiser and more loving than anything we can contrive.

Atheist offers ironic cure for America's woes: More biblical Christianity



A prominent atheist writer has an ironic prescription for American democracy.

Despite eschewing God, writer Jonathan Rauch believes the Christian expression in America has embraced secularism and liberalism, to the detriment of not only the American church but of American democracy and society.

As the Roman world learned, the gospel of Jesus Christ is transformative. Its power transforms not only people but whole societies.

The solution, he argues, is for Christians to live out their faith authentically, not blown by the winds of progressivism.

"What really needs to happen to get our country on a better track is for Christianity not to become more secular or more liberal, but to become more like itself, to become more truly Christian," he said recently in a New York Times interview.

Specifically, Rauch highlighted three "fundamentals of Christianity" that he believes overlap with fundamentals of Madisonian liberalism.

  1. "Be like Jesus. Imitate Jesus."
  2. "Don't be afraid."
  3. "Forgive each other."

Those are fundamental principles on which the Founding Fathers built this country, Rauch argued, and they ultimately produce other foundational virtues like "truthfulness and lawfulness and the equal dignity of every individual."

Importantly, Rauch explained the problem with abandoning Christian principles in American society: "Once Christianity begins caving in, people begin looking other places for their sources of values."

That a committed atheist would admit that America needs more Christianity — biblical, authentic Christianity — is a telling sign that secularism is a glaring failure. Not only is it an ironic admission, but it underscores the larger crisis in our society: that anti-Christ progressivism, which promises adherents a path to the good life, is a failed project.

As an ideology, anti-Christ progressivism is built on individual autonomy and moral relativism, producing the illusion that each person can be his or her own god.

Live your truth. Do what's best for you. Make yourself happy. Prioritize número uno at the expense of others.

That's the mantra of secularism and anti-Christ progressivism.

The problem, of course, is that not only is this the path to chaos, death, and destruction, but the secular progressive framework lacks, as Rauch observed, the moral and communal cohesion that Christianity provides. And if America is built upon objective principles tied to Christianity like truth, justice, and equality (i.e., every human is created in the image of God, made with inherent worth and dignity), then embracing anti-Christ progressivism and secularism ultimately erodes our society.

The fruit of the secular project is clear to those with eyes to see and ears to hear.

Rauch's critique cuts to the heart of the issue. Not only is it paramount that American society not abandon God to embrace anti-Christ progressivism, but the Church must be an authentic witness or, in Rauch's words, be "truly Christian."

Remember what Jesus said about his followers in the Sermon on the Mount about salt and light?

Matthew 5:13-15 records Jesus' words:

You are the salt of the earth. But if salt becomes tasteless, by what will it be made salty? It is good for nothing any longer except to be thrown outside and trampled under foot by people. You are the light of the world. A city located on top of a hill cannot be hidden, nor do they light a lamp and place it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it shines on all those in the house.

When Christians embrace secularism and anti-Christian progressivism — like many of the liberal mainline Protestant denominations — their salt becomes tasteless and they are like a light hidden under a basket.

But to be salt and light is to resist the temptation to conform to secular and/or progressive cultural trends that compromise the essence of authentic Christianity.

It is even more ironic, then, that a Rauch recognizes this important aspect of Christianity.

While Rauch is by no means a Christian, his call to action — to imitate Jesus — is the right prescription for both Christians (of course) and American society as a whole.

Christians should hear this ironic endorsement of Christianity as a compliment: That even a skeptic like Rauch sees the value and truth of authentic Christian faith and understands that genuine Christianity, not secularism, leads to the good life — for you, me, and all of our neighbors.

As the Roman world learned, the gospel of Jesus Christ is transformative. Its power transforms not only people but whole societies.

That's what it has always done, and it will happen again if American Christians rise to the occasion.

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