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Religion and life
In Bury the Chains, a book that details the struggle to outlaw the slave trade in England, it is noted that a time came when “evangelicals” arose and began saying that true Christians should live every day free from sin. This was a radical concept, to which Lord Melbourne, future prime minister of England, responded, “Things have come to a pretty pass when religion is allowed to invade your private life!”
Today, society pushes Christians to hold their religious beliefs to their personal lives, and makes it “politically incorrect” to take faith into public life. During Melbourne’s time it was the opposite, in that religion was public only, and not personal. Neither allows religion to be real, because reality requires total permiation of life and being. That which we compartmentalize we do not really consider real.
May 5, 2007 at 5:39 pm
I can’t comment on the Christian experience, but I can comment from an atheist point of view. I believe that it goes both ways, I experience the same types of reactions from Christians or anyone with theistic belief system. I personally feel that a society’s success today is judge by its level of secularization. As compared to other countries America is only above Turkey in its acceptance of evolution as fact. While the Constitution does not contain the words “separation of church and state” it is a widely held belief and an important one. A view that was not widely held in early America when the majority of the population were Christian. As an example of religion influencing policy, slavery was Biblically justified supported even though it’s clearly wrong.
“The right of holding slaves is clearly established in the Holy Scriptures, both by precept and example.”
–R. Furman, Baptist, of South Carolina
This is an example of a modern day public figure openly expressing his Christian beliefs:
“No, I don’t know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God.”
–George Herbert Walker Bush, Former U. S. President, 1988.