The Nones
Posted in My Journey on July 2nd, 2009Tags: Agnosticism, Bruce Gerencser, Christian Nation, Christian Nationalism, Christianity, Church and State, Defiance Crescent News, Defiance Ohio, Secularism
I wrote a letter to the Editor of the Defiance Crescent News recently. You can read the letter here. (nwohionews.org is a website I have just started to develop).
I received a personal letter about my Letter to the Editor today from a man I will call Mr K.
He wrote:
Dear Mr. Gerencser,
As a Christian, I am saddened to hear you praising the attributes of secularism, because you are missing the real meaning of life.
You indicate that the number of unbelievers has almost doubled in the past 18 years. This would indicate that at the founding of the nation the percentage of Christians was much higher than it is now. Therefore isn’t it reasonable to believe that our nation was established as a Christian nation? Most of our historical documents will verify that.
But I am writing because I can’t imagine living without my Christian faith and I would wish for you the Christian experience. I know that God loves me so much that He sent his Son, Jesus to endure the guilt and punishment of all my sins, therefore I have peace, since Jesus has gone to prepare a place for me and all believers in heaven.
I am writing because I want you to share all these blessings. I challenge you to attend a Christian church, to read the holy Bible to see what Christianity is all about. It is certainly worth the effort because eternity is at stake.
Yours truly,
Mr. K.
I responded to his letter:
Dear Mr. K,
I received your June 30th, 2009 letter today. Thank you for writing.
You write your letter to me as if I am a naïve, unknowing person. You assume that I have little or no experience with the Christian faith. I suspect your reasoning is that no one who has truly ever experienced Christianity would ever want to give it up. According to your letter it is Jesus that makes your life worth living. He has forgiven you of your sins and he is right now preparing a home in heaven for you.
Actually, I am not naïve about the Christian faith. I was raised in the Evangelical Church. I was trained in an Evangelical Bible College and pastored Evangelical Churches for more than 25 years. I have pastored Churches in Ohio, Michigan, and Texas. Since 2004, I have visited over 125 different Churches, from Catholic to Baptist, and everything in between. Naïve and ignorant I am not.
I have studied the Bible and theology my entire adult life. I have read through the Bible dozens of times, having preached through a good bit of the New Testament. It would be fair to say that I know a good bit about the Bible, Christianity, and religion in general.
In your letter you take my assertion that secularism is increasing as proof that at one time the United States was a Christian nation and was even founded as a Christian nation. You take a current statistical fact and project it back over 250 years of US history in your attempt to prove our nation’s founders were Christians.
I will grant to you the United States has been greatly, for good or ill, influenced by Christianity. It is not though, historically accurate to suggest that the Christianity of 18th century United States is the same as the Evangelical Christianity practiced today. Many of our founding fathers were Christians in name only, rarely attending public worship. More often than not they were deist or Unitarian in their beliefs. Such beliefs today would be roundly considered as heresy by most Evangelicals.
At best, the United States is a pluralistic, secular country, influenced by a generic form of Christianity. What is different today is that our culture and government is being influenced by a dangerous form of Christian fundamentalism that has as its end goal a Christian nation governed by the laws of the Christian Bible.
I oppose any and all attempts to wed state and Church. I want you to be free to worship God as you see fit and I want to be free to not worship God. Currently, it is social and political suicide to take on the atheist or agnostic moniker, especially here in NW Ohio. I know of businessmen who are agnostics who cannot publically say so for fear of losing their business.
I plan to use what days I have left in this life to be a voice for the non-religious, a voice for those who want full citizenship in the United States without having to pass a test affirming their fidelity to Christianity. There are many people who “believe” but have real problems with the current unholy alliance of Church and State in the U.S. They believe religion is a private matter and that religion should never come into play when it comes to matters of government and public welfare. I want to be a voice for them too.
Once again, thank you for writing. I always appreciate hearing from those who read my letters, even if I completely disagree with their view point. I commend you for being polite and kind. Most letters I receive from Christians are hateful and mean-spirited.
Sincerely,
Bruce Gerencser
I appreciate the civility of Mr. K’s letter. He is a rare bird in the flock of Christians in this area. (at least of those who pick of pen and paper and write me or write a letter to the Editor in response to my letter)