The need for cooperation between religion and the State
The great divide between the secular state and religion has grown substantially during my lifetime. Gone are the days when our nation was based on Christian values and where religion played an important role the public life of this country. The notion that we must separate Church and State has gained such momentum as to have emboldened many to a state of Christianophobia. It was never the intent of the Founding Fathers for religion to be kept quiet and forced into the back streets of our nations political life. Rather, they simply intended that no one religion would gain the status of a State Church.
We are seeing increasing attacks by avowed atheists bent on destroying any form of public display of Christianity. Books being written by atheists, along with public mocking of the beliefs of Christians as being myths, has become more and more militant. The atheists have turned their radical beliefs into another form of religious bigotry. In their attacks on Christians, they’ve turned atheism into a militant form of religion, with the demand that it become a sort of state church, not unlike that which happened during the militant atheism of the Soviet Union.
The response of Christians can not be to simply surrender, for this is truly a wholesale assault on Christianity. Our society would no more sit back and allow billboard attacks on Judaism or Islam, and the slander of their beliefs, or billboards promoting racist attacks on minorities. Yet our government and judicial institutions are allowing slanderous attacks on the beliefs of millions of Christians. This will continue until we Christians decide enough is enough. We must stand firm in our witness to Christ, and take hold of our constitutional right for free expression of our faith, including the right to bear witness in the public square.
If our nation is to justly care for her poor and disenfranchised, Christians must be allowed to continue to influence our governmental and legal institutions in the light of our Christian Faith . The separation of religion from the public square is breeding defeat, and undermining the very values that have made our nation strong.
We must reclaim our vision as one nation under God. Our focus on consumption and personal comfort, together with a low birth rate that is the direct result of selfish me-first secularism, has been made manifest by a disenfranchised Christianity that can no longer offer religious input and leadership in promoting moral and biblical values. This is dooming our nation to utter collapse.
Part of the problem stems from the fact that so much of American protestant Christianity has itself become secularized. In an attempt to become more relevant to today’s culture, they’ve lost the leaven that can truly transform lives and make a difference with how the greater culture around us can be brought back to the basic values and religious standards that have kept America morally and spiritually strong. We’ve lost our way as a nation because the majority of our denominations have lost the pure essence of Christianity.
While this has happened, our Orthodox Church is often so caught up in just trying to survive as ethnically centered communities, we’ve failed to reach out with the same power and authority of our forefathers in the faith. Satisfied with doing the services correctly, and meeting the needs of our people, we’ve forgotten our duty to the greater community around us. We’ve fallen down on the job of transforming the society with the leaven that resides within the Church. We fail daily to reach out to the society at large with the truth of Ancient Christianity, preserved fully within the Orthodox Church.
With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon
Photos: The Monastic Brotherhood of the All-Merciful Saviour. Archpriest Photios Dumont, pastor of Saint Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church in Seattle, joined us for our celebration of the Nativity of Christ Liturgy.
Sunday January 8, 2017 / December 26, 2016
29th Sunday after Pentecost. Tone four.
Sviatki. Fast-free
Sunday after the Nativity of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ, holy ancestors.
Righteous Joseph the Betrothed, Holy Righteous David the King, and James the Brother of the Lord (movable holiday on the Sunday after the Nativity of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ).
Second Day of the Feast of the Nativity.
Synaxis of the Most Holy Theotokos.
Hieromartyr Euthymius, bishop of Sardis (840).
Venerable Isaac II (Bobrikov, the Younger), archimandrite of Optina (1938).
New Hieromartyrs Alexander and Demetrius priests (1918).
New Hieromartyrs Nicholas, Nicholas priests amd Michael deacon (1930).
New Hieromartyrs Leonidas bishop of Mariysk, Alexander priest and Virgin-martyrs Anthisa and Makaria (1937).
St. Russian New Martyr, Andrew, bishop of Ufa (1937) and New Martyr, Valentina, (1937).
New Hieromartyrs Gregory priest and Virgin-martyrs Augusta and Mary, Martyr Agrippina (1938).
Venerable Constantine, monk, of Synnada (9th c.).
Venerable Evaristus of the Studion Monastery (825).
St. Nicodemus of Tismana, Romania (1406).
“Vilen-Ostrabramsk”, “Three Joys” or “Merciful”, ” Barlovsk” (1392) or “the Blessed Womb”, “Baibuzsk” (1852) Icons of the Mother of God.
New Hieromartyr Constantius the Russian, at Constantinople (1743).
Venerable Nicodemus the Serbian (Serbia).
St. Archelaus, bishop of Kaskhara in Mesopotamia (3rd c.).
St. Zenon, bishop of Maiuma in Palestine (4th c.).
St. Tathai, abbot of Llantathan.
The Scripture Readings
John 20:1-10
The Empty Tomb
20 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. 2 Then she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.”
3 Peter therefore went out, and the other disciple, and were going to the tomb. 4 So they both ran together, and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first. 5 And he, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen cloths lying there; yet he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; and he saw the linen cloths lying there, 7 and the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who came to the tomb first, went in also; and he saw and believed. 9 For as yet they did not know the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead. 10 Then the disciples went away again to their own homes.
Ephesians 6:10-17
The Whole Armor of God
10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age,[a] against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;
Luke 18:35-43
A Blind Man Receives His Sight
35 Then it happened, as He was coming near Jericho, that a certain blind man sat by the road begging. 36 And hearing a multitude passing by, he asked what it meant. 37 So they told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. 38 And he cried out, saying, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
39 Then those who went before warned him that he should be quiet; but he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
40 So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be brought to Him. And when he had come near, He asked him, 41 saying, “What do you want Me to do for you?”
He said, “Lord, that I may receive my sight.”
42 Then Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has made you well.” 43 And immediately he received his sight, and followed Him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.
I am reading the wonderful collection of Fr Alexander Men on Christianity in the 21st Centuary.
It’s very inspiring in the light of your message today.
I think that we must accept that atheist and secular people have not simply rejected our beliefs, but the obvious unChristian attitudes and actions of People who claim to be Christians. These people who see themselves as our moral guardians express hatred for non Christians, for gay people , against abortion even in extreme circumstances , against women’s equality, who the poor as lazy and people of colour as inferior, and who call liberals demons are the reason atheists protest.
And these types of Christians are the very ones who get on school boards and into various governments and who then sway policy and get all the attention. Anyone can see the outright hypocrisy of this sort of hatred in God’s name. As they have seen it throughout the ages,alas.there is a great divide between what the Gospel demands of us, and what is seen in the public square.
The world does not see kind, loving , sacrificing examples of Christianity such as St John the Merciful Orthodox mission in Toronto, because such Christians quietly go about Christ’s work without fanfare.
we live in a pluralistic society. If we let Christians influence policy, then we have to give equal power to other faiths. Better to keep them all out if it. We have to live with other faiths and with no faith. Can we not witness our faith with Godly action and without whining about other people’s opinions of us? here we are reviled , in other places we are killed. The revered Founding Fathers were largely Diests . They were educated men who had seen the ugly power of Theocracy ; the wars and massacres, and persecutions; the witch burnings and Inquisitions. They didn’t want these things to happen in America. But it looks like we might be in for some of it now. Lord have mercy.
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Excellent article. I have noticed the militant atheism with the rise of social media like Facebook. You are correct that there is open mocking and an actual “gang up” mentality that one does not usually see in person among adults but in children, teens and young adults as in a type of hazing. Besides areas of anti-Christian social media, there is little promotion of Christian values nowadays on television, in on-line programming such as Amazon and Netflix as well as in cinema.Very sad commentary on our society.
Love the photo of the monastic brotherhood.
Christians in the Middle East are being wiped out. You wouldn’t know it by the news. You wouldn’t know it by the out cry of Christians in the USA. You wouldn’t know it by the US government recognizing the crimes against Christians. You wouldn’t know it by the minute number of Christian refugees compared to multitude of Moslem refugees entering the USA.