[1]NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–The Christian worldview is under assault, and believers must fight back by combating the advance of secular values, best-selling author David Limbaugh said at the Baptist Press Excellence in Journalism Banquet in Nashville, Tenn., Oct. 9.
The banquet served as the culminating event of the fourth annual Baptist Press national Student Journalism Conference and featured award presentations for students achieving excellence in the fields of photojournalism, broadcasting, print journalism, web design and yearbook.
Limbaugh is an expert in law and politics whose recent book, “Persecution: How Liberals Are Waging War Against Christianity,” spent five weeks atop The New York Times bestseller list.
“We are engaged in a culture war in this country,” Limbaugh said. “I believe that Christians are the primary targets of the secular humanists who are engaged in this culture war…. Our entire Christian worldview is under siege.”
Secular values “have taken primacy in our culture,” he said. “And it’s something that we really need to be concerned about.”
Specifically, Limbaugh said, secularists have attacked Christianity by attempting to eliminate the influence of Judeo-Christian values in the public square and by endorsing values that are antithetical to Christianity.
[2]One tactic secularists frequently use to attack Judeo-Christian values is to interpret the establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution to require an absolute separation between religious faith and public life, Limbaugh said. Such a drastic separation, however, was not the intention of the founding fathers, he said.
“The establishment clause … meant that Congress, the federal government, would not establish a national church,” Limbaugh said. “… The thrust of the establishment clause was not to separate church and state, which it’s later been construed to do. The purpose of it is to promote religious liberty.”
Christians must recognize this assault on their worldview and take a stand based on the exclusive truth of Jesus Christ, he said.
“Let’s not fall into a delusion of our theology and our values where we can rationalize and say, ‘Oh well, other people have pretty much the same values as we do.’ No they don’t…. There is but one truth, and that’s Jesus Christ,” Limbaugh said.
Many secularists assault the Christian worldview because “they want to supplant Christian values with their values, and Christians are in the way of that,” he said.
Maintaining the influence of Judeo-Christian values in American culture, however, is vital because the Christian worldview undergirds the American concept of freedom, Limbaugh said.
“We need to appreciate our freedom,” he said. “And we need to understand that Christianity is the source of our freedom…. Our constitutional liberties are undergirded by Judeo-Christian principles.”
Two foundational doctrines for the American concept of freedom are the doctrines of creation and sin, Limbaugh said. The doctrine of creation teaches that each human is created in the image of God and gives rise to the notions of liberty and inalienable rights, he said.
“If we truly believe that God is omni-benevolent, omniscient, omnipotent and He decided to create us in His image, what an ultimate honor and compliment that is,” Limbaugh said. “And it carries with it an obligation to respect the dignity of human life. It is what gives rise to the notion of liberty. Christianity gives rise to liberty, the idea that we’re made in God’s image and therefore entitled to happiness, dignity, freedom.”
The doctrine of sin teaches that humans are fallen and that sin must be restrained by governing forces, said Limbaugh, the brother of popular radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh.
The founders “knew that man left to his own devices … will subjugate other men. And obviously that militates against liberty,” he said. “The framers … wanted to invest the government with enough power to ensure ordered liberty, to allow government to protect individuals…. They also need[ed] to turn right around and impose intricate limitations on the government.”
Ultimately, the well-being of America depends upon believers’ willingness to acknowledge the nation’s dependence upon the Christian worldview, Limbaugh said.
“We have an obligation … to stay true to the truth and to fact,” he said. “… Infuse your profession with your Christian worldview.”
Following Limbaugh’s address, some 70 awards were presented to student journalists.
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