“No longer is the church providing values and meaning in the world.”
I have borrowed and adapted the title of this article from H.G. Wells’ 1897 science fiction novel, War of the Worlds, which has been adapted into several feature-length films. The book portrays a Martian invasion of Earth, beginning, “No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man’s and yet as mortal as his own.” While the plot of space invaders besieging the earth is admittedly a work of fantasy, the clash of worldviews in this present age has at times felt like a war between different planets separated by a great chasm of (ideological) space, with each side viewing the other as Martians.
Today, while the same language is often spoken by those holding opposing views, the words wielded frequently carry divergent meanings. Consider, for example, how the meaning of “racism,” “justice,” or “gender” has changed in the last two decades. Moreover, two individuals can view the same story on the news and come away with vastly different conclusions. Because a worldview is the lens through which we interpret and make sense of the world, I believe these experiences are indicative of a war of worldviews.
Western culture is rapidly succumbing to a secular worldview despite the West’s Christian heritage. We are clinging to the conviction that humanity can flourish by means of human reason and is perhaps even better off without religion. No longer is the Church providing values and meaning in the world. Church thinkers have referred to this as the “disestablishment of the church” or the end of “Christendom.” This disestablishment has not left a vacuum of empty space. It is being replaced with what has been referred to as Secular Humanism, a worldview that looks to science and reason to build a more just, verdant, and free society—one that is “good without God.” If Wells were to have written a book about the War of the Worldviews, he may have opened with, “No one would have believed in the first years of the twenty first century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by an Intelligence greater than man’s.” Indeed, this is the essence of Secular Humanism.
While entire books have been written on the topic of Humanism, let me offer a few deficiencies that I observe in this worldview:
First, an honest assessment of the state of our culture reveals that it is not becoming more just and verdant but dimmer, more muddled, confused, and polarized. Thus, it is not accomplishing what it purports to do.
Second, Humanism upholds tolerance as the supreme virtue and thereby positions intolerance as the greatest moral sin (though it is at times very intolerant itself). For the secular humanist, the idea of Truth (with a capital T) is inherently exclusive because it implies that something else is false or wrong, which seems too intolerant and intolerable. Thus, the secular humanist claims that truth is relative or socially constructed. However, with no grounding to define an ultimate truth, Christian apologist Timothy Keller observed, “All this will lead to intractable polarization and fragmentation” (Timothy Keller, Making Sense of God: An Invitation to the Skeptical, Viking, 2016). And it has.
Third, the statement that all truth is relative is itself a claim of truth and, therefore, self-contradictory. As much as secularism seeks a world without truth, no such world exists, nor can it. There is no grounding for freedom, equality, human rights, or justice without truth. As many have observed, these values did not originate from nowhere but burst upon the world with Christ’s influence.
Finally, secularism has not created a clear understanding of death, which has led to a culture that cannot cope with it. (Consider how a pandemic brought death to the forefront of our minds and the world nearly collapsed.) If this life is all there is and there is no hope of heaven, then even our best efforts for justice and goodness will eventually fade away into a dark universe. Is it all for naught?
My conviction is that Christianity not only makes sense, it makes the best sense of our world. It provides hope for a better world, redeemed by its Creator through Jesus Christ. Christianity offers Truth in the form of Jesus Christ (John 14:6), who loved the world and sacrificially gave Himself for it. Jesus is the Truth that is not intolerant or oppressive; He is the One who understands our every weakness and loves us anyway (Hebrews 4:15-16). Christianity provides the foundation for what Humanism desires: freedom, equality, human rights, and justice. Finally, Christianity provides a hope that allows us to grieve the death of a loved one, not as those who have no hope, but as those who have a living hope in Christ (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).
While there may be a war of worldviews going on today, we believe that this world is being watched keenly and closely by an Intelligence greater than man’s, and for that, we give thanks!
