It can’t just be me.
I’ve heard of battleground states and how the stakes are highest in these places, but I may not endure two more weeks of this.
The airwaves, the byways, and the alleyways, are filled with political advertising. If I want to relax to my favorite television program, take a drive, or listen to the radio, I am confronted by endless promotion. Instead of Tide versus Gain or Bounty versus Brawny, it is right versus left ad nauseam.
This got me thinking—”a dangerous pastime I know.”
Should churches just stop advertising Jesus? Could an argument be made that our society is saturated with advertisements by religious institutions? Perhaps.
To be sure, not all parts of the world have had opportunity to hear or know about this first century renaissance man who claimed to be God incarnate. So, the message is not universally known yet.
But here at home, even in an increasingly secularized populace, chances are good most have a general knowledge that this religion and figurehead exist.
Detractors would celebrate such an advertising blackout. For decades the goal has been the systematic removal of all things Judeo/Christian. No consideration of the founding father’s faith that guided many constitutional principles, no prayer in schools, no allowance for conscience in Christian business practices, and fewer and fewer rights to engage in political discourse.
I hold no animus for those who wish to espouse their core values and see any perceived encroachment into body politic by religious individuals as an affront to their ideology. If anything, I am always interested in how these individuals defend their positions. I just want a level playing field.
But in the absence of a moral governing consensus, the risk of unintended consequences is real.
For instance, the advent of birth control and unrestricted sexual activity has been heralded as an answer to a myriad of pregnancy dilemmas. However, 63 million abortions have occurred since Roe v. Wade. Because of similar types of behavior, 700,000 people have died from AIDS since 1981.
Energy policies and governmental excess have raised inflation. Careless laboratory practices and ethics gave us Covid-19. And border control issues have caused severe economic and societal injustices.
These are not partisan opinions; there is data to support these realities.
I am sympathetic to the overreach of religious people and religious institutions. I grieve when we get ideas wrong in any given situation. The hope of our forefathers, however, was to build a better union—not a perfect one, just a better one. For some, better means no religion.
While Christian values and principles may irritate some, while advertising methods promoting Christianity may seem unnecessary, and while Christian advocacy may have the appearance of erasing liberties, one thing remains—there are unintended consequences associated with atheism, humanism, secularism, and hedonism.
Perhaps it will not be the upcoming election and the endless campaigning that will settle the divide among us, but hopefully we might begin to ask what the best way is to live rather than live the way that seems best to us.
Kent Simmons is the pastor of Canyon Community Church in Kingman, AZ.
