In a time when there is supposedly a high wall separating church and state, government and religion, this article from American Thinker points out that it’s not true of every faith. In fact, this false religion of Scientism is already well connected with American civil religion, which is another serious matter for Christians in our society.

In other words, many of our politicians are surrendering themselves to scientism. Scientism is not science. It is an ideology that is often confused with science. It is, rather, an abuse of the scientific method and scientific authority.

Scientism can also be classified as a religion. It is a religion with many denominations: Darwinism, environmentalism, feminism, hedonism, humanism, Marxism, socialism, and so on. How many Americans now find their fulfillment and purpose in these movements? They celebrate Earth Day and Darwin Day. They boldly assert, “Science is my Savior.”

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A recent article in The Dalles Chronicle was about one man’s experience visiting a miracle worker in Brazil whom people call “John of God.” The man in question ended the article with an amazed approval of the miracle worker, emphasizing how John of God accepts people of all religious points of view. I suppose he would have to be accepting, since he mixes several differing points of view into his own miracle working. John of God is nominally Roman Catholic, using the Lord’s Prayer and the Roman Catholic prayer to the mother of Jesus called the Hail Mary. Yet the meditation he teaches, and at least some of the techniques he uses seem to have roots in Hinduism. I doubt that John of God would accept the point of view of those who would gladly kill him for supposedly religious reasons, like Al Qaida. But when I saw this article’s emphasis on how wonderful it was that John of God accepted people of every religious idea, I read it as a veiled attack on historic Christianity, which does not accept differing points of view.

Our society tends to be pluralistic when it comes to religion. The politically-correct standard was once tolerance of opposing viewpoints, but now the standard is acceptance. When a person accepts the position of others in contradiction to his own religion, he becomes something like a convert to the opposing faith. The Israelites before the Babylonian Captivity, for example, made a habit of worshipping Baal and other Canaanite gods, while claiming to continue worshipping the God of Abraham. That’s a pluralistic approach to religion. In fact, it’s about the same thing as syncretism, which holds mutually contradictory faiths as being true, despite the contradictions. Those who have read Orwell’s 1984 will be reminded of the word he coined for this kind of self-contradiction: “doublethink.”

Those who wish to remain faithful to the God of Abraham, whom we know better as the Triune God, are unable to participate in this kind of pluralism. We cannot accept the opinions or beliefs of others when they contradict the teachings of the Bible. It’s not a notion we’ve invented ourselves. Rather, it comes straight from Jesus Christ and His apostles, not to mention the prophets of the Old Testament (Matthew 7:15, Mark 13:22). So we are conscience-bound to take a stand that will be quite unpopular in our world. Because of that, Bible-believing Christians are not politically correct, and we are not well-loved by the world.

You may have noticed that I have to qualify the word “Christian” as “Bible-believing” and “Christianity” as “historic Christianity.” The reason is that many who claim the name “Christian” have accomodated themselves to the political correctness, pluralism and syncretism of this world. The Enemy uses this to paint faithful Christians as irrational, extremist, and even hateful or dangerous. For example, another news story breaking this week says that the Christian owners of the privately-owned national chain store Hobby Lobby intend to disobey the federal government’s mandate to provide a health insurance policy for their employees that includes abortifacient drugs. The Enemy uses stories like this to convince our neighbors that conscientious Christians are not good for our society, but accomodating Christians are more enlightened. Churches like ours are painted as overly zealous and irrational, and the fact that we exclude contradictory teaching is supposed proof of our “hate.”

But we are in the season of Christmas, when we celebrate the birth of a Savior for the whole world. Soon we will also celebrate Epiphany, based upon the Gospel lesson of those gentile Magi who visited the infant Jesus in Bethlehem. The great truth of Epiphany is that Jesus is not an exclusive Savior in the sense that He refused salvation for the Gentiles. He saves them, and that was God’s plan from the start. Jesus is the Savior of both Jews and Gentiles. But He’s also the Savior of both Lutherans and Catholics, of both Hindus and Moslems. He doesn’t exclude anyone on the basis of their family tree, or even their sins. The only way in which He is exclusive is that truth summarized by Peter in Acts 4:12 (NKJV):

“Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

No matter what your religion may be, no matter what your family background or heritage, no matter what sins you may have committed, Jesus is the Savior for you. What really tweaks the world is that He is the only Savior that Christians acknowledge, because He is the only Savior recognized by the true God. While He is perfectly willing to save Hindus, Moslems, and even Atheists alongside lifelong Christians, Jesus requires us to repent of all our false beliefs and sins, and trust in Him alone. In other words, we must be converted, become (conscientious, historic) Christians, and rely upon Jesus alone.

So in these seasons of Christmas and Epiphany, keep this happy message in mind for those you meet: Jesus is their Savior, too! Perhaps they won’t appreciate that just yet, but you won’t know until you try. Maybe the power of God’s Word will work His will in some of them, that they find comfort in the certainty that God loves them, too.