Some Christians and other Americans have made the following statements, or similar ones, in trying to help explain the killings in Newtown, Conn., last Friday (Dec. 14): “God has been kicked out of our public schools” or “We have removed God from public schools.” It’s not the first time such sentiments have been expressed. They have been rather common in recent decades, and I think they cry out for a biblical response.
First, we should be grieving with and praying for parents, spouses, siblings and others affected by this evil act. We should be lifting up those churches who are seeking to minister to and share the gospel with the people of Newtown.
Second, we should be concerned about our culture. It seems appropriate to examine what forces might be at play in this latest of a series of lethal acts of mass violence. We should do so with the recognition our understanding will be limited. We also should expect widely divergent explanations to be provided by Americans, and they already have been.
Third, we can have a debate about the relationship between religion and government in our country. We can discuss what impact decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1962 and ’63 have had on American society. Hopefully, those discussions will be based on a proper understanding of what the court actually decided and not based on catch phrases that can be misleading. I believe those debates should take place in the context of what it seems the Founding Fathers gave this country in the First Amendment – protection for individuals to exercise their religion freely while restricting the government from interfering with those expressions.
What we should be careful not to do as Christians is to say untrue things about God in the process. That is how I believe we should describe the previously mentioned claims that God has been removed from the schools. They are untrue.
Certainly, the increasingly secular mind-set of academia, judges, government officials and other elites has impacted religious expression in schools and other parts of the public square. That is not the same, however, as saying God has been expelled from the schools. We have not kicked out or removed God from the schools. If a court of men or a human government or the people of a country can remove God from anywhere, He is not much of a deity.
The God of the Bible is much different.
The Bible reveals God to be omnipresent. He is everywhere all the time. God’s Word says in Psalm 139:7-8, “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.”
God’s Word also reveals God to be omnipotent. He is Sovereign. He rules over absolutely everything, including evil. The Bible says in Isaiah 46:9b-10, “For I am God, and there is no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, ‘My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure.’”
Those passages alone – not to mention many others -- describe a God whose presence and power are not at the mercy of judges or other government officials.
So let’s be careful as followers of Christ to speak accurately about our Creator and Father as we seek to discern how to respond to another heinous, barbaric act. Declaring falsehoods about God will never help us arrive at truth that helps His image-bearers.
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