18 March 2012

Secularity and Secularism

Michael Horton, quoted by Lane Keister at the Green Baggins blog on 16 March, said at the Ligonier Conference 2012:

"Secularism is different from secularity. Everyday callings do not fall under the rubric of the church. But secularism is different. It is an ideology that pushes God out of the universe."

At last; somebody who appreciates the difference between secularity and secularism. All Christians oppose secularism, which is a skeptical worldview that rejects God and the supernatural, whereas evangelical Christians disagree among themselves about the merits/demerits of secularity.

Many years ago an English blogger whose name escapes me gave a concise definition of secularity: "Secularity means making religion unable to control public life, not driving religion out of civil society".

The most obvious Christian foes of secularity are (presumably?) the neo-charismatic dominionists (e.g. Cindy Jacobs, Lance Wallnau, Lou Engle, David Barton, and others). These people preach that Christians have a God-endorsed duty to take over and christianise the so-called seven spheres of culture (also called the seven mountains); this takeover is often portrayed in explicit and militaristic terms.

Cindy Jacobs is famous not just as a neo-charismatic dominionist but as the recipient of prophetic "revelations" from God. If you have lots of time on your hands and you want to punish yourself for some reason, listen to the many videos on the Web in which Cindy blusters, whines and hectors in her own inimitable (and splendidly incoherent) way.

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