A delicate balance of faith, democracy

"If we ever forget that we're one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under."

Today is a day of great significance in the Christian world - the day the Bible tells us of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is a day of foundational belief in the Christian world where we are directed by faith to accept the words of the Bible and to believe in the forgiveness of sins. But much of the true meaning of this most holy day has been lost in modern society. And many of the Christian belief feel that this slow but steady erosion will someday prove our undoing. Some believe we have long passed that point.

There may never be a full resolution of the delicate balance between religion and government. We look to our Constitution to direct how government and religion combine but we often fail to put that special document into the perspective of the times.

The current trend obviously is to slowly remove all aspects of religion from the public arena. Prayer has long been removed from the public stage in our rush for political correctness. Christmas is being downgraded to a seasonal festival and Easter has become no more than a celebration of spring's arrival.

Only in the churches of this land do we still hear the true message and meaning of the Easter celebration. Before long, we will have lost the relevance and importance of faith and belief. The Bible will be just one of the thousands of documents used to explain the mysteries of this world.

Some would have us believe that the social problems today stem directly from the removal of God and religion and prayer from our public arena. Though I accept that argument, I suspect the problems of today go much deeper than one simple court decision.

I think in our haste to embrace diversity we have lost our way. In our haste not to offend, we have forgotten some basic truths. Doomsday prophets have been around as long as history has been written. And almost without fail, these "prophets" have forecast doom because of our wandering from the lessons taught in the Bible. But only time proves prophets right or wrong. We should celebrate today for the real reasons. We should return the lessons taught in the Bible to the public agenda. And we should hold accountable those who oppose the proper role of religion in our daily lives - both public and private.

If statistics are proven accurate, the day will come when the Christian belief is in the minority, not only around the world but in our own country. When that day arrives - though none of us will be around - the lessons learned in the Bible about the significance of this day will fall by the wayside. And Christian observances will be replaced with some combination that accepts some beliefs and rejects others. The problem with Christians is that we fail to raise our voices when our elected leaders slowly remove religion from public discourse. We privately mourn the trend and we're not afraid to share those concerns with other believers. But when it comes to fighting for the return of these holy principles, we'll someday be held accountable for our silence.

And that is the sermon for today!