In the 1950s Sir Winston Churchill did it to British Steel. In the 1980s Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Regan popularised it worldwide. Thatcher's successor John Major did it to British Rail and our current Government wants to do it to Royal Mail - what is it? Privatization: the process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector (Government) to the private sector (business).
It appears to me and many other observers that today's "powers that be" have applied the economic concept of privatization to religion (in particular Christianity - especially the 'biblical sort'). By this I mean, the aggressive attempt at the secularisation of society, through anti-Christian propaganda via politics and mass media. The objective of this increasingly zealous activity is the marginalisation of Christianity. This new and popular pseudo-tolerance is designed to quarantine our faith to the privacy of our own heads, hearts and homes and ban it from the public square.
Tolerance used to mean being willing to endure and bear with those whose views differed from your own. The new and false tolerance of our age dictates that more than merely 'putting-up' with those who have different opinions and lifestyles than your own, you must also agree with them. Furthermore you must recognise their lifestyle choices and habits to be as equally valid as your own and you must even be prepared to endorse and promote their views as equally acceptable as your own.
Emotional blackmail is a skilful weapon used by those with the secularist agenda. To take issue with a person's opinion or find their habits objectionable (or dare we say 'immoral') is to attack them personally and is therefore not only intolerant but insensitive. It appears that the modern unpardonable sin is to hurt another's feelings by a difference of opinion, most especially religious and moral opinion.
Is this all just spiritual paranoia? I wish it were! Nadia Eweida, a customer services employee with British Airways, was asked to conceal a silver cross necklace no bigger than a five-pence-coin, whilst staff of other faiths were allowed to display their religious symbols. When Miss Eweida refused to remove the necklace she was suspended from work in September 2003. A Christian nurse from Somerset, Caroline Petrie, was suspended on 17 December 2008 after she prayed for a patient. The patient prayed for was not concerned about her prayer, but mentioned it to another member of the nursing staff who subsequently reported Mrs Petrie, who was then accused of breaking nursing guidelines. Two schoolboys from Stoke-on-Trent were sent to detention by their school teacher in July 2008 for refusing to pray to Allah in their Religious Education class. During the R.E. lesson at the high school in Cheshire, the boys' teacher asked them to wear Muslim headgear and gave out prayer mats, telling the eleven/twelve year old pupils to kneel down and pray to the Muslim god. In the last number of weeks we have been bombarded by media coverage concerning the apparent shift in public opinion regarding Assisted Suicide. The Government's Equality Bill that places a requirement upon Public Bodies such as Police and Schools to promote homosexual and transsexual rights has been debated in the Houses of Parliament. Had the Bill not been defeated in the House of Lords in January, many feared it would have constrained churches to employ those who do not comply with their religious beliefs and moral convictions. Many further examples of the marginalisation of Christianity could be cited to show the growing pressure upon Christians from all quarters of society to privatize their faith. (For more examples of this see “Marginalising Christians: Instances Of Christians Being Sidelined In Modern Britain” [PDF]).
After the initial shellshock of the depths to which our society has fallen, what should our response be? May I suggest at least a two-pronged initiative?
Repentance
The church is not without guilt in this spiritual calamity. Perhaps if the Body of Christ had been more of a thermostat, affecting the temperature of the age, rather than a thermometer, reflecting the temperature of the age, the United Kingdom today might not be such a "cold house for Christians". Five out of the Seven Churches of Asia Minor addressed by Christ in the Book of Revelation were commanded to "repent". Repentance is both the initial and daily requirement of the believer and the corporate responsibility of the church. Repentance means to change our mind and attitude toward sin, the world, ourselves and God in Christ. The church and Christians need to repent of their capitulation with the world system and take their stand for Christ again.
Resolve
Yes, whatever the cost, we must resolve to take our stand for Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit, even if it means loss of job, loss of popularity and attracts the wrath of modern Babylon.
"Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach" - Hebrews 13:12-13
Jesus said,
"If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you" - John 15:18
Resolve, however, does not just mean a resignation to a sense of defeated martyrdom. A thousand times NO! What is needed today is a resolution to use the spiritual resources God has given us through the cross of Christ and the resurrection.
"And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light" - Romans 13:11-12
Once more we must put on the Armour of Ephesians 6 and in the strength of Christ's victory "Fight the Good Fight."
Our Captain and Commander has promised us weapons for warfare...
"not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds... Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ" - 2 Corinthians 10:4-5
Are there any among those who profess Christ that will be a Soldier for Christ? Who will with these God given spiritual weapons be like Bunyan's 'Valiant-For-Truth' who with the Sword of the Spirit in his hand cried:
"I fought till my sword did cleave to my hand, and then they were joined together, as if a sword grew out of my arm. When the blood ran through my fingers, then I fought with most courage"?
He truly had resisted unto blood striving against sin (Hebrews 12:4), and so must we.
