I read a story on Foxnews.com about a military course that was cancelled on the basis that it violated the separation of church and state. (Excuse my technical language, but that is baloney!) I am not going to comment more on that case; you can read about it at the link below. However, I did like the following quote from Commander Daniel McKay, a retired U.S. Navy Chaplain:
“History will prove that if you stay true to God’s wisdom, it will serve us well and it has served us well.” McKay said it’s possible that parts of the military are trying to play “all sides of the fence – trying to take a middle-of-the-road approach.” That, he said, is a mistake. “If you stay in the middle of the road, you become road kill,” McKay said, urging the military to stay true to what the Founders established. Read more at https://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/08/03/air-forces-suspends-christian-themed- ethics-training-program-over-bible/#ixzz1U4YFkSf1.
We have all seen it. The poor animal, a possum, a deer, a squirrel, or maybe a dog or cat, is stuck in the middle of the road with traffic coming and just does not know what to do. Way too often they make exactly the wrong move and are struck by a vehicle. I hate it when I hit an animal, no matter what kind (except maybe a snake, I have a very strong prejudice against snakes). Yet, sometimes it is unavoidable, and then a living creature becomes, for lack of a better term, road kill.
Staying in the middle of the road is not a good goal. It is a dangerous and often fatal decision. It amazes me how often it has become the standard in today’s pluralistic society, and even in religion. Joshua, with his “as for me and my house” speech; the apostles with their stand, “We must obey God rather than man,” and “there is no other name under heaven, given among men by which we must be saved,” etc. would be frowned upon greatly today. We are encouraged and rewarded for sitting on the fence. The only thing we are permitted to stand against is taking any kind of stand.
Seems to me that this is exactly what Jesus is talking about through the inspired writer John, when He speaks of the church at Laodicea (Revelation 3:15-16). “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.” God opposed the false teaching and false living of several of the churches of Asia to whom He had John write, but this church, the Laodicean church, was the one that He said made Him sick. It sat on the fence. It was not really for or against anything. It was just there.
I am not a “the-sky-is-falling” kind of person. However, I will tell you that there is a concerted effort to remove anything religious from the public arena. As that becomes more successful, it will begin to bleed into removing it from our own private lives. There are groups that are out there with that one goal in mind: the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, (the group mentioned in the article cited) is an example. Freedom From Religion Foundation is another. The claim to simply want to separate church and state is shown time and again to be false. Groups like this will only be happy when religion is destroyed in our society. The following quote from www.atheists.org is an example of the attitude of these groups: “American Atheists is not afraid to point out that which is true: religion is ridiculous. Mythology and religion are synonymous, and none is better than another. Religion is malicious, malevolent, and unworthy of respect.”
We have to stand for the truth about God and of God. We cannot back down and compromise. We have to get out of the middle of the road. No, that does not mean be hateful. No, that does not mean to go out looking for a fight. It does not mean having a haughty, condescending attitude. But it does involve standing uncompromisingly in the face of fierce opposition. It does involve realizing that we have a truth that must be told, a message that must be delivered and a stand that must be taken. We cannot hide in fear and stand in the middle of the road.
To paraphrase, Cmdr. McKay said, ‘If we stand in the middle of the road, as far as religious faith and doctrine, we will become road kill in the wake of political correctness and militant atheism. We will lose our rights to practice religion in our country without interference.’ We might anyway, but we cannot stand idly by and take it without a fight.
