Why an atheist says America needs Christianity

The death of Pope Francis continues to dominate the news, but commentators are beginning to turn their attention to what comes next as well. Of the twelve cardinals thought to be frontrunners to become the next pope, many are considered more conservative than Francis.

On the other hand, Pope Francis appointed 108 of the 135 cardinals eligible to vote for the next pope. Since four out of five votes in the coming conclave will be cast by cardinals elevated by Francis, some believe they will appoint a successor who will follow his pastoral priorities. (For more, see my new website article, “The funeral of Pope Francis and the papal conclave to follow: Who might be the next pope and what else you need to know.”)

The person who becomes the next pope will obviously be vitally significant to America’s seventy-two million Catholics (comprising the largest denomination in the US). But three values Francis emphasized during his pontificate transcend denominations and are crucial to the future of American democracy as well.

“Three things America needs most right now”

Jonathan Rauch describes himself as an atheist, homosexual Jew. Nonetheless, his conversation this week with Bari Weiss of the Free Press makes a point every American Christian needs to understand.

Rauch, a Yale-educated author, journalist, and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, claims that our democracy depends on three pillars: resist fearmongering, care for the rights of the marginalized, and forgive your political opponents. He asserts that they are “the three things America needs most right now.”

According to Rauch, these values are especially central to the Christian faith. (To illustrate his point, all three were repeatedly emphasized by Pope Francis in his messages and ministry.) Rauch, therefore, urges Christians to “teach how to be like Jesus in public life” by discipling people around politics and social media. He notes: “If Christians—especially white evangelicals—could bring the tone and behavior of Jesus into politics instead of mimicking the worst of social media, it could help heal both the church and the country.”

He adds: “Christianity has run aground before—indulgences, corruption, power. But the gospel endures: A God in human form who suffers and dies not to dominate but to redeem. It’s the most powerful story in human history. Maybe it’s not done yet.”

“What it is like to live separated from God”

Like Jonathan Rauch, Bari Weiss is Jewish. What neither of them seems to understand is that the incarnational love of God is not just a “story” but a living Reality. Frederick Buechner writes:

The proclamation of Easter Day is that all is well. And as a Christian, I say this not with the easy optimism of one who has never known a time when all was not well but as one who has faced the Cross in all its obscenity as well as in all its glory, who has known one way or another what it is like to live separated from God.

Like Buechner, I have known “what it is like to live separated from God.”

As far back as I have memory, I have believed that God exists. In my darkest days—the early death of my father, the cancer diagnoses of our oldest son and youngest grandson, the inevitable discouragements that come to pastors (and everyone else)—my faith in God’s reality persisted.

But I have known what it is like not to experience the joy of his presence, that visceral sense of fulfillment and significance that comes to those who are living in his leading and power. I have felt the absence of his presence when my sins grieved and quenched his Spirit (Ephesians 4:30; 1 Thessalonians 5:19). I have known days when serving him felt more like an obligation than a privilege, times when Christianity was more a transactional religion about Jesus than a transforming relationship with him.

“Death is not the end. The end is life.”

The good news is that such days are not the whole story. Buechner continues:

In the end, his will, not ours, is done. Love is the victor. Death is not the end. The end is life. His life and our lives through him, in him. Existence has greater depths of beauty, mystery, and benediction than the wildest visionary has ever dared to dream. Christ our Lord has risen.

I have experienced this risen Lord personally. I have known what it is to feel the intimacy of his presence, the joy of his grace, the power of being led by his Spirit.

Experiencing Jesus in this way is vital not just for our souls but for our nation. The three Christian pillars Rauch identifies as essential to democracy are empowered not by our religion but by our living Lord:

• We cannot truly refuse to fear others unless we have the courage of Christ infusing our minds and spirits.
• We cannot truly care for the marginalized unless we have the compassion of Jesus beating in our hearts.
• We cannot truly forgive our opponents unless we experience and share his forgiving mercy.

These gifts of grace are extended in nail-scarred hands to each of us, even now.

“He can heal us and help us move forward”

As the world marks the death of Pope Francis, I have been quoting all week from his latest book, published just two months before his homegoing. In it he writes:

How often we have felt the need for a change that would affect our entire person! How often we have said to ourselves, “I need to change; I can’t keep on like this. My life is leading nowhere, it will never bear fruit, it’s all pointless, I’ll never be happy.” How often have we had these thoughts! And Jesus, who is nearby, always reaches out to us and says, “Come, come to me. I will do the work: I will change your heart, I will change your life, I will make you happy.”

Jesus, who is with us, invites us to change our life. It is he, with the Holy Spirit, who sows in us this restlessness to change our lives and become better people.

Let us accept the Lord’s invitation without resistance. Only by opening ourselves to his mercy will we find true life and true joy. All we have to do is open the door—he will do the rest. He does everything; we just have to open our hearts. He can heal us and help us move forward.

Will you find “true life and true joy” today?

Quote for the day:

“I am a dreamer, dazzled by the light of the gospel; I stare into the night for visions with hope. And when I fall, thanks to Jesus, I always rediscover the courage to keep fighting, hoping, and dreaming.” —Pope Francis

Our latest website resources:

• “The funeral of Pope Francis and the papal conclave to follow: Who might be the next pope and what else you need to know.”
• Why should the death of Pope Francis matter to Protestants?

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• FSU student used chewing gum to survive mass shooting
• Who is Abrego Garcia, and should he have been deported? The answer is complicated

Denison Forum

Why the biggest story is not always the most important story

When Hurricane Helene swept through much of the East Coast six months ago, it left a trail of destruction that has continued to haunt those caught in its path. While some have been able to rebuild what was lost, the relative isolation of many western North Carolina towns slowed such progress. And, as Jesse Pierre reports, “Few places were hit as hard as Chimney Rock Village.”

Fortunately, they’re on their way back, thanks in part to a rather unexpected source.

Great Needs Trust is one of the groups that has been on the ground to help rebuild the town, and their workers are easy to spot both for the effectiveness of their work and … for other reasons.

You see, the men and women from Great Needs Trust hail from the Amish country of Lancaster, PA, a fact made evident by their dress and approach to the work that needs to be done in Chimney Rock. As Amanda Zook described, “We wanted to help the people with the disaster. Our hearts just felt drawn to come help the people in this area.”

Amos Stoltzfus, another volunteer, added, “It just fills my heart with joy, watching people get their life back again.”

In addition to their work in Chimney Rock, volunteers from the organization have also helped build tiny homes for those displaced by the hurricane throughout much of western North Carolina. And, as Pierre points out, “The volunteers are not just restoring buildings, they’re also restoring a sense of community.”

The true significance of breaking news

You may be wondering why I would start today’s article by highlighting the work of Amish volunteers in hurricane-ravaged North Carolina when the war in Ukraine, tariffs, and the Pope’s passing continue to dominate the news. Those are genuinely important stories and worth following. However, just because something is making headlines doesn’t mean that anything has really changed.

The latest updates on the war in Ukraine, for example, essentially mean that we’re still at the same place as when I wrote about it back in February, with the most significant shift that Trump’s threats to end support for Ukraine may be closer to coming to fruition should the peace process continue to bear little to no fruit.

Likewise, while the trade war in China has shown signs of shifting in recent days—and the stock market has responded well to that hope—the reality is that nothing of substance is all that different than it was last week or last month. There is still a massive amount of uncertainty regarding what the future will bring, and most of the market movements are based more on hopes and fears than reality.

And that is equally true for the reported ninety-plus nations trying to negotiate new trade deals with the US. Even as those deals start to be made, their actual implications for the global economy will remain all but impossible to determine until they are given time to go into effect.

Pope Francis’s funeral will be held at the Vatican tomorrow, with leaders from around the world in attendance and millions—if not billions—of others watching from home. But it will likely be weeks or months before the papal conclave chooses the Catholic Church’s next leader. And, if the past is any indication, there will be at least a few significant surprises in that process along the way.

The truth is, most of these news stories will play out in ways that will impact us, but we have little ability to impact them. Yet, as the story of the Amish volunteers demonstrates, the best way to advance God’s kingdom on earth is to keep our focus and energy on the parts of our lives where we can make a difference.

What is your Chimney Rock?

Our inability to influence the outcome doesn’t mean God wants us to ignore what’s going on with Ukraine, tariffs, the pope, or any of the other headlines out there today. However, it is crucial that we don’t allow the news—and, more specifically, the fear and angst it can generate—to make us ignore God, either.

Toward the end of Christ’s ministry, his disciples pulled him aside and asked what signs would precede the end times (Matthew 24:5–9). Across the nearly two millennia since, Jesus’s response has resulted in far too many attempts to find evidence of his return in the news of the day. But Jesus didn’t tell us what signs to look for so that we could then spend all our time focused on seeking them out.

Instead, he shared that teaching about false prophets, wars and rumors of war, famine, and natural disasters to give them—and, by extension, us—hope and encouragement that there are really only two ways such troubling events can end. Either they will pass, or they will result in his return, and both outcomes are good news for us.

As I wrote in Between Compromise and Courage, “God’s goal is that when the world seems like it’s falling apart, his people won’t. Instead, we should continue to share the gospel and proclaim Jesus is Lord as we prepare for the day when Christ will return and remove all doubt as to the truth of that statement.”

So where is God calling you to make a difference today? What is your Chimney Rock?

How you answer those questions will have a far more significant impact on your life and the lives of those around you than any of the stories dominating headlines today, and our priorities need to reflect that reality.

Do yours?

Quote of the day:

“Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter.” —Francis Chan

Our latest website resources:

• Church rededicated after Good Friday graffiti attack
• The Age of the Corporate Church: An excerpt from “What If Jesus was Serious About the Church?” by Skye Jethani
• The Pope’s death, Big Tech monopolies, NFL draft & a coffee hot take | Ep. 16
• The funeral of Pope Francis and the papal conclave to follow
• Why should the death of Pope Francis matter to Protestants?

Denison Forum

The path to courage that changes the culture

Child psychologist Allan Josephson received one of the American Psychiatric Association’s highest awards while serving as chair of the University of Louisville’s Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology. In 2017, he said at a Heritage Foundation panel, “Transgender ideology . . . is neglectful of the need for developing coping skills and problem-solving skills in children.”

For his comments, he was forced to resign as division chair. According to a lawsuit he filed, the university reduced his salary, retirement benefits, and academic travel funds before eventually choosing not to renew his contract, effectively terminating his position. He sued the university, alleging that they violated his First and Fourteenth Amendment rights.

Dr. Josephson will receive a $1.6 million settlement from the university this week.

China bans foreign mission activity

I was in Hong Kong some years ago. On my first morning, I exited my hotel, turned left into the coming stream of pedestrians, and was nearly run over by the mass of humanity rushing the other way. I quickly learned to find my “lane” of intended direction and strayed from it at my peril.

Going the right way when the crowd is going the other way is always dangerous.

For those who truly follow Jesus, it has ever been thus.

The Chinese Communist Party is banning foreign missionary activity, effective May 1. Foreigners will be prohibited from “preaching, sharing their faith, or establishing religious organizations without official government approval.” Non-Chinese citizens will be forbidden from recruiting Chinese citizens as religious followers. In addition, foreign clergy can preach only if officially invited by state-sanctioned religious institutions, and all preaching content must receive prior government approval.

On a speaking trip to Beijing some years ago, I met underground church pastors who risk their families and their futures daily to share God’s word. I have prayed for them often and can only hope I would have their courage in their circumstances.

Paul warned his fellow believers that “through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22); “tribulations” translates the Greek word for a massive weight used to crush grain into flour. Jesus used the same word when he predicted, “In the world you will have tribulation” (John 16:33a).

However, our Lord then added: “But take heart; I have overcome the world” (v. 33b). “Take heart” could be translated, “have courage.” The Greek tense translated “I have overcome” states an accomplished fact with ongoing relevance. We could render his phrase, “I have overcome the world and am still overcoming it today.”

What happens “when people renounce lies”

Faithful Christians in communist countries face prison and worse. In the post-Christian West, the threat is less obvious but no less real.

Like the church in northwest England spray-painted with lewd images, obscene phrases, and the statement, “God is a lie,” Christ-followers face an ongoing mass of humanity rushing headlong into secularism. Its destructive consequences are all around us, from the epidemic of pornography to plummeting life satisfaction to the threat of loneliness to discouragement exacerbated by the daily news.

Ironically, the attack on the British church came on Good Friday.

If we wish to experience Jesus’ overcoming victory in a culture blinded by “the god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4; cf. 1 Corinthians 2:14), our first step is to follow Dr. Josephson’s example.

On February 12, 1974, the dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn was arrested by the Soviets. That same day, he had released the text of his now-famed address, “Live Not By Lies.” In it, he identified “the simplest, most accessible key to our liberation: a personal nonparticipation in lies!” (his italics). He added, “Even if all is covered by lies, even if all is under their rule, let us resist in the smallest way: Let their rule hold not through me!” (his italics).

He explained:

This is the way to break out of the imaginary encirclement of our inertness, the easiest way for us and the most devastating for the lies. For when people renounce lies, lies simply cease to exist. Like parasites, they can only survive when attached to a person.

“The secret of the worker’s life”

To find the courage to refuse the lies of our culture, we need to love our Father more than we love our world. In The Imitation of Christ, Thomas à Kempis (1380–1471) observed, “If God were our one and only desire, we would not be so easily upset when our opinions do not find outside acceptance.”

How, then, do we make God our “one and only desire”?

We begin by remembering how much he loves us (1 John 4:19). Pope Francis, whose body is now lying in state in St. Peter’s Basilica ahead of Saturday’s funeral mass, urged us in his last book, “Allow me to share the most fundamental truth with you: God loves you. . . . You are, in all situations, infinitely loved.”

Then we respond with the counselor’s adage: Act into feeling. If you loved God more than you do, what would you do?

The more time we spend with our Lord, the more his Spirit inculcates in us a desire for time with him. The more we worship him, the more we find ourselves wanting to worship him. The more we experience his presence in prayer and solitude, the more we yearn for his presence through prayer and solitude.

Oswald Chambers noted,

“The secret of the worker’s life is that he keeps in tune with God all the time.”

And the Holy Spirit infuses us with the courage of Christ in refusing the lies of our culture and testifying to the truth of the gospel.

Prior to Pentecost, Peter denied even knowing Jesus three times (Matthew 26:69–75). But after he joined believers who were “devoting themselves to prayer” (Acts 1:14) and was “filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:4), he courageously told the same men who condemned Jesus, “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

With this result: “When they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus” (v. 13).

Will people recognize that you have “been with Jesus” today?

Quote for the day:

“It is easier to find a score of men wise enough to discover the truth than to find one intrepid enough, in the face of opposition, to stand up for it.” —A. A. Hodge

Our latest website resources:

• Earth Day and dogwood trees in our backyard: The wonder of nature and the health of our souls
• FSU student used chewing gum to survive mass shooting
• Scientists find possible life signature on distant planet
• Who is Abrego Garcia, and should he have been deported? The answer is complicated
• George Clooney, Nico Harrison, and the peril of popularity

Denison Forum