To Work for a New Christian Order
- R. J. Rushdoony,
A man may claim to believe in God when he is actually an atheist to all practical intent if he tries to separate religion and the state, if he denies God's sovereignty over the state. It is impossible to separate religion and the state. All law is enacted morality, and all morality rests on religious foundations, and is the expression of religion. Thus, every legal system, i.e., every state represents a religious order and is a religious institution. The state cannot be neutral to religion. It is either Christian or anti-Christian. A state may be neutral with respect to churches, i.e., the particular institutional forms of Christianity, but it cannot be neutral with respect to Christianity. Today, Christianity is in the process of being disestablished as the religion of Western states and Humanism is rapidly being established as the official religion of church, state, and school. The decisions of the courts increasingly have little reference to Christianity and older legislation: they are religious decisions which promulgate the faith of Humanism.1 ~ R. J. Rushdoony
Modern history is a war over the establishment of religion, and unless the Christian recognizes this, he or she shall be overcome by the establishment of Humanism. The things we suffer as nations are the result of man doing what is right in his own eyes whether in economics, politics, education, or culture. Humanism is seeking to fortify itself, but the church must-by the power of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God-lift up a standard against it.
This is the great cause of Christian Reconstruction. It is the re-ordering of every area of life and thought in terms of God's law. How much more do the nations need to suffer under the tyranny of men before they realize that "freedom from God" brings the worst kind of slavery? Because man has established his own economics, he suffers for his rebellion against God's standards of just weights and measures. Because a nation rejects Christ as King, it must live with injustice and princes bribed (lobbied) into transgression:
Your princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves; everyone loves bribes, and follows after rewards. They do not defend the fatherless, nor does the cause of the widow come before them. Isaiah 1:23 NKJV
It's true that the way of the transgressor is hard (Proverbs 13:15), and if we structure our social order in terms of man's autonomy, we shall continue to have a very hard road to travel. There can be no change until the Christian can cast aside neutrality and recognize that God's sovereignty extends over the state, the economy, the courts, the schools, and all things else. Only then will the Christian feel compelled to work for a new Christian order.
1. R. J. Rushdoony, Roots of Reconstruction (Vallecito, CA: Ross House Books, 1991), 657f
- R. J. Rushdoony
Rev. R.J. Rushdoony (1916–2001), was a leading theologian, church/state expert, and author of numerous works on the application of Biblical law to society. He started the Chalcedon Foundation in 1965. His Institutes of Biblical Law (1973) began the contemporary theonomy movement which posits the validity of Biblical law as God’s standard of obedience for all. He therefore saw God’s law as the basis of the modern Christian response to the cultural decline, one he attributed to the church’s false view of God’s law being opposed to His grace. This broad Christian response he described as “Christian Reconstruction.” He is credited with igniting the modern Christian school and homeschooling movements in the mid to late 20th century. He also traveled extensively lecturing and serving as an expert witness in numerous court cases regarding religious liberty. Many ministry and educational efforts that continue today, took their philosophical and Biblical roots from his lectures and books.