71 Five Ministries is a Christian youth mentoring ministry in Oregon that serves at-risk youth. The ministry serves youth of all faiths and backgrounds, including expectant mothers and young people who are in jail. For six consecutive years, they received a $400,000 grant from the Oregon Department of Education (ODOE) to service this constituency, and received high praise for the work they were doing. This grant came to comprise about 10% of their annual budget.

Suddenly, however, their grant funding was pulled. And the reason the government agency gave for pulling it was that the ministry requires all board members, employees, and volunteers “to be authentic followers of Christ.” The rule the ODOE cited for their action was actually something rather new. This new rule prohibits faith-based organizations from participating in the grant program if they only allow members of their own faith as employees and volunteers.

This case has yet to be settled in court, but on appeal it is almost a guarantee that the ban will be overturned. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled three times in a seven-year period that states cannot exclude religious organizations from programs just because they are religious. But, obviously, these ODOE officials don’t care about that, and are willing to go forward with what is clearly their unconstitutional policy.

Of course, this is not the only case where government authorities are picking on Christians. Over the last several years, there have been numerous cases where government entities have gone after Christians just because they are Christian. Some of the persecution has been because Christian businesses, have not been willing to compromise their beliefs related to marriage or sexual morality. Many of these people have actually been taken to court, or had licences suspended or revoked. Others, like this case in Oregon, are Christian non-profits that have been excluded from participating in state programs to help people in need. There are even cases where faith based organizations were prevented from helping place children for adoption because they are not willing to compromise biblical beliefs.

But why, exactly, is this kind of thing going on? The answer to that question may catch some people by surprise.

The ones implementing these policies are, obviously, people who specifically have something against Christianity and Christians. Sometimes they use the excuse that by allowing Christians to participate in programs that are regulated by the government, they would be violating the separation of church and state – even though there is no such thing as separation of church and state in the Constitution. Other times they point to biblical morality and simply deem it bigoted or discriminatory.

But there is actually a more deep-rooted reason why we are increasingly seeing this kind of persecution. Ultimately, those discriminating against Christians simply don’t like the religious competition.

At this point, if one of those people were reading this, they would probably start having a hissy fit. The majority of people in government positions who are making these kinds of rulings are actually Atheists. And the majority of activist Atheists are adamant that they are not religious. In fact, the most common way they characterize themselves is that “they don’t believe in God.” They claim that not believing in God is not a religious point of view at all. Rather it is a lack of belief. If I’ve heard that once, I’ve heard it a thousand times.

But that is simply not true. Those people may not believe in God, but they do believe in something. What they believe is based on some worldview foundation, which is religious.

Just for a little background, a worldview is defined as the assumptions people make about the nature of reality. As a set of “assumptions,” it is a belief system. There are four basic worldview categories, and every religion, cult, and philosophy in existence is based on one of those four (or some hybrid combination).

Atheism is one expression of a naturalistic worldview – the belief that the natural universe, operating by natural laws, is all that exists. Since Naturalists (of every stripe) don’t acknowledge the existence of God or any transcendent reality, they have no choice but to assume that there is a natural explanation for everything that exists in all of reality. While most will acknowledge that there are many things we still don’t know, they still assert that everything is ultimately knowable once we advance far enough with our knowledge and technology. So, once we advance enough, we will be able to understand, empirically, everything in all of reality. Just think about that for a moment – theoretically there is absolutely nothing that is outside the ability of human beings to understand and explain.

Now for the big question: How do they know this is true?

Well, when dismissing the beliefs of Christians, they point to the fact that there is no evidence Christian beliefs are true (meaning there is no empirical evidence). But what about their own beliefs? Since they require a naturalistic answer to everything, they obviously have scientific evidence to back up their own beliefs, right? Well, actually, no! There is no science that proves Naturalism is true. Yet they believe it anyway.

So why do they believe it? They believe it because that is the foundational understanding of their religious faith. They don’t start with science to come up with their belief. Rather, they start with their naturalistic belief, then interpret reality using that naturalistic lens. Thus, for them, since they don’t believe in God, they dismiss the very idea of God as superstitious – not based on any empirical evidence, but based on their naturalistic faith.

And that is what is going on with these government agencies that are persecuting Christians. These are not people protecting the Constitution by advocating for separation of church and state, they are religious zealots who are rejecting Christians and Christian values based on their belief in naturalistic philosophy – their personal religion of choice. They simply don’t like the religious competition.

So how are Christians to push back against this kind of religious bigotry? We do it by promoting truth. When you look deeply at the implications of the atheistic approach, what you find is a system of beliefs that promotes abnormal behavior, hurtful values, and unreal beliefs. It actually ends up damaging the very people they claim to want to help – all in the name of promoting their version of “right.”

But atheistic beliefs are not right. They are not even true. And the antidote for a lie is the truth.

And this is where Christians need to really get up to speed. It is not easy to convince those who hate Christianity that they are wrong, but the evidence for it is very strong. God does exist, and Christ has provided a way for human beings to know Him in a personal relationship.

So the first thing that is necessary is to learn how to promote the truth. But there is a second requirement, as well. It is also necessary to be persistent. We can’t allow those with false beliefs to win the day. Ultimately, the truth will prevail. We just have to make sure we stay in the fight.

Freddy Davis is the president of MarketFaith Ministries. He is the author of numerous books entitled The Truth Mirage, Rules for Christians Radicals, Liberalism vs. Conservatism, and his latest book Shattering the Truth Mirage and has a background as an international missionary, pastor, radio host, worldview trainer, and entrepreneur. Freddy is a graduate of Florida State University with a BS in Communication and holds MDiv and DMin degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is a popular speaker, particularly on the topic of worldview and its practical implications for the Christian life. He lives in Tallahassee, FL, with his wife Deborah.

You may also contact Freddy at Leadership Speakers Bureau to schedule him for speaking or leadership engagements.

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