This is taken from a teaching by Scott Chapman, Sr. Pastor of The Chapel. I edited it some and re-used it in a leadership development teaching that I have done for a few years now. It’s core to who we are as The Chapel leadership community.
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The Problem is Practical Atheism
Long ago in ancient Israel the men of the tribe of Issachar were said to have “understood their times and knew what the people of God should do”
(I Chronicles 12:32). We live in a rapidly changing and critically important moment in history and, like the men of Issachar, we too must understand our times and determine what the people of God should do.
When we seek to read the signs of our times and discern the tides of our culture we come across a singular idea that is woven into our national fabric and has come to define the essence of our society. That idea is called Practical Atheism.
Practical Atheism is believing that God exists while behaving as if He did not. It represents a dichotomy between who we say we are and who we actually are. We as a nation profess to believe that God is real, but the truth is that His reality fails to impact us at a significant level. Studies have repeatedly shown that there is little difference in the lives of those who claim to believe in God and those who don’t. That is the essence of Practical Atheism; a faith so insignificant that it makes no practical difference in the life of the believer and no marked distinction in the conduct of a nation.
The speed with which our society has embraced Practical Atheism has been blistering. In only the past 80 to 100 years our culture has undergone a colossal shift in the way it understands life. This shift represents the largest and fastest turn of any society from one foundation for civilization to another in the world’s history. Our nation’s turn has been so fast that for those of us born during this time, the velocity of this change has been totally imperceptible. It is hard for us to understand that things were not always as they are now.
To illustrate how rapid and all encompassing this change has been, we only need to look at the six major epicenters of culture in our nation. These six institutions collectively serve to define reality (what is true) and morality (what is good) for our society. They are the means by which ideas and values come into vogue and are validated. These institutions drive the way in which we understand and approach life as a culture.
The Six Epicenters of Culture
1. Science
Until about 80 to100 years ago, science was thought of and expressed as the study of God’s creation, but after the popular ascent of the theory of evolution, science came to be seen as incompatible with a belief in God. In a radical departure from the thinking of men as well regarded as Albert Einstein, the vast majority of scientists now exclude God from every attempt to explain the world.
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.”
Albert Einstein
2. Government
Until about 80 to100 years ago, government was believed to have derived its authority from God and saw itself as being responsible to God for its decisions. Not only is the Constitution of the United States based upon the values of God, but at its inception our government understood itself to be God’s instrument of bringing virtue, justice and freedom to its people. After the ideas of socialism gained broad acceptance, our perspective changed and God came to be seen as an obstacle to good and fair government. Now, it is widely held that every aspect of our government must be diligently protected against any intrusion of faith in God.
“It cannot be emphasized too clearly and too often that this nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religion, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason, peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here.”
Patrick Henry, “Orator of the American Revolution”
“We recognize no Sovereign but God, and no King but Jesus.”
John Adams, 2nd President of the United States
3. Therapy
Traditionally, Americans sought wisdom from God’s word and advice from Christian friends and clergy to move through the difficult seasons of life. About 40 to 80 years ago, the ideas of secular psychology took firm root in our culture and gave birth to the secular therapy movement. That movement has been so far-reaching that today, twice as many Americans visit a secular therapist as do a primary care physician. The issue is not whether people should seek advice from others, but rather the nature of the advice itself. Secular and Christian therapy stand in stark contrast to one another; the former looking inward for resolution to life’s issues, the latter moving outward towards God, seeking healing through a right relationship with Him.
”I believe that the world will either be saved by the psychologists or it won’t be saved at all.”
Abraham Maslow
4. Education
America has a proud tradition of public schools that originated with a desire to shape the minds and mold the character of our children in a way that was pleasing to God. From the beginning, the source of truth and virtue in our nation’s schools was God and His word. About 60 years ago, God’s role in the classroom was replaced by the ideas and writings of John Dewey, one of the leading secular humanists and the most prominent educational thinker of his day. His influence is seen in every public school in America and he, more than anyone else, has caused God to be seen as a hindrance to the effective education of our children. Only a single generation later, God is no longer welcome in our public schools.
“Demons were once appealed to in order to explain bodily disease, and no such thing as a strictly natural death was supposed to happen. The importation of general moral causes to explain social phenomena is on the same intellectual level. Reinforced by the prestige of traditional religions, and backed by the emotional force of beliefs in the supernatural, it stifles the growth of… social intelligence.”
John Dewey
5. Business
Steven Covey, in his best seller The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, studied business and success literature written throughout American history. He noted that for the first 150 years of our nation, success was centered on what he referred to as the Character Ethic. The essence of the Character Ethic is that morality is the pathway to success. The basis for this idea is the belief that since God provides for our needs, success is derived from living in such a way as to please Him. Covey noted that only in the last 50 years has there been a shift to what he calls the Personality Ethic. The central idea of the Personality Ethic is that success is generated through the acquisition of social skills and development of personal charisma. The Personality Ethic rests on the belief that since we must provide for ourselves, our success depends on our ability to do whatever it takes to win. It is the Personality Ethic, and not the Character Ethic, which defines corporate culture today. Consequently, the business world finds a genuine belief in God to be minimally superfluous and maximally counterproductive to success.
6. Media
Traditionally, Americans believed that God was the source of their personal fulfillment, but the rise of the mass media and entertainment industries have challenged this idea and shifted where our nation looks to find personal fulfillment.
Ø Our news industry is no longer satisfied with reporting significant events and informing us as to what is taking place in the world around us. Rather, it seeks to shape our perspective and mold our opinion. Their ambition reveals a core belief that fulfillment can be found in the triumph of a particular agenda.
Ø Our entertainment industry attracts business by perpetually inflaming our lusts and by pandering to our most base instincts. No longer satisfied with providing a quality diversion, their actions reveal a core belief that fulfillment can be found in the depths of pleasure and depravity.
Summary of the Six Epicenters
Epicenter Message
Science We don’t need God to explain the world.
Government We don’t need God to build a good society.
Therapy We don’t need God to make life work.
Education We don’t need God to raise our children.
Business We don’t need God to provide for our needs.
Media We don’t need God to have personal fulfillment.
The 7th Cultural Epicenter
The Church is the 7th cultural epicenter and has not remained unaffected by this trend. American Christians have not found it difficult to profess their faith, but struggle to see it make a difference in their lives. The Church in America is increasingly plagued with the symptoms of Practical Atheism. We are the most educated, resourced and privileged church in history, yet more and more of us are…
Ø Dissatisfied with our experience of Christianity.
Ø Dysfunctional with respect to how our lives work.
Ø Devoid of impact on the world around us.
The church has been swept up into the wave of Practical Atheism that has washed over our culture. The secularization of our society has both isolated and privatized our spirituality. We have moved from a very national and very public faith that influenced every area of our lives to an individualized and heavily secluded faith that is disconnected from virtually every aspect of how we live. On a broad spectrum, our faith has been divorced from how our culture defines both reality and morality. This change has reduced what it means to believe in God to something on the level of a color preference or favorite sports team; non-consequential and tailored to suit our individual tastes. It doesn’t hold enough meaning to influence our lives in any significant way. The secularization of our culture has led to Practical Atheism. Practical Atheism, combined with our culture’s blind acquiescence to the ideas of other religions, has paralyzed the church’s ability to move forward and marginalized its influence in our nation.
The Solution is Transformational Christianity
Transformational Christianity is the only thing that can free us from captivity of Practical Atheism. The heart of Transformational Christianity is born of the conviction that God is real and can be summarized in a single sentence:
If we ReDiscover God, He will transform our lives.
The essence of transformational Christianity is a relationship with God that not only affects the way we live, but transforms the nature of our lives. God isn’t so much interested in leading us into a different set of behaviors as He is leading us into a different type of life; a life that we love, a life that works and a life that He can use.
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Romans 12:1-2
Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
Psalm 1
How Do We ReDiscover God?
Living like God is real involves 3 specific practices that must become the natural rhythm of our lives. Living like God is real means…
Ø Living in His Presence
Ø Living by His Principles
Ø Living for His Purpose
How Does God Transform Our Lives?
When we begin to live like God is real, He begins to make our lives everything He intended them to be. God will make our lives…
Ø Satisfying
Ø Work
Ø Matter
ReDiscovering God Will Transform Our Lives
The specific practices of living like God is real are tied to the specific promises that God will do in our lives. We say them like this…
Ø Living in God’s presence brings a life that satisfies.
Ø Living by God’s principles brings a life that works.
Ø Living for God’s purpose brings a life that matters.
