A Brief Outline Against Religious Neutrality

Religious Neutrality Defined: The idea that man can be without any beliefs or views that is for or against God, the Bible, etc.

Objective: We must realize that in regards to ‘facts?and everywhere and everything that man approaches, he/she can not approach it without presuppositions or with a neutrality towards God.

Characteristics of Religious Neutrality

There are traits and attitudes that have come up in regards to defending religious neutrality that encompasses one or more of these points:

(A) People might ask, “Do you really have to bring up the Bible when we are dealing with Geography (Footnote 1), Psychology (Footnote 2), Mathematics (Footnote 3) , Economics (Footnote 4) or man’s relationship to the Earth (Footnote 5)

(B) There are people who appear to be sincerely ‘neutral?towards the surrounding issues concerning God. Doesn’t this show that one can be religiously neutral? (See Romans 1:18-22)

(C) God is not relevant at all in the Sphere of X and/or Y. (See below on Creation)

(D) I am not taking any sides for or against a religion.

  • I. THE BIBLE DOES NOT ALLOW FOR IT
    • A. CREATION
      • i. Everything in this world belongs to God
      • ii. “If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, [a] you are there.?(Psalms 139:8)
      • iii. “The LORD has established his throne in heaven,
        and his kingdom rules over all.?(Psalms 103:19)
      • iv. SEE ALSO Psalms 19:1-4 and 1 Chronicles 29:11
    • B. GOD AND CHRIST THE SOURCE OF WISDOM & KNOWLEDGE
      • i. Christ the source of Wisdom and Knowledge
        “Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments.?(Col. 2:3-4)
      • ii. God the Source of Wisdom
        ?If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.?(James 1:5)
    • C. THE EXCLUSIVENESS OF CHRISTIANITY
      • i. “Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.?(John 14:6)
      • ii. “He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters.?(Matthew 12:30)
  • II. NEUTRALITY IS UNETHICAL IN A CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW
    • A. MAN’S PURPOSE IS TO GLORIFY GOD IN EVERYTHING
      • i. “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.?(Col. 3:17)
      • ii. “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.?(1 Chorinthians 10:31)
    • B. MAN MUST SUBMIT TO WHAT GOD SAYS
      • i. If not, then he is in rebellion against God and not submitting to Him. He is therefore not neutral.
  • III. RELIGIOUS NEUTRALITY IS PHILOSOPHICALLY IMPOSSIBLE ITSELF
    • A. MAN CAN NOT BE PRESUPPOSITION FREE
      • i. Those Premises and Propositions acknowledge Christianity or not.
    • B. NEUTRALITY IS ANTI-THEISTIC
      • i. When someone say He is neutral towards God’s existence or Christianity, he himself has anti-theistic or non-Christian assumption. It is not neutral.
      • ii. ANALOGY: When someone says they are neutral towards the Holocaust and when some Runaway Jews beg you for cover, your ‘neutrality? position towards the Holocaust and non-action is still a position and action against the runaway Jews.
    • C. NEUTRALITY ITSELF IS NOT NEUTRAL
      • i. To argue for neutrality, is to argue for a position, and the more evidence and arguments you marshal, the more it is evident that Neutrality itself is a position.
      • ii. Yet, the very point of neutrality is no longer neutral. It is something that is now debated and to assume it would be begging the question

By Jimmy Li

Endnotes

  1. See Impossible Neutrality: An Analogy from Humanistic Geography
  2. I recommend any book on this topic by Jay Adams.
  3. Poythress, Vern. “A Biblical View of Mathematics?in Foundation of Christian Scholarship: Essays in the Van Til Perspective. California: Ross House Books, 1979: Pages 159-188.
  4. North, Gary and DeMar, Gary. Christian Reconstruction: What It is, What It Isn’t Texas: Institute for Christian Economics, 1991
  5. Schaeffer, Francis A. Pollution and the Death of Man: The Christian View of Ecology. Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, 1970

Last Edited March 30, 2009 0:07