A Look at Current Events

KEVIN HARRIS: Bill, there are several interesting things in the news that you may want to comment on including another Supreme Court case similar to what we’ve seen in the past.

Lorie Smith, an Evangelical Christian whose web design business is called 303 Creative, said she believes marriage should be limited to opposite-sex couples. She preemptively sued Colorado's Civil Rights Commission and other state officials in 2016 because she feared she would be punished for refusing to serve gay weddings under Colorado's public accommodations law.^[1]

The lower courts have ruled against her, but the Supreme Court has signaled that they will rule in her favor. Justice Neil Gorsuch says, “This individual will create all manner of websites, just not one that requires her to write words on a page that celebrate a particular thing that she finds offends her religious beliefs. There are certain heterosexual unions that your client would not speak for either. So the question isn't who, it's what.” The court heard arguments on December 5th of this year, and a ruling is expected in June.

DR. CRAIG: I want to commend Lorie Smith for her courage in standing up against enormous cultural pressures in defending the sanctity of heterosexual marriage. As you know, Anthony Kennedy redefined marriage so that marriage is no longer essentially a heterosexual union. This is now celebrated by the Biden Administration, and there's been legislation passed through Congress concerning this. Those who hold to the traditional view of marriage as a man-woman relationship are definitely swimming against the cultural current. I commend Lorie Smith for her courage and integrity. This case reminds me very much of the Colorado baker case where the baker would not put messages on a wedding cake for gay couples. The Court, I think, rightly ruled that this is an issue of both religious liberty but then also freedom of speech. As the quotation from Neil Gorsuch indicates, this person cannot be required to say certain things – required to write words on a page. Or the baker cannot be required to put certain messages on his cakes. This is a violation of the freedom of speech which is guaranteed to us by the Bill of Rights as well as an infringement of their religious liberty which the Bill of Rights also says must not be limited in its free exercise. It's so encouraging to see the courage of these conservative justices that are standing for religious liberty and for freedom of speech against the thought police and the speech control that people on the left would try to exercise.

KEVIN HARRIS: Let me pick out another cultural event going on. Here’s one.

Non-denominational Christians now the largest group of Protestants in USA

New data released by the US Religion Census has found at least 9,000 churches which do not identify with traditional denominations have surged in the last decade.

The increase takes the number of non-deminational churches in 2010 from 35,496 to 44,319 in 2020.

This means that, in total, there are now 3.4 million more people in non-denominational churches than there are Southern Baptist Convention congregations, one of the largest denominations in the US.

The report also found the number of people adhering to Southern Baptist and the United Methodist Church, has decreased by two million in comparison to those adherent to non-denominational churches, which has increased by nearly nine million.^[2]

What do you think of this trend? Would you prefer that the mainline denominations remain intact, or does it really matter to you?

DR. CRAIG: I am saddened by the decline in the mainline denominations, particularly in the United Methodist Church which is being riven over this issue of gay marriage as the bishops of the church defy the will of the church at large to stand in favor of traditional marriage. As a result, traditional Christians are deserting the church and the denomination is in a state of decline. According to these statistics, it's not just the number of churches now that are independent that is the largest group, but also the number of people in those churches. It's important to see that these statistics do not say that most Christians in the United States go to non-denominational churches or that most of the churches are non-denominational. What it's saying is that when you look at the different denominations like Presbyterian, Southern Baptist, Reformed, United Methodist, Episcopalian, that the largest of those groups now would be your non-denominational churches. These would be things like your community churches, your independent churches, and so forth. They're in a sense the biggest denomination – the biggest denomination is these non-denominational churches. I think the danger in this perhaps is encouraging a kind of maverick Christianity that isn't part of a historic Christian tradition. The mainline denominations typically have doctrinal commitments which are supposed to keep them in line. These non-denominational churches may lack that sort of historical grounding. So this could be of some concern. But, on the other hand, it's not as though you need to belong to a traditional denomination rather than an independent church or a community church in order to worship God effectively and find a place to serve and fellowship with others. Often these independent churches will be your best option.

KEVIN HARRIS: We've talked about on past podcasts that a lot of people who describe themselves as “nones” (n-o-n-e-s), actually what they mean by that is that they're non-denominational Christians. Being a “none” does not mean that you're an atheist, agnostic, or a non-Christian. It means that you're not any particular flavor.

DR. CRAIG: Exactly. So one has to be very careful about the inferences that one draws from these surveys of people's religious affiliation.

KEVIN HARRIS: Sure. I wanted to say one more thing on this. When I look back, it's been a long time since you and I have been teenagers, but when I was a teen this was kind of hammered in our head that denominations don't matter and we need to come together in Christ and get rid of these labels and all be one. While that's, in one aspect, certainly true – we want to be united – but I've certainly seen the same thing that you've seen. That it can be this maverick Christianity. Certainly when people believe the same they can pull together in one direction without just this cornucopia of views that you find in a big non-denominational church.

DR. CRAIG: Yes. That’s right. One alternative that might be effective would be to have a church that does have a denominational affiliation (say Episcopalian, United Methodist, Southern Baptist) but doesn't carry that affiliation in the name. So that they could call themselves something like the Community Church of Hanover or First Church of New England or something of that sort, that even though they have a denominational affiliation that would give them that grounding historically and doctrinally but wouldn't necessarily alienate or put off people who don't affiliate with that particular denomination.

KEVIN HARRIS: From the UK, for the first time on record Christians now make up less than half the population of England and Wales. It's not all bad news according to the Evangelical Alliance who participated in this extensive study. 45% said they believe in Jesus' resurrection. 45% of those polled in the UK believe in Jesus' resurrection! It's almost half! 54% say Jesus was an historical person. I'm not surprised at the decline in Christianity there in the UK. We've been watching this for some time. But I am rather surprised at such a high number affirmed the resurrection of Jesus.

DR. CRAIG: That really is an encouraging note in this study. Given the influx of Islam into Great Britain from former colonies, Islam has grown enormously in the UK along with secularism. So the Church of England and Christianity in general is very beleaguered, unfortunately, in the UK. But it is encouraging to see that there is still a robust representative of Christian belief – in Jesus and his resurrection.

KEVIN HARRIS: Here's a report from Pew Research that about 40% of adults in the U.S think we're living in end times. More than half of U.S adults (55%) believe Jesus will come again. 75% of Christians believe in the second coming. And one in ten adults thinks he will come in their lifetime. I'm sure that things like the pandemic have contributed to this.

DR. CRAIG: Yes, there has always been this interest in the end times and this sort of craving for belief that we're in the final days. I am one of those Christians who believe in the second coming of Christ. I think it's a wonderful doctrine, a hopeful doctrine. But I see no reason biblically to think that we are living in the end times. I don't see that the appropriate signs of the end have been at all fulfilled. So while I am prepared, I hope, should the Lord surprise us all and come again like a thief in the night, I don't see any reason to agree with these Christians who think that we are living in the end times.

KEVIN HARRIS: I certainly don't want to get any older, that's for sure!

DR. CRAIG: Yeah, it would be wonderful –  wouldn't it? – to be alive when the Lord returns.

KEVIN HARRIS: Your work and the work of Reasonable Faith touches all these issues and has an active following in the UK as well. As we start this New Year, what are your hopes for continuing to intelligently present and defend the faith?

DR. CRAIG: Reasonable Faith wants to continue to reach out in various ways. For me, personally, my main obsession now is writing this systematic philosophical theology that I've been working on now for a couple of years and will continue to write for several years to come. I'm working currently on the doctrine of creation and studying the origin of life on Earth and asking what role God might have had in creating life on this planet. I'm very much looking forward to continuing to write this systematic philosophical theology. Another very exciting writing project that I'm going to be involved in is doing a book with the popular science writer from the UK named David Hutchings. David is the author of popular level books on Stephen Hawking and other subjects. He's a wonderful popularizer of science. He came to me with a proposal to do a book together where he would present a popularization of my work in defense of the Christian faith. I'm very much looking forward to working with David during this coming year on that project. Then our wonderful Zangmeister animated videos are in the works for a new series. We have completed all the videos that correlate to the chapters in my book On Guard. The next series of videos are going to be on the attributes of God, and will be one video per attribute to make these difficult-to-understand attributes like omniscience, omnipotence, timelessness, spacelessness, and so forth understandable to lay people. Then finally our Reasonable Faith chapters are going to continue to expand around the world and to impact people all over the globe. I'd like to just finish by sharing a letter that I received from our chapter director in Germany about his recent experience in sharing apologetics. This is what he writes. He says,

I have just returned from an important national meeting of evangelical leaders in Bad Blankenburg, Thuringia, last weekend. I was invited to give a twenty-five-minute lecture on the topic: "Reasonable Faith: The (lost) Art of Apologetics", and was addressing about one hundred leaders and key people within the German evangelical movement (which currently faces a lot of tension due to ethical issues concerning transgenderism and homosexuality). For my talk I was given "prime time" on Saturday night at 8pm.

I was not sure how the leaders would respond as German Pietism and Evangelicalism have - in the past - overall not been favorably disposed towards reason, to say the least 😊 The situation is even worse in a German-speaking context due to the ongoing influence of Friedrich Schleiermacher and Immanuel Kant. All the more was I surprised by the overwhelmingly positive, almost enthusiastic (no exaggeration here) reactions. People came up to me afterwards, wanting to speak to me about apologetics and the possibilities we might have in the future. During the first break on Sunday morning some people even queued up (!) to discuss the topics I raised. One dean/chairman from Hamburg who is overseeing 65 churches in northern Germany came up to me immediately after my talk and we arranged a Zoom-lecture next April so that I can deliver the same topic to his pastors, including Q&A. The editor of the leading evangelical news magazine in Germany has asked me for my manuscript to publish a summary of my talk, and the editor of a Christian journal (whom I had known before but who heard me speak for the first time there) wants to publish a special edition on apologetics next year, including my manuscript.

The reactions of many of those evangelical leaders last weekend also reveal - I think - how barren the current field is, and how hungry Christians actually are for rational substance, for solid food, for convincing reasons. Your work and ministry are so important, Dr Craig, and it is a joy and privilege to be inspired by you in my own thinking, speaking, and writing.

Yours in Christ, Fabian

This is such an encouragement to see how these Reasonable Faith chapter directors are using the material that Reasonable Faith supplies to reach out to people in their own countries, especially a country like Germany where the need is so desperate.

KEVIN HARRIS: We have a lot to look forward to this year. We’ll see you on the next podcast.^[3]