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Important International Influences

February 07, 2012     Time: 21:38
Important International Influences

Summary

As Dr. Craig travels to three countries this year, recent statistics show alarming spiritual trends in the US and abroad.

Transcript Important International Influences

 

Kevin Harris: Well, it's a beautiful day to be in the studio with Dr. William Lane Craig.

Dr. Craig: I think it's a beautiful today to be out of the studio, myself. [laughter] But I'm glad to be here with you.

Kevin Harris: Bill, I've often reflected that last year was going to be pretty tough to beat. That was an exciting year. We're still early in the year here in 2012. But there are always exciting things going on at Reasonable Faith. It's going to be filled with some speaking. Any debates scheduled?

Dr. Craig: There will be some debates probably on some of these international trips that I'm taking, but that's still to be arranged. This coming year is going to be dominated primarily by international trips, and I won't be doing as much domestic speaking as I would normally do. I have been out at Talbot teaching my annual two-week course that I do there. And then next week I'm going to be in Orlando, Florida at the University of Central Florida where I'll be doing an event with the Veritas Forum on that campus. And then later on in February in Atlanta at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church I'm going to be teaching an extension course for Biola University on philosophical issues in the kalam cosmological argument, and this will be, yes, a very mind-expanding class in which we'll talk about all of the different philosophical implications and presuppositions and ramifications of this most fascinating argument. And then later in that same month I'll be doing some filming for the so-called True You project which Focus on The Family is putting together, a kind of film series on defending your faith. But then in March begins this international travel with our trip to Brazil.

Kevin Harris: I have to say this about Focus On The Family: their focus, if you will, has really included as of late apologetics and family.

Dr. Craig: That's really true. It's not just about child rearing or social issues anymore. They have sensed the need of intellectual engagement with our culture and with worldview thinking, and so they're sponsoring projects like this True You project in which they're putting a lot of money to do these interviews with scholars and addressing the pertinent issues today with regard to the Christian faith.

Kevin Harris: People often come by that the hard way. Organizations find out exactly what the culture is asking, what the culture is saying, what the hard questions are. And there's a trial by fire process, sometimes, that leads you to say, “We need to be well-versed in why we believe what we believe.” And apologetics programs begin to happen.

Dr. Craig: Yes, it's unfortunate when organizations have to be reactive rather than proactive. Recently at our church I heard a representative of the Southern Baptist Convention talking about statistical analyses of various generations with regard to the Christian faith. And what he shared, Kevin, I mean, if we really took it seriously, we would be absolutely horrified and in despair. He said, among the baby boomer generation about 65% claim to be Christians. In the generation after that, the Gen X generation, he said that drops to around 20-some percent—I forget the exact figures. And then for the millennials, the young people today in their early twenties, he says it's around 8%. Now if these statistics are really accurate and hold up, it means that we are literally watching before our very eyes the de-Christianization of the United States. We will become like Europe in another generation. And to me that is just horrifying and it's clear that the churches have not been proactive in commending the faith intellectually to their people, and so the incursions of secularism and the new atheism have gone largely unchecked. I think finally folks are waking up to the need to be able to give an answer for the hope that's in us. But I just pray it hasn't come too late.

Kevin Harris: It is kind of sad when we have to play catch-up because that often leads to mediocrity and I think that God would give us the grace to be on the cutting edge of what he's doing and where he's going. And that definitely includes this apologetics and philosophical renaissance going on in the minds and hearts of Christians. What's interesting about those statistics – and I don't doubt them – is that some of the recent polls that have come out have shown belief in the existence of God still weigh high, always about where it is. It's always in the 92-97 percentile, you know.

Dr. Craig: Yes. Though, the question would be, how does that break down generationally? That would be the interesting question here. And I had never heard these generational breakdowns that this gentlemen offered that suggests that as you are younger and younger there's less and less commitment to Christian theism. [1]

Kevin Harris: If people are interested in studying at Biola what do you suggest that they should do?

Dr. Craig: Ideally, I think a person needs to come and be there in residence. There's just no substitute for sitting in the class with a professor, being able to ask questions, and then especially being able to be a part of an intellectual community where you can dialogue about these things over the lunch table or after class or when you're studying in groups together. There's just no substitute for that. But for those who cannot move away because of job and family commitments, Biola does have distance learning programs where you can do certificates or even M.A. degrees in apologetics, for example, electronically. And it would require you to only be in residence for a couple of weeks at a time during the year.

Kevin Harris: Let's talk about the Brazil trip. When is it coming up and what are our mission statements there?

Dr. Craig: Well, it's coming up between March 10th and March 24th. This has been arranged by my Brazilian publishers. There are about five of my books now that are available in Portuguese that have been published in Brazil. This is tremendously important, Kevin, because Brazil is emerging in this century not only as one of the most important economic and geopolitical powers in the world – it has the resources, the raw materials, to furnish the appetite of a China, for example; it's going to be extremely strategic. But also the church in Brazil is growing by leaps and bounds. Evangelical Christianity is surging in this country. Moreover, it tends to be highly charismatic and emotional in nature. So the need for apologetic teaching, I think, of the church in Brazil is critical, and it's so wonderful that these Brazilian publishers have seen this and are doing all they can to make this material available in Portuguese. And they're bringing me there in March to do a speaking tour in Rio de Janeiro and in Sao Paulo that will include both Christian conference events and secular university outreaches.

Kevin Harris: Might even be some T.V. appearances, as well.

Dr. Craig: They're hoping to try to arrange some press interviews and perhaps some major television interviews on programs that are widely watched in Brazil. We'll kick it off with a theological conference just shortly after we arrive which will feature a number of talks on subjects like the New Atheism, how to answer the New Atheism, on the absurdity of life without God, on the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus, a general talk on the need for apologetics in the Christian church. So we'll start off with that theological conference and then I'll go to a church conference which will be held in Rio and there I'll be talking on things like how to defend the Christian faith, how to incorporate apologetics into the local church, dealing with the problem of unanswered prayer, and so forth. And then we'll go to Sao Paulo where they hope to have interviews and university lectures that will be reaching out to non-believers. For example at Mackenzie University there I'll be giving a talk on truth and pluralism. So all of this is still being worked on but it involves major conference speaking as well as university outreaches and public media interviews. So we're really praying that the Lord will greatly use this to help equip his church in Brazil.

Kevin Harris: March 11th through March 23rd on that. I want to re-emphasize one thing that you said. With the growth of the Brazil church, and we thank God for that, there is opportunity for aberrant theology to come in. So not only does apologetics engage the mind as far as naturalism and those oppositions to the Christian faith, but it also gets people in a mindset to examine and to be careful in what they hold to and what they believe. So it's also an opportunity to do what you've long said, Bill, and that is to create a culture where the Christian faith can be heard, a culture of apologetics, a culture of the mind.

Dr. Craig: Right. I think doctrine matters. And having this emphasis on intellectual engagement helps to foster interest in Christian doctrine and therefore right thinking about the Christian faith so that one isn't led into syncretistic or other aberrant or cultic forms or distortions of Christianity. [2]

Kevin Harris: Any debates scheduled while in Brazil?

Dr. Craig: No, no debates. And you can understand why, since I don't speak Portuguese. It would be just impossible to have me giving a speech in English and then have it translated into Portuguese. So, I'll be giving lectures and interviews with translators but I won't be doing any debating.

Kevin Harris: In April, Scandinavia.

Dr. Craig: Right, this is the second big international trip. I'll be doing a multi-nation tour in Scandinavia. This is a sequel to a trip I did several years ago which was organized by the same fellow – Mats Selander – who works with the Credo Academy in Stockholm, in Sweden. And he has connections throughout Scandinavia, and so this trip will begin with an outreach in Finland. We'll fly to Helsinki, and I'll participate in a debate there with an atheist, and since the Fins speak English well this debate will actually be held in English without a translator. And then from Finland we go to Denmark and I'll be doing some outreaches at universities there. And then from Denmark we'll be in Sweden, particularly in Stockholm. They're arranging a very large apologetics conference there to train people in the defense of the faith. And then we'll finish out our trip in Norway before we return to the States. Jan will be accompanying me on this trip. I'm especially glad she can come along because she's 50% Scandinavian. She's 25% Swedish, 25% Norwegian.

Kevin Harris: You couldn't tell that by that blonde hair of hers—could you? [laughter]

Dr. Craig: This will be her first chance to go back to the motherland, so to speak.

Kevin Harris: What is the topic of the debate? Does God exist?

Dr. Craig: Yes.

Kevin Harris: What is strategic about this part of the world—Scandinavia?

Dr. Craig: Well, it's highly, highly secularized. When I was in Sweden before I spoke at most all of the major Swedish universities, and I was told by philosophers there that there are literally no professing Christian philosophers at any university in Sweden. The fellow who told me this reflected on it for a moment, he thought hard, and he said, “No, I cannot think of anybody teaching at a university in Sweden who is a Christian philosopher.” That's just astonishing when you think about what's happened in the Anglo-American world where some of our most famous philosophers at our most respected universities are outspoken Christians. So the whole region is highly secularized and I think desperately in need of hearing an intellectual defense of the Christian faith. Those Christians who do manage to hold on to their faith in such a secular sea tend to be pietistic. They put their faith in one pocket and their brains in the other pocket, and that's how they're able to survive. I think we can give them a more integrative worldview by emphasizing the credibility of the Christian faith.

Kevin Harris: Very strategic in this part of the country. Bill, secularists are always interested in this part of the country because it seems to be kind of a microcosm of issues, legal issues, cultural issues, moral issues, in Denmark and in Sweden. Denmark, according to this survey, is the happiest country in the world.

Dr. Craig: Oh, really?

Kevin Harris: The happiest people. Now, these are small countries and it's a small region, and yet there are a lot of cultural experiments that seem to go on there that are very secular, and people keep an eye on it to see if religion is a factor or not.

Dr. Craig: Yes, I think that can be misleading because although these nations are highly secularized they have a very deep Christian heritage and particularly Lutheran heritage. The Lutheran church in Norway and in Finland continues to be very strong and these other nations have this strong cultural backdrop as well. So it's not as though this is an experiment in secular humanism that proceeds without having a Christian heritage and foundation upon which to build.

Kevin Harris: I'd love to chase that for just a moment. Well, I will, just a little bit. But so many of these countries that are now so thoroughly secular – like the UK and Canada, and so on – are still riding on the cusp of their Christian influences. When you hear Dawkins, when you heard Hitchens and others, they had that Protestant and Anglican outrage and moral outrage and propriety. [3] And so there's still that Christian influence. It's kind of like having your cake and eating it too. You want to deny the source of it but derive the benefits of it.

Dr. Craig: Sure. Humanism was originally a movement within Christianity, emphasizing the human arts and development. And it was patronized by the church—the church sponsored the humanists. But secular humanism is different than Christian humanism, and it sought to continue to affirm the intrinsic value and worth of human beings in an atheistic universe. And quite a number of philosophers, prominent among them Nietzsche, have denied that that sort of experiment really works.

Kevin Harris: In May, Hungary.

Dr. Craig: Third international trip. We'll be off to Budapest.

Kevin Harris: Are you working out and taking your vitamins for this? I hope you are. [laughter]

Dr. Craig: I will be trying to take afternoon naps.

Kevin Harris: I hear ya.

Dr. Craig: John Stott, we were told, said he always needed to have his horizontal half-hour every afternoon. That's what I'll be doing. But I'll be in Hungary for the European Leadership Forum. This is an organization that was spearheaded by Greg Pritchard, an American, and has been meeting now annually in Hungary for quite a number of years, and brings together people from different fields for mutual encouragement, inter-culturally, among the various European nations. And one of the tracks is apologetics. This year they'll be starting another forum specifically in philosophy. So the revolution in Christian philosophy that's happened in the Anglo-American realm will now hopefully be mediated to the continent as well to try to spark a revival there of Christian philosophy. And I'll be giving, boy, quite a number of different workshops and talks as part of this conference to encourage and stimulate Christian apologetics and Christian philosophy among strategic people from all over Europe. The people who come to this conference come by invitation only, and so this is a leadership forum of persons whom to influence is very strategic.

Kevin Harris: Next thing scheduled is in the summer, and it's a very beautiful place—Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.

Dr. Craig: Have you been there?

Kevin Harris: I've been through it.

Dr. Craig: Oh my goodness, when I heard this was in Broken Arrow I thought this is fantastic. I remember Broken Arrow used to be the name, I think, of a television show that I watched as a kid, a western with Cochise and the Indians and so forth. This is an On Guard apologetics conference.

Kevin Harris: Wear your Cowboy hat.

Dr. Craig: Well, I got my boots.

Kevin Harris: Alright.

Dr. Craig: But what's neat about this conference is that it arises as a response to a plea from university students there to come and equip them to defend and articulate the Christian faith. And so this conference is going to be different than others in that it's not just going to be for inspiration or encouragement. It's going to be a real bona fide training conference. We're going to train these students in how to present the arguments for the existence of God, the evidence for the person and work of Christ, and really try to have a more of an equipping conference. And so I'm really looking forward to this and I hope that this could become the model for many such conferences in the future.

Kevin Harris: In fact, one in Dallas that's coming up in September is that model, at a church that is on fire in philosophy and apologetics—Watermark Church. That's your next On Guard.

Dr. Craig: Yes, this is a major megachurch of sorts of the younger generation in Dallas. I've spoken there before a few years ago and was well-received, and so they have an interest in having an apologetics conference as well in late September. And I think that not only I but Ravi Zacharias will be there headlining this event. And so we expect this to be a major apologetics conference.

Kevin Harris: Bill, another quick side-trip: don't you think that our atheist friends should applaud the fact that we're doing what they claim is so important in life, and that is engaging the mind, rational thought, reason, evidence, history?

Dr. Craig: Yeah, frankly, Kevin, I think that atheists give lip service to intellectual engagement and a life of the mind, but I think Christians such as the persons we're talking about are far more engaged than they are. I think that this posturing of rationality and intellectual superiority on the many of the pop atheists is just a way of justifying their unbelief by making it look intellectually respectable. [4] But really when you see the material that they put out on the internet and on YouTube it's very low-level, and so I am proud of the Christians who are engaging in these kinds of conferences to really get serious about intellectual engagement with these tough questions.

Kevin Harris: The New Atheists are becoming the fiery fundamentalists, you know. It's flipping. Let's see how they like it for a while. [laughter]

Dr. Craig: Right. I just pray, Kevin, that this reversal of momentum that you’ve spoken of and that I sense, too, at least from the emails we're getting into Reasonable Faith is something that is real and will continue. If so, I think it gives hope that those terrible statistics that I shared earlier can be reversed.

Kevin Harris: I pray that they do, I know that we all do. By the way all of these events can be found at ReasonableFaith.org. Just go. You'll get contact information, you may want to attend, you may want to take an international trip and attend. All the contact information, the calendar, is at ReasonableFaith.org. You just click on the calendar and that'll keep you updated. Busy year, Bill. We're looking forward to it.

Dr. Craig: Yeah. [5]