The spiritual condition of the United States

Ken Ham from Answers in Genesis gave an address to a worldwide audience earlier this week when he examined the spiritual health of America and challenged Christians to be prepared to answer the questions that people are asking.

As a response to this question Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis has delivered his own ‘“State of the Nation II” speech, highlighting how far the U.S. has wandered from its moral foundations, and calling Christians back to their biblical roots.

Ham who is president of Answers in Genesis (AiG) the biblical apologetics ministry responsible for the world-renowned Creation Museum near Cincinnati, presented his speech from inside the Creation Museum and via webcast live last Tuesday.
In the advance publicity for the meeting which was webcast live he said:

You’ve heard from the president, government leaders, and others about the economy and the serious isues facing the country. But few of them address the deeper concern—our move away from a biblical foundation.
“Many Christians have been duped into accepting a false idea: that there is a ‘neutral’ position they can take in regard to social issues.“Some Christians even accept the myth that the U.S. Constitution declares that there should be a separation of church and state. They are hesitant to inject Christian beliefs into politics.”

Calling for a robust defence by Christian of what they believe Ham continued:

“God’s Word, however, makes it clear that there is no neutral position,” Ham continued. “God’s people need to unashamedly and uncompromisingly stand on the Bible and its absolute standards. We need to proclaim a Christian worldview and the gospel, all the while giving answers for the hope we have.”

The webcast touched on social issues such as abortion, “gay” marriage, origins, and the role of religion in society. The aim of the speech was and is to equip Christians with a clear understanding of what the Bible says on these matters—and find out how to defend the biblical viewpoint in an increasingly hostile environment.

“We need to learn what we can do to call America back to the only sure foundation—biblical authority,” Ham explained. “We need to stand unashamedly upon God’s Word in the face of a skeptical society and find out how we can do more than just watch our country slip into a moral quagmire. “The skeptical world expects answers. Get equipped to point people to the truth.”

During the course of the address he quoted from a speech by President Obama in which the latter affirmed that America was now a polytheistic nation. Ham and listed the ways in which the Christian 'marker stones' have been removed from public life. Ham argued that the 'reminders have been removed' and these aids to memory have produced a spiritual malaise which knows nothing of America's Christian heritage.
Prayer in schools, Scripture passages carved on government buildings, traditional marriage, the sanctity of life and the teaching of creation in public schools served as some of those reminders, he noted. But these have been and are progressively being removed, said Ham. And with that, younger generations are increasingly abandoning God's Word and making "man's word" their foundation.

Christians Together, 19/02/2010

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	Alec (Guest)	26/02/2010 12:27
George Orr, I am not claiming that someone who doesnt hold my view is anti-intellectual. What I am claiming is anti-intellectual is the dogmatic YEC position which insist that its (narrow) view of scriptural literalims is correct and that everything else including science has to be fitted into it. It is particularly anti-intellectual in the case of Kurt Wise who claims to be a scientist and yet comes out wth that nonsense I quoted. These people are simply grist to the Dawkinsite mill. Atheists LOVE young earth creationists If someone has sound evidence that eg radiometric dating has major flaws, that dinosaurs can be proven to have lived with humans and that the rocks of the Isle of Lewis are actually less than 10K years old, then well, let them submit a paper to a proper peer-reviewed journal. Let them present a paper at an earth science conference. Lets see it. Lets hear it There are Nobel prizes waiting! The killer point is one I made before. There are no, repeat no (AFAIK) atheist, or even liberal Christian scientists who believe in YEC. It is purely a dogma predicated paradigm, based on one narrow interpretation of Scripture Oranges are not the only fruit.....
	Pawlo	26/02/2010 14:09
I'll be quiet then. ;)
	a h	26/02/2010 16:46
Alec You said "The dinosaur tracks in Skye are found in Mesozoic rocks, not Teritary rocks (which forms the great lava flows in Skye, ABOVE the Mesozoic. (Dinosaurs were extinct then)" Dont you think it's possible that Dinosaurs did not leave tracks after the volcanic activity becasue they no longer went to that place due to the lack of foliage casued by the scorched landscape? Have you ever been to Lanzarote? There last eruption was in the 19th century I believe and there are still huge areas of land that have zero vegitation and very few living creatures.
	George Orr	27/02/2010 10:30
Alec (Guest) Your killer point is that no atheist or liberal Christian believes in a plain straightforward hermeneutic reading of the bible! Give us a break! By their own thinking they don't know what they believe, just what they won't believe. As above I refer you to Romans 1: 18-23 18The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. 21For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Presumably you put yourself in the 'liberal stockade' and not the atheist one. So what do you think of the Genesis record of creation? Again why are you hiding behind the anonymity of (Guest)?
	Alec (Guest)	27/02/2010 13:15
George The point I am making is nothing to do with how one reads the Bible. Lets put it this way. Just for one moment, lets leave the Bible to one side. We can come back to it later. Looking at the scientific evidence purely from an empirical point of view, is there anything to suggest that the Earth is young. Answer :nothing. It all points the other way, to an old earth. If there WERE such a thing as an atheist YEC scientist, it would be a serious challenge to the old earth view, sice that atheist scientist would presumably be working within the parameters of the scientific method And by the constraints of that paradigm, their observations would be open to scrutiny, challenge, verification, repeatability etc And if just supposing they were able to come up with non-theistic evidence for a young earth, it would turn science on its head. I would be the first to admit it. The sort of evidence that would or could swing it would be humanoid fossils in pre-cambrian strata for instance. Thats the "falsifiabilty part" of evolutionary theory. The reason for my suggesting "leave the bible to one side for a minute" is that one immediately removes from the equation, the biggest objection that atheists have and can then confront them on their own patch as it were - naturalistic science Trouble is, there are no YEC atheists..... (AFAIK) It would be good for the YEC cause if there were, but fact if the matter is, there arent. YEC is purely a dogmatic thing. Science points to an old earth, not a young one. Thankfully, there are Christian scientists out there who dont have problems with this, indeed, I would argue that the most effective debaters and demolishers of the atheist cause are all OEC / TE in outlook - people like John Lennox, Francis Collins, David Robertson, John Polkinghorne These guys make Ken Ham look like an intellectual dwarf Genesis record: simple. Poetry, not science Me. Colin Alec Johnstone if you really need to know. I use my middle name, it was my fathers first name. Move around a lot because of the work, live in Glasgow. Theology? Iona Community rather than Tron. Age? Giving too much away now. Could register but dont really see the point - tried to do it once before and my PC crashed jsut as I was about to hit Enter.... I take it as a sign...... :-)
	a h	27/02/2010 13:55
Ken Ham, an intellectual dwarf eh? Alec, people like you (I have experienced this spirit before) are so far up their own intellectual totem pole that you have lost touch with reality. You worship yourself. Your whole argument is that 'we are wrong' and that is that. No reasons given. Jesus said ""I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. " I'll ask you this, scientists in various fields who are also Christians believe in YEC are, by your measure, either liars or badly mistaken? Understand something my friend, there is no evidence for evolution, but suckers swallow it. There is no evdience for billions of years, but suckers swallow it. Why do they swallow it? No creation means no God, no moral absolutes and no need to rectify ones behaviour prior to death. "Science points to an old earth, not a young one." Give me one piece of evidence and I'll show you how you are wrong. I'll give you a tip, make it something you are able to debate and have at least a laymans understanding of.
	Alec (Guest)	27/02/2010 14:36
Alan Hughes 1) Must apologise. Referring to Ken Ham as an intellectual dwarf was maybe a bit wrong. It is probably highly offensive to anyone suffering from dwarfism to be compared to this guy.... 2) Quote: "Your whole argument is that 'we are wrong' and that is that. No reasons given." Ehmm.... the reasons I give are that science shows you YECs are wrong. Its not me. its where the evidence leads. "facts are chiels that winna ding" And the problem for you YEC types is that it is not just one science either. Zoology, Geology, Astronomy and all their sub-divisions all point in the same direction. 3) "Give me one piece of evidence and I'll show you how you are wrong. I'll give you a tip, make it something you are able to debate and have at least a laymans understanding of." U/Pb dating of zircons. And heres a paper to refer to: "Jack Hills, evidence of more very old detrital zircons in Western Australia" http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v321/n6072/abs/321766a0.html One final point - and I made it before, IF there is scientific evidence of a young earth, then lets see the published papers. That paper in Nature would have been put through the peer review mill before getting published. Papers are frequently sent back for re-writing because they dont meet the standard required. It is a highly exacting exercise that takes no prisoners Earth Science journals are known for their intellectual rigour. So as I said, if you or your YEC buddies have got solid evidence for a young earth, go on, publish it. Theres a Nobel prize waiting.
	a h	27/02/2010 14:54
"lets see the published papers" Oh that old chestnut. Yes, the atheist controlled unversities are falling over themselves to review papers by the very creationists who show them to be 'wrong' and are merely money grabbing liars whose whole existence is dependant on suppressing the truth. No evloution - no grants to go find fossils, excavation funds dry up, etc etc. Wake up Alec!
	Editor	27/02/2010 15:06
It is a good witness when disagreements are discussed in manner which reflects Christian grace. Truth and civility can live side by side.
	a h	27/02/2010 15:07
Do you think I'm out of line Ed?

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