Church and State

Martin Smith of the Christian rock and worship band Delirious wrote a song "Shout to the North", which speaks to the rejuvenation  of the church.  The words of the last verse;
"Rise up church with broken wings;
fill this place with song again;
of our God who reigns on high;
by His grace again we'll fly."

This song speaks well of the current state of the church.  But there is Hope...

I am a big believer in the separation of church and state.  What that means is that I believe that neither the province nor the Canadian government should be involved in each others affairs.  While I acknowledge the fact that Canada's early start as a country owes much to the church (starting many universities, hospitals and handing over many social institutions over), today's political and social environment is much different.  The church can no-longer assume that the government will continue to do adhere to Christian traditions and continue to do the work of the church.

What I mean is this; prayer, the bible, Christian teachings etc. are not the responsibility of the school system - it never should have been.  In my mind, that should have always been a function of the church.  That kids today know nothing of God is the fault of the church... not the school.  Had Christian education been handled by the church AND parents in manor that encouraged the whole family to learn together, the landscape of peopling knowing about God would look completely different.  But for years, the church complained about the fact that there is no more prayer in school; no bible readings in school, and did nothing to address the fact that the church lost that battle some 40 years ago.

So, today the church is 40 years behind (and still complaining), and struggling to figure out how to turn this around.  the reality is... it is not going to happen in our school systems so we need to look at how we do this outside the school system and handled by the people who are more subject matter experts than anyone in the school system.

I think, however, schools should teach religion - all religions.  It should look to bring in appropriate and respectful material and teach the basic understanding of common doctrine of all religions.  I know that there are books out there that provide this kind of material and I think it would bring a health understanding to kids of various faith groups.

As far as the Christian church goes, we have our work cut out for us; we have many years of catching up to do.  It had better be good; it had better be captivating and respectful; it has to be dangerously truthful because kids today are much smarter (with internet access and research capability) to sift through the "differentiating dogma's" of various denominations (and non-denominations - who take on one of those flavors anyway).  It has to be life-changing because that is what Jesus came here to do.  Not through government programs and institutions rather, through the church... the gathering of people who follow Jesus and believe that He can make a difference in everyone's life.  And it is not just on Sunday's either, it is every day.

Don't trust the government to do what the church obviously knows how to do better; Don't let government determine the church's success.  This is all in God's hands, not theirs.  And if we believe that we are the body of Christ... that means us.