Dr. David A. Noebel, president of Summit Ministries in Manitou Springs, Colorado, has been involved in training students in Christian apologetics for more than 30 years.  This article comes from his book Understanding the Times.

Christianity is the only worldview that provides a consistent explanation of all the facts of reality with regard to theology, philosophy, ethics, economics, or anything else. As Carl F.H. Henry says, “The Christian belief system, which the Christian knows to be grounded in divine revelation, is relevant to all of life.”1

This relevance results from the fact that Christianity is, we believe, the one worldview based on truth. “Christianity is true,” says George Gilder, “and its truth will be discovered anywhere you look very far.”2 Gilder (who is not only an outstanding economic philosopher but also a sociologist) found Christ while seeking sociological truth.

Philosopher C.E.M. Joad found Christ and Christianity because he was seeking ethical truth. “I now believe,” he wrote, “that the balance of reasoned considerations tells heavily in favour of the religious, even of the Christian view of the world.”3 Joad recognized the need for absolute truth, rather than a truth that evolves with each new discovery: “A religion which is in constant process of revision to square with science’s ever-changing picture of the world might well be easier to believe, but it is hard to believe it would be worth believing.”4

Christianity is the embodiment of Christ’s claim that He is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). When we say “this is the Christian way,” we mean “this is the way Christ would have us act in such a situation.” It is no small matter to think and act as Christ instructs. The Christian agrees with Humanist Bertrand Russell’s admission that “What the world needs is Christian love or compassion.”5

America is often described as a Christian nation. Over one hundred and fifty years ago, Alexis de Tocqueville wrote, “There is no country in the whole world, in which the Christian religion retains a greater influence over the souls of men than in America; and there can be no greater proof of its utility, and of its conformity to human nature, than that its influence is most powerfully felt over the most enlightened and free nation of the earth.”6

Unfortunately, however, America—and the rest of Western Civilization—is turning away from their heritage. Western nations are eradicating large chunks of Christianity from the public square. We contend that America should be moving in the opposite direction—embracing the Christian worldview rather than pushing it away. Francis Schaeffer blames America’s drift toward secularism and injustice on the Christian community’s failure to apply its worldview to every facet of society:

“The basic problem of the Christians in this country in the last eighty years or so, in regard to society and in regard to government, is that they have seen things in bits and pieces instead of totals.”7

He goes on to say that Christians have very gradually

“become disturbed over permissiveness, pornography, the public schools, the breakdown of the family, and finally abortion. But they have not seen this as a totality—each thing being a part, a symptom of a much larger problem. They have failed to see that all of this has come about due to a shift in the world view—that is, through a fundamental change in the overall way people think and view the world and life as a whole.”8

This study is a wake-up call for America. A country seeking to promote human rights and liberty must adhere to the only worldview that can account for their existence. Unfortunately, countless Americans are embracing other worldviews—most notably, Secular Humanism, Marxism/Leninism, and Cosmic Humanism.