This article is part 2 in our series on religious freedom in America. You can read part 1 by clicking here.
For years, a Christian baker in Colorado had been harassed by people opposed to his beliefs. First, a gay couple took him to court for refusing to make a wedding cake for them. Then a transgender person sued him for refusing to celebrate with a cake his transition to a woman.
Who is praying on the wall?
More recently, a leader in the pro-life movement was ejected from a coffeehouse in Idaho once staff realized she was hosting a meeting there.
And Christian evangelists were kicked out of the Burning Man festival.
Jack Phillips and others who have suffered in the court system for their beliefs have prevailed in most cases that make it to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the sad fact is that the harassment is costly — financially, reputationally, and emotionally.
This harassment is abetted in many cases by state-based agencies that use their regulations or state law as a sword to crush Christians’ free speech and exercise of their religion.
Respect for Christian values in America’s public square seems to have waned significantly, where they were once honored.
Slippage in respect can be tied to scandals in various churches and denominations. The Bible warns us we will have trouble in this world, especially in these days when the love of many grows cold. But I argue Christian abdication has contributed as well.
What do I mean by abdication?
Abdication, simply put, means abandoning one’s duty or responsibility. This can be formal, as in stepping down prematurely from a position of leadership, or informal, as in simply ignoring one’s duty or responsibility.
For Christians, this has often taken the form of opting out of key areas of life — politics and government, education, and the arts, to look at just a few.
Politics and Government
IFA has written about, and our intercessors regularly pray about, the lack of pastoral engagement in the governmental space. Beyond leadership, many Christians don’t even vote.
One cost of steering clear of politics and government: In recent primaries, we have seen socialist candidates trounce traditional Democrats. The mayor of New York City, for example, is an Islamic socialist — verging on Marxist — and is busily trying to implement costly and controlling socialist ideas.
Socialism, history shows us, is one of the most anti-Christian political systems known on earth.
Education
Americans generally send their children to public schools, where the dominant influencer is the powerful National Education Association.
This seemed like a great choice — especially for parents who both worked outside the home — until the COVID era, when close quarters and virtual classrooms afforded parents a close-up on what their children were learning, at the urging of the NEA.
Recently, a school took a field trip to a mosque and instructed girls to wear Islamic garb. Many schools teach explicit gender and sexual content that parents oppose.
An alarming trend among elementary school administrators and even public librarians has been to host drag shows for children.
And once kids hit college, they are at even more risk. The Barna Group estimates that 60% to 70% of young people lose their Christian faith in college. While many leave because their faith was never really grounded in good discipleship, many leave because of intellectual pressure to embrace competing ideologies, such as socialism or Marxism.
The Arts
Many Christians frown upon any engagement with the arts. My husband, Rich, also an IFA contributing writer, is a drama evangelist who performs edifying, biblical, and family fare. Even so, many pastors find the idea of drama in a church setting too radical. In some cases, they actively disparage the arts.
As for fine arts, a quick tour of most museums illustrates that the great art of days of old centered on biblical themes. Modern art, on the other hand, tends to focus on alienation or other secular themes.
Where once Hollywood featured wholesome — even biblical — stories, such as The Ten Commandments, it now focuses on horror or sexual themes.
It wasn’t always so.
America is a nation firmly founded upon the principles and Person of the Triune God.
Yes, some dispute that, dragging out old arguments that the founders were deists or even that their repeated references to Providence were akin to today’s agnostics’ and atheists’ references to “the Universe.”
It is true that not everyone in the thirteen colonies was a true believer in Jesus Christ.
But it is also true that the Bible was well known, and the dominant culture was Judeo-Christian. No amount of revisionist history can change those facts.
Our founding fathers — having firsthand experience of the oppressive hand of Britain’s King George — knew the danger of allowing government a free hand over matters of religion and its practice.
For that reason, in our Constitution, the founders took pains to limit the government’s power over religious freedom.
Unfortunately, some — including Christians — have misunderstood this clause to mean government and religion should be isolated from each other.
This thinking has led some Christians to be passive in the face of opposition to their religious expression. While some brave Christians have taken a stand against government oppression (or, in the case of Coach Kennedy, a knee), many other Christians have simply given up the fight — or never engaged in it.
Theological Issues?
Some of America’s turn from Christianity stems from poor leadership.
As we know from the Biblical record, when leadership in ancient Israel and Judah turned away from the Lord, so did the people. A quick scan of the books of Judges, Kings, and Chronicles shows us that truth pretty quickly.
But there may be a theological reason for Christian abdication. Many Christians focus on John 17:14-19 — notably the idea that disciples are in the world but not of it. For many, the fight to remain faithful in the midst of evil is so difficult as to require withdrawal from temptation.
Certainly, it is much more peaceful to live a monastic life, praying and worshipping 24/7. One could avoid the conflicts that inevitably arise when a committed Christian hits a secular roadblock.
Bringing the gospel into a sinful culture will cause conflict. We see many examples of harm coming to disciples from those who resist the message (e.g., 2 Corinthians 11:24-28).
Jesus Calls Us to Engage.
Jesus, however, never withdrew from the messiness of people mired in sin. In fact, per Matthew 28:16-20, He sent His disciples out into the world in order to preach the gospel and lead those who were willing to Himself.
We call this the Great Commission.
This imperative becomes even more important in a culture that is devoid of or lacking in Christian influence. This is the kind of culture in which the disciples lived.
The Great Deception
Bearing witness in America has been crippled, I believe, by a dynamic here in America I am dubbing the Great Deception.
I posit Christians have misunderstood the cultural shift from a biblically literate America. As America moved into “secularism,” many Christians — aided in some cases by denominational reluctance to evangelize — have chosen to downplay their faith, so as not to “push their beliefs” on others.
Other Christians failed to understand the threat of secularism, thinking they could compromise with it. Far from being an indifferent, harmless worldview, it is a faith system based on atheism, hedonism, or even paganism.
America has been insensible to her increasing secularism and the squeezing out of Christian values. It crept up on us like the proverbial frog in the pot, slowly heating up to the boiling point.
While there are certain points in time when Christian values were trampled upon overtly and obviously (the sexual revolution, the striking down of prayer in schools, the Supreme Court’s rulings that allowed abortion and gay marriage), it is most accurate to say those values have lost power by inches that became miles.
Now, however, as America embraces multiple other religions — most notably Islam — Christians seem to be waking up to the fact they no longer have influence in key parts of the culture.
It’s not too late.
We’ve seen encouraging events, including the May 17, 2026, rededication of America to the Lord, favorable U.S. Supreme Court rulings, and college revivals. These are laying the groundwork for a renewal of Christian influence and engagement in the culture.
Lord, teach us to advocate for You. Give us eyes to see the potential for the Kingdom to be established in America. Stir Your church to get involved where You call to make disciples, influence the culture, and see righteousness established.
Make sure to check back on Saturday for the final part of this 3-part series!
Share your prayer below.
New York City–based Joyce Swingle is an intercessor, webcast prayer leader, and contributing writer for IFA. With her husband, Rich, who is also a contributing writer for IFA, Joyce shares the gospel of Jesus Christ around the world through theater, speaking, writing, and film. Prior to going into full-time ministry, Joyce worked for many major magazines and now works in pastoral ministry and Christian counseling. www.RichDrama.com. Photo Credit: Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash.
