Asking the Christian alone to give way and redefine his or her own views to fit the sensibilities of others: That's the definition of the religious secularist viewpoint of the so-called "separation of church and state". Explanation of this statement constitutes the discussion that follows.
Standing Up to Religious Secularism:
300 Years of Jonathan Edwards
Though a lot has been written about him since then, not a lot of it is accurate. (For one thing, it is rarely mentioned that he preached in a low, even voice, and he was an extremely logical, well-educated intellectual who had a hearty interest in scientific observation. His rationale for becoming a minister, rather than a scientist, can be found in his words stating that knowledge of God is the greatest science(scientia meaning "knowledge"): "There are no things so worthy to be known as these things [pertaining to knowledge of God]. They are as much above those things which are treated of in other sciences, as heaven is above the earth.")
Though Edwards' role in the "restoration of Christianity" movement called the Great Awakening is often emphasized (and rightly so), less seldom explained is the reason why Edwards and his fellow Great Awakeners felt that Christianity needed restoration in the first place: At that time, Christianity was endangered by what was (and still is) another religious viewpoint: the rival religion of secularism (called "natural religion" in the eighteenth century--or rather, naturalism--making a "god" out of the material universe ("Nature"). This worship of the material universe (matter itself) and abstract Reason was a religion that managed to get itself labeled as the "Enlightenment"--the beginning of what we now call "secularism", "secular humanism", or sometimes, "atheism" or "nontheistic beliefs" Today, this same viewpoint has claimed exclusive use of the word "science". That is unfortunate, because scientific knowledge gained its start from Christianity. (One Christian interested in science was Jonathan Edwards.)
(To see how today's secularism vs. Christianity is really an enhanced repeat of the eighteenth century's true enlightenment vs. false Enlightenment) debate, see: Jesus Is the Light of the World.)
The Sciences: Built on a Christian Foundation
Waves of the so-called philosophical "Enlightenment" (which was really the religion of naturalism/secularism)--struck North America at successive and slightly overlapping time periods during the eighteenth century. These intellectual waves were elaborations of groundwork laid by English Christian scientist-philosophers such as Robert Boyle (1627-1691) and Isaac Newton (1642-1737). Contrary to popular myth, many seventeenth-century Christians, including "Puritans", were learned, intelligent, and broad-minded. They elevated scientific investigation as a discipline for comprehending God's physical creation and as an instrument for promoting public education, agriculture, and medical advances.
Robert Boyle, together with famed architect Sir Christopher Wren, founded the Royal Society of London in 1662 to counteract the pantheism of the radicals and the materialism of English political philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), the deist (religious secularist) author of Leviathan (1651) (a book about a State where the sovereign's will to power rules and the selfish citizenry live in a state of war). Many of the English political radicals, in addition to being social "Levelers" (an early form of socialism), were pantheists: they believed in a mystical divinity of Nature, not a personal God. To them, God was a cosmic force inherent in all things. The pantheistic worldview blends with naturalism and materialism, the worship of the matter in Nature itself and the temporal things of this world, on down the scale to atheism. These religious worldviews can be generally described as "nontheistic beliefs" or religious secularism.
In counterpoise to the radical worldview was the Christian-oriented worldview of Boyle and Newton. Their methodology comported with the objective search for truth that Christianity initiated.
Boyle advocated the scientific (empirical) method of forming and testing hypotheses in order to discover natural laws and utilize them for mankind's improvement.
Newtonian principles were: (1) the laws of the universe were rational and ordered; (2) those laws were established by God; and (3) man could deduce physical laws through educated, rational observation.
Support for this viewpoint is found in the Bible, by the way:
(1) The laws of the universe are rational and ordered, and (2) those laws were established by God:
"The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them. For 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." (Romans 1:18-20).
"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. [...] The law of the LORD is perfect, [...] The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy [....] (Psalm 19:1-4, 7).
"[...] all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together." (Colossians 1:16-17).
(3) Man can deduce physical laws through educated, rational observation:
[...] being understood from what has been made [...] (Romans 1:20).
"He [Jesus] replied, 'When evening comes, you say, "It will be fair weather, for the sky is red," and in the morning, "Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast." You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.' " (Matthew 16:2-3) (illustrating the process of deducing results from observable data).
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http://www.belcherfoundation.org/dont_hide_God_in_a_closet.htm
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