Free Essay Elucidating Conflicts Between Christians and Secular Worldview

Resolutions to several aspects of life face various challenges in today's world. People from different regions of the world have a diverse perception of phenomena and several human activities and events and as such may oppose or support them. Diversity in culture, religious beliefs, age and economic status are examples of the determinants of the way people view certain concepts. Religion, specifically Christian doctrines, and beliefs have influenced the attitude and response of the believers towards certain events and laws. Governments of different countries and states have enacted laws which have resulted in conflicts with the Christian faithful. Laws such as those that permit same-sex marriages and regulation of life during critical conditions have triggered arguments among the people. Policies regulating natural phenomena such as climate change have also sparked debate the secular believers and the Christian leaders who believe that the rules are contrary to their faith. The paper intends to discuss several aspects and reasons why Christians' worldviews are in conflict with secular ones. The paper intends to review several case studies to illustrate the instances of debate between the secular worldviews and the Christian perception.

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The Catholic leadership has engaged in several conversations in Italy over several political engagements that the church as an organization participated. There was a demonstration in Rome to protest the introduction of gender studies in the schools' curriculum. There is a perception that the members of the Christian organization. There were also protests on an organized Family March day over the possibility of the Italian parliament to endorse civil unions. The conversation amongst the Catholic leadership also aimed at discussing the way forward after the legalization of same-sex marriages and intimacy in the United States.

Concerning the demonstrations, II Foglio proposed that the Christians need to have employed the Benedict option. St Benedict of Nursia went to pray outside Rome leading to the development of Benedictine order and monasticism in the Western regions (DRIESSEN 24). There is a view that noble Christians need to adopt methods that disengage from public participation during their reaction to issues in the society. The church has no obligation in politically motivated reactions and needs to establish other means to ensure sustainability of ethnic behaviors.

The Supreme Court of the U.S. in the month of June 2015 made crucial ruling concerning same-sex marriage. This ruling was in the Obergefell vs Hodges case. The judge on the final judgment legalized same sax gay marriages among the U.S. citizens. The court's decision drew various reactions, from both the conservative Christians especially the Roman Catholics and the secular section of individuals. The gay rights movement had for several years made attempts to gain the so-called freedom in matters of intimacy. The American Christians criticise the issuance of liberty on the gay marriages and lesbian couples. The believers in Christ have a perception that the liberal decision could have consequences on the society. The leadership of the Christian faith assemblies, however, fail to account for the sexual abuse scandals of some clergies despite their quest for the public authorities to outlaw such practices.

Who on earth would perceive that gay marriage and lesbianism is ethical even if Christianity or religion, in general, was eliminated as-as the opposing factor? Even lower animals in the ecosystem, for example, wild animals do not practice same-sex intimacy. The animals have the ability to recognize and embrace the opposite sex as the rightful recreational partners. One would ask the logic behind sex and the appropriate answer would be for recreation and get offsprings. Then why would people advocate for same-sex marriage? I am of the opinion that the beliefs of the Christians that same-sex intimacy is unethical and the legalization of the act need to be reviewed in the near future. The Christian leadership members should, however, address the various scandals involving sexual abuse, especially same-sex acts among the leaders. Eliminating the vice might promote their campaign against the spread of same-sex in the world. Christians need to embrace politics as a way of life. There are several ways of expressing displeasure in efforts to present the issue to the relevant authority. The Family day march, in my opinion, was uncalled for. The Catholic leadership needs to have opted for dialogue as an appropriate method to address their dissatisfaction about the same-sex ruling.

Death penalty

There is controversy on who has a final verdict on the life of human beings. The secular believers suggest that the state authorities have the right to end the life of a fetus in the womb and in medical centers. For instance, the State of Texas enacted a policy in 2003 that determines the patients who access life-supporting care and those who don't. A mother's child, Hudson in the same state died after the hospital terminated the life sustainability services. The baby died despite the parent contesting the hospital's decision to remove the services. The decision was made by the Texas medical ethics management. In contrary to the states policies to act as the determinants of life supports in hospital, Christian believers have an objection to the law. Christian believes that life is a gift from the most supernatural being. There is a belief among the individuals who believe in Christ that the highest power has the say on the birth of humans and the time they should die. The like-minded individuals suggest that man has no mandate and authority to terminate one's life with an exception of self-defense.

There was also a case involving Terri Schiavo. The Vatican had to intervene in support of the woman's life. Any individual, whether secular or Christian need to ask themselves with whose responsibility did the humans' life belong. Some reactions were based on the law and democratic arguments (Woodard 44). The husband advocated for the termination of life support care to end her life. The husband, Mr. Michael needs to have allowed her wife's family to care for her.

I am of the opinion that life is God-given. Despite the critical condition of the baby, the medical specialists were at fault to terminate the breathing support system. I believe the baby would have died if what the doctors had revealed about the infant's condition was reliable. Despite that, the state of Texas should have granted the mother her wish to retain the baby until the moments her natural death. Does this mean that an individual in critical or intensive care should be relieved of the pain by inducing death? These laws need to undergo review to allow for induction of death in extreme crucial and critical circumstances.

Climate change has become one of the main agendas of concern over the past decade to date. Various governments and nongovernmental organizations have initiated the establishment of different policies as intervention measures to control climate change. The main policies involve greenhouse gas regulations introduced in the 112th Congress in 2011. Studies reveal that evangelist David Gushee suggested that Americans Christians engaging in the climate change issue could promote the efforts by America to adhere to the GHG emission regulations (44). The scientist also argued that Christian's involvement was essential in the legislation of the emission of carbon gases. Several Christian leaders eventually campaigned against carbon emission encouraging their church members and businesses to reduce their emission. An evangelical association, Evangelical Call to Action (ECA) with over 300 members facilitated the campaign to reduce carbon pollution (Tampio 525). Despite the climate change prevention measures by several Christian leaders, there are some members who remain sceptical about the issue especially those in America.

Some research work state that Christian beliefs are the basis for the evangelical sceptical behavior towards climate issues (Gushee 44). There is, therefore, division among the Christian believers on the climate change issues apart from the conflicts that exist between a section of Christians and scientists. The conflict began in 2006 between two opposing sides of Christian faith. The Interfaith Stewardship Alliance (ISA) opposed the calls by ECI to establish measures to combat the causes and effects of climate change. ISA was of the idea that implementing the climate change control measures would negatively affect the poor people in the society. There is a probability that most Christian members were ignorant of the statements from both ECI and ISA regarding climate change and therefore, viewed the issue from their cultural beliefs in evangelism. For instance, a survey of students who were majors in religious studies gave perceptions about climate change in a version that was contrary to the scientific context. The student stated that they had learned about global warming but it was impossible for flooding to occur (Carr, Wylie et al. 276). The student quotes the Bible verse explaining that God had promised never to bring floods again for the second time. These categories of Christians oppose a suggestion which appears to contradict with their interpretation of the Bible.

Moreover, there were several Christians who linked climate change as having resulted from the sinful nature of man. A survey on their view reveals that they mentioned industrialization and businesses as the causative agents of global warming. Ralph, a respondent in an interview stated that selfish interests and lack of compassion for nature made them, to destroy nature. Ralph further quoted how Adam and Eve enjoyed peace before sin in the Garden of Aden.

If the sinful activities of human beings were responsible for climate change, then the climatic and environmental conditions would have exceeded the current state possibly a century ago. The Christians that associate sin to changes in climatic conditions need to realize that their explanations were similar to the scientific causes of climate change. Environmental degradation such as deforestation promotes climate change. Similarly, the evangelists suggested that failure to protect nature was the factor leading to the changes in the environment. I suggest that Christians should embrace the idea that nature, despite the belief of being God's creations operates and exist under the effect of some force. The variation in these driving forces may alter the trend in the natural phenomena such as climatic characteristics.

Works Cited

Carr, Wylie, et al. "The Faithful Skeptics: Evangelical Religious Beliefs and Perceptions of Climate Change." Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature & Culture, vol. 6, no. 3, Sept. 2012, pp. 276-299. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1558/jsrnc.v6i3.276.

DRIESSEN, MICHAEL. "The Post-Secular Life." America, vol. 214, no. 6, 22 Feb. 2016, pp. 24-27. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=tfh&AN=112973557&site=ehost-live.

Tampio, Nicholas. "Green Allies: Speculative Realism, Evangelical Christianity, and Political Pluralism." Political Theology, vol. 17, no. 6, Nov. 2016, pp. 525-539. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1179/1462317X14Z.000000000117

Woodard, Don. "Letter to the Editor." Fort Worth Business Press, vol. 18, no. 13, 28 Mar. 2005, p. 44. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bwh&AN=16719398&site=ehost-live.