Religion and Culture Expert Dr. Alex McFarland: Encouraged and Often Enforced,
Secularism Is Destroying the Country
GREENSBORO, N.C.—Christmas cheer is everywhere, with random acts of kindness, wonderment of the season, appreciation of the beauty of God’s creation in freshly fallen snow, and reflection on a journey, a star and a miraculous birth.
But don’t ask atheists about these things—they’ll just say it’s “fake news.”
Religion and culture expert and author Dr. Alex McFarland (www.wordpress-829333-4268594.cloudwaysapps.com) predicted that atheist groups would again seek relevancy at Christmastime with the annual display of billboards declaring the nonsensical nature of the Christmas season.
And he was right. Sure enough, like clockwork on Dec. 1, billboards popped up in Albuquerque and Dallas, encouraging people to “Just Skip Church—It’s All Fake News!,” according to the Christian Post.
“The American Atheists are ready again to try and save the U.S. from the season’s irascible burdens of ‘tidings of comfort and joy,’” McFarland writes in a new op-ed for the Daily Caller. “The American Atheists’ annual roadside ‘Humbug!’ proclamations elicit little more than a ‘ho-hum.’ Each December since 2011, the atheists have put up strategically placed, carefully worded billboards urging people to turn away from Christmas. But when groups like these work to promote a worldview that denies God and undermines truth, there are repercussions in terms of human behavior—tragically negative ones. At this point, atheists will say that the greater tragedy is to believe in a ‘mean old man in the sky’ or an ‘antiquated book of fairy tales.’
“But the reality is this,” McFarland continued. “The encouraged, and often enforced, secularism we are living with is destroying the country. As a scholar, I would argue that the atheists’ Christmas billboards are vacuous from the standpoints of historical fact and logic. But the billboards are certainly not without societal impact. The work of American atheists is certainly hardening some youth against God, Christianity and all religion, as well as moral values. And thanks to atheist groups and a secular American school system, millions of young adults now have permanently skewed views about our founders, the Constitution and the role religion has played in America’s success.”
NBC News also reported that one billboard company wouldn’t put up the “Fake News” signs in Oklahoma City or Tulsa, but did accept a billboard design of “Just Like Santa Claus, the Atheists Are Comin’ to Town!” in preparation for the American Atheists’ annual convention in Oklahoma over Easter weekend.
“To get any sort of traction in the public consciousness, or the press,” McFarland added, “atheists must have something to ‘ride on’—usually something directly or indirectly Christian. Case in point, if Jesus is a fictional character, why put up billboards at Christmas or plan a convention at Easter? These billboards evangelizing for unbelief represent the atheists’ annual attempt at relevancy. This season is an opportunity for the God-deniers to emerge from their ideological vacuum and enjoy some momentary news coverage. But this requires the presence of and reality of Christianity. Strangely enough, God and Jesus have to ‘be there’ in order for the atheists to fight recognition of them—thus, the schizophrenic nature of the campaign and of atheism itself.”
Read McFarland’s full op-ed in the Daily Caller here.
McFarland, who is also Director for Christian Worldview and Apologetics at the Christian Worldview Center of North Greenville University in Greenville, S.C., recently announced the 2018 Truth for a New Generation (TNG, www.TruthforaNewGeneration.com) conference in March at North Carolina’s Life Community Church. Several nationally known speakers will be part of the stellar lineup, including Fox News’ Todd Starnes and Lauren Green, renowned apologist Josh McDowell and faith investigator J. Warner Wallace, among many others.
The event, with the theme of “Save a Nation,” is set for March 23-24, 2018, at Life Community Church, 4900 W. Wendover Ave., Jamestown (the greater Greensboro area) in North Carolina. This year’s conference will also feature a screening of the American Family Association feature-length film, “The God Who Speaks,” in which McFarland is featured, as well as VIP “Gold Circle” seating, which will allow participants to interact with speakers.
View the media page for Alex McFarland here. For more information on Dr. Alex McFarland, visit www.AlexMcFarland.com or follow him on Facebook or on Twitter @AlexMcFarland. For more on the TNG conference, visit www.TruthforaNewGeneration.com.
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To book Dr. Alex McFarland for interviews or for more information on TNG or, contact Deborah Hamilton, Media@HamiltonStrategies.com, 610.584.1096, ext. 102, or Dillon Burroughs, 610.584.1096, ext. 108.
