It is common for those who notice such things, to say that we are living in a post-Christian culture. By this is meant that the church no longer holds the place of primacy as moral arbiter. In the West, the norms and constraints fostered by Christianity have been intentionally cast off and people are no longer stigmatized by falling afoul of Biblical morality. Emboldened by this development, many have not just turned from the church; they have turned on the church. No longer believing that God is relevant to their lives, they feel free to attack God’s people. This is the very mindset of the “fool” in Psalm 14: “The fool says in his heart, ‘’There is no God.’ They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none who does good . . . Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers who eat up my people as they eat bread and do not call upon the LORD?” No longer fearing God, the deniers go after those who confess him.
The psalm goes on to explain why such a strategy is a fool's errand. The Lord, as he looks down from heaven, sees exactly what is going on and will cause the “evildoers” to be “in great terror.” The reason why? “God is with the generation of the righteous.” To persecute God’s people is to persecute God (Acts 9:4), and to persecute God is foolish indeed — it’s not a battle that anyone can hope to win.
That being said, the church must find the courage to remain faithful in the midst of this societal shift. The moral framework of the West might be post-Christian, but God is never post-Christian. He is always for his people and they, and his purposes, will be vindicated on the last day. Additionally, we must not forsake our calling to be salt and light. Our neighbors might energetically strive to deny the reality of God, but he is unavoidable, inescapable, something which they must know (Romans 1:19, 20) or else they wouldn’t be working so hard to deny him. Given that reality, we must feel the same weight of obligation that Paul felt to make the gospel known (Romans 1:14). It is the gospel, the message entrusted to the church, that is “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16).
Persecution of Christians is real. In the West it is increasingly taking the form of law suits, ridicule, marginalization. In many other parts of the world, the cost of following Jesus is much, much greater. However it manifests itself, the persecution of Christians is, again, a fool's errand, not just because the One who defends us is the maker of heaven and earth, but because the very ones who are being silenced are the ones who have the message of salvation. There is no hope apart from hearing and believing what the church has to say.
May God be merciful to grant wisdom to those who deny him.
