Are You a “Religious” Person?
We often encounter surveys and polls attempting to describe the state of religious belief and spirituality in America. I like Phillip Johnson’s approach to the question, “Are you a religious person?” This is too broad a question to which to accurately respond. It could mean almost anything. But most importantly, to the modern mind it means that you possess some subjective feelings. It means you have certain “beliefs” about non-material things. The next time someone questions me about my religious beliefs, I hope to claim that I am a theistic realist.
To claim to be a theistic realist is to communicate that you not only believe in God, but that you believe that he is objectively real. I deny living half of my life in some sort of fantasy world which I lay aside to function in the real world. The real world does contain an objective reality called God. As Johnson says, this is a shocking proposition to many people. It is arrogant to claim that you have some knowledge other than that which comes from naturalism.
Saddeningly, it is not just the secularists which hold to naturalism. Many contemporary “Christians” and clergy do not hold to theistic realism, but instead have capitulated to the naturalistic worldview.