Christians are Weak and Dumb

Such is the prevailing opinion of millions of Americans across the country, in 2018. Fifty or sixty years ago that would almost never be heard, but over the past 20 or 25 years we have seen a voice getting louder which believes that followers of Christ are ignorant, needy, and foolish.

The problem with the growing demographic of people who believe "Christians are weak and dumb"—aside from how they make Christians personally feel slighted—is that anti-Christian sentiment has become more and more a part of our laws and the political environment. If nobody is vocally arguing FOR the relevance and value of Christianity, then it will soon fall to the wayside in the power structure of the United States.

The fact is that the percentage of Americans who identify as atheists has been growing over the past couple of decades. In addition, according to the Pew Research Center, regular church attendance has been decreasing since 1980. However, these data points do not equate to a theory that Christians are weak or dumb. The truth is that many relevant historical figures were Christians, or at least believed in a Creator at some level. A brief list might include:

• President George Washington: Likely our greatest President, the former war commander was a somewhat quiet/private Christian, but he did reference God dozens of times in public speeches.
• President Abraham Lincoln: Along with Washington as our greatest leader, Lincoln had some affiliations with both the Baptist and Presbyterian denominations. He references in his famous Gettysburg Address that our nation is founded under God.
• Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte: Napoleon is often ranked amongst the best 4 or 5 military minds of all time, and had the most recent large-scale empire in world history. Some of his thoughts include the following—

"I know men, and I tell you Jesus Christ was not a man. Superficial minds see a resemblance between Christ and the founders of empires and the gods of other religions. That resemblance does not exist. There is between Christianity and other religions the distance of infinity.

Alexander, Cæsar, Charlemagne and myself founded empires. But on what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon sheer force. Jesus Christ alone founded His empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men will die for Him. In every other existence but that of Christ how many imperfections!

The Bible contains a complete series of acts and of historical men to explain time and eternity, such as no other religion has to offer."

• Albert Einstein: Considered by many to be the greatest scientist of all time, Einstein was raised Jewish but fell away from the tenets of that faith. However, he did believe that there was something supernatural that was a creator; something greater and more vast than mankind. He acknowledged that there were limits to what the human mind could understand or develop.
• Sir Issac Newton: The famed physicist and "Father of Gravity" was clearly a Christian.
• 100% of our 45 U.S. President have identified as Christian. We may question the devoutness or sincerity of some, including the current leader, but for whatever reason, not one of our elected Presidents has been atheist, agnostic, or of some other religion—over 225 years.

This list could go on and on, but the brief point is that a quick look at basic history shows that merely accusing Bible followers as being ignorant or weak does not make it so. It also goes directly against the successes of many strong and intelligent persons down through the ages.

Yes, there have been some outspoken, noteworthy men, like Stephen Hawking, who have been emphatic that there is no God. That is fair enough, and certainly Hawking is more intelligent than myself or probably anyone reading this article. But, at the crux of the debate is the fact that there has been no manner of either definitively proving or disproving the existence of the Judeo-Christian God. And even Stephen Hawking, in his brilliance, was not able to create life out of lifeless matter.

This discussion will continue onward, but Christians need to be proud and knowledgeable, and not concede to some popular and loud groups that have been making it their goal to ridicule and undermine the Christian faith and the ideals that we stand for.

–Ken Lambert has been writing for both secular and religious publications for several years. He co-authored the book "Top 10 Most Influential Christians Since the Apostles" and holds a Doctorate in Ministry. He resides in southern New Hampshire.