No good without God

Did you hear the one about the atheist who was appointed head chaplain? You may be waiting for the punchline, but this is not a joke. Can you imagine someone who is against believing in God leading groups that practice faith in God? How about a pro-life/anti-abortion person heading Planned Parenthood? Is that any more outrageous than an atheist leading a religious organization?

News of this appointment hit social media and various publications. In my denomination's state paper, The Pathway, the headline under Culture Watch is "Harvard's chief chaplain an atheist." It explains that Greg Epstein, the author of "Good Without God," will coordinate the activities of more than 40 university chaplains who lead the Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist and other religious communities on campus. He has served as the university's "humanist chaplain" since 2005.

The Crimson editorial board--Harvard's paper, wrote about the appointment. In their opinion, this was an "eye-catching move that, believe it or not, promises to touch believers and non-believers alike." He was voted president unanimously by a select group of campus religious leaders.

The Harvard Catholic Center tried to downplay Epstein's appointment as merely an administrative role. However, the editorial board disagrees. For them, this controversial leadership assignment is a form of diversity to be celebrated.

Harvard was originally founded to educate clergy. For many years, the school's motto has been, "For the glory of Christ." Maybe today's motto should be "Ichabod," which means, "the glory has departed."

According to the editorial board, the plurality of Harvard's incoming students are atheists or agnostics. They said since there is a rising number of nonbelievers across the country, Epstein's leadership will better serve the needs of the student body.

The Crimson board explains atheists are victims as they assert that Americans feel more negatively about atheists than any other group except Muslims. They claim the number of religiously unaffiliated in Congress is 0.2%, and that seven states ban atheists from holding public office.

We hear much about the separation of church and state. What Harvard's appointment exposes is that humanism is a religion. Our founders, in their wisdom, decided the state was not to enforce one religion over another -- that would include secular humanism. That is if this belief system is a faith perspective of the same order as theistic religions.

When we remove God from the equation, we are left with anything but good. Evil dictators throughout history have violated basic moral principles in their lust for power. It is more than ironic that the editors wrote: "Harvard is a place where they [nonbelievers] too can access the grounding life guidance church can offer, sans spirituality."

Jesus puts it this way in John 15:5, "I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit for apart from me you can do nothing." Being good in God's eyes apart from a relationship with him is just as impossible as a branch cut off from a tree having the ability to bear fruit.

It is a sad day when we try to have the appearance of godliness but deny its power (2 Timothy 3:5).

Students will seek out mentors to guide them. Some will examine the claims of Scripture and come to faith in Jesus from an intellectual perspective. Others will seek out teachers who will tell them what they want to hear. In the end, we will all stand before God and give an account to him for what we believed or did not believe and how we lived our lives.