Ken Ham on Reason Rally: Christians Should Evangelize to Atheists Amid Growing 'Secular Religion'
Young Earth creationist Ken Ham, reflecting on the recent "Reason Rally" atheist gathering in Washington D.C., said that with the growing "secular religion" in America it is the responsibility of Christians share the Gospel with non-believers.
"Jesus tells us to 'lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest' (John 4:35). We should recognize that the growing numbers of secularists are a mission field with whom we have the responsibility and privilege of sharing the gospel (Matthew 28:19)," Ham wrote on his Answers in Genesis blog.
"Our hearts should break at their lost state, and we should be encouraged to be salt and light (Matthew 5:13–16) as we share the good news of the message of Jesus Christ with a broken, hurting world."
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He noted that despite the reported lower-than-hoped for attendance at the rally, organizers trumped it up as the "biggest gathering of nonreligious people in history," aimed at showing government officials that secular Americans are growing as a demographic, and deserve to be represented in government.
Ham argued that the event should be a "wake-up call" for Christians to realize that "we live in an increasingly secular nation that desperately needs to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ."
As he has many times in the past, the Ark Encounter CEO said that atheists have a religion of their own, which is "characterized by the belief that man is the ultimate authority, the rejection of God, and an acceptance of naturalism, a belief that everything came about by natural processes."
"It's a belief system, a nontheistic religion," he added.
Atheists, such as Hemant Mehta of The Friendly Atheist blog, have shot back against such claims. In March, Mehta wrote:
"Atheism isn't a religion. There's no deity or dogma involved. We don't worship nature. We appreciate nature. It's a product of evolution and it's really damn beautiful. But no atheist is kneeling at the base of a tree."
He added: "We're not intolerant of Christianity. We disagree with the claims of Christianity and we don't want the government promoting any religion."
Ham said in his blog, however, that children are "unquestioningly indoctrinated with atheistic and naturalistic teaching in public schools," such as when they are only taught the theory of evolution.
"Sadly, most children in our government-run education system are taught that they're just the result of an accident and random processes, that they're just animals, and thus there is no ultimate purpose and meaning to life," Ham argued.
"This is a message of hopelessness. Kids need to be taught the truth."
Ham frequently spoke out against the "Reason Rally" in its build up, and accused secular people of working hard "against Christianity cause they're putting their hands over eyes and ears and shouting, 'I refuse to see and hear truth!' Their blind faith religion of natural processes is their way of explaining life without God — an anti-God religion."
The Reason Rally organizers vowed after the event that the efforts of atheist groups to fight for secular rights and values in America will continue.
"Although the Reason Rally is over, the work is far from done. Freedom From Religion Foundation continues to tackle church/state violations nationwide and encourages you to do the same," the organizers posted in a Facebook message.
