I must admit, reading about how secularism is growing disturbs me. I thought about why this is so. One reason is that, there is comfort in numbers, and being in a minority position can be unsettling, especially if the majority thinks they are superior to you. Unfortunately, many people who deny God/Supernatural also display intellectual pride. Another reason is that there is a part of me, and if my fellow believers are honest with themselves, that doubts and wants to suppress that spirit of doubt.

     As far as being in the minority, contrary to popular thinking, Galileo was not just suppressed by the Catholic church but by the scientific community at that time. The scientific community fervently believed that the earth was the center of the universe, not because of biblical revelation (to say that would be to assume that all scientists in that era accepted the bible), but what they see as problems posed by their conception of the nature of things, much like intelligent design is maligned because it does not fit with the paradigm of a closed/mindless universe. This brings me to my next point.

     Contrary to public sentiment, evidence does not speak for itself. For example, the data that the earth looked old can either be because the earth is really old, or it is possible that there were catastrophes that happened that make the earth look old. People could see the same "reality" but have different conclusions about it. This has been true throughout the ages. There are anti-supernaturalists and supernaturalists since ancient times, despite the "human progress" idea that as humans understand more, the more supernaturalism will disappear. In fact, there is a revival of paganism, belief in the old gods, not to mention necromancy and fortune telling, that was suppressed by the dominant theistic paradigm.

    The anti-supernaturalist may say that all the belief that there is something beyond nature may say that it is a product of wishful thinking- humans want something to be out there to comfort them. However, the same charge of wishful thinking can be leveled against the anti-supernaturalist. They don't want to believe in a supernatural world because it impinges upon their freedoms to act however they want, therefore they look at the evidence and do not entertain supernaturalism.

    It may be said that they don't believe in the supernatural because they have an ungrateful spirit that does not acknowledge that all they have comes from a nature that has been gracious to them (the farmer who grows food is only cooperating with life-giving nature). Understandably, we live in a world where we don't struggle that much to survive- if we are hungry we can go to stores and food is not expensive. This may contribute to many people's inability to be deeply grateful and have a sense of a force that is really in control of their lives The anti-supernaturalist may say that nature (evolution functions as the movement of nature in most anti-supernaturalist thinking, bringing humanity towards a goal) is mindless and has no good intentions, therefore they ignore it. This illustrates the apostle Paul's point that although people experience God (the mind behind nature), they do not thank him or worship him. 

    This brings me to a reflection on the Christmas story. Why would somebody make up that whole story about God becoming a baby (most vulnerable)? Those who told this story many years ago died as martyrs, sticking to their story that God became man, with all the vulnerability it entails. They definitely did not tell this story to support an earthly ideology. Not only is the story strange, but it is antithetical to human thinking. That world, same as today, would find it to make more sense that the "gods" would come down with power to smite their enemies, which could be other humans or other beings. The story of Thor coming to help humanity makes for a good story, but is not the Christian story of a God who came down as a baby born in a manger and later opposed until the end of his life, not smiting his enemies but dying for them, as the apostles proclaimed. The Christmas story could be seen as foolishness in the eyes of the world, but as the apostle says, the wisdom of God is seen in his foolishness and the weakness of God is his power to heal humanity from its brokenness. The early church rejected stories of a Christchild who does miracles just for the fun of it because they saw the center of the Christian gospel as God becoming man. Although this is antithetical to human thinking, I invite you to bow down to the vulnerable baby Jesus and ponder what it means that God's way of salvation is to become one of us, joining us in our weakness and confusion.