"The Bible is an archaic book. It doesn't relate to people today."

"How can anyone be so arrogant as to think they can speak for God."

These are the kinds of comments that are posted every day on the Internet by people who find Biblical Christianity offensive to them. These people are putting a voice to sentiments that have found their way into the mainstream thinking of Americans.

To be certain, these statements are not new. People have been saying them for decades, even centuries. But there was a time when those who spoke these kinds of arguments did so quietly and privately. Public comments of this nature would surely bring some kind of rebuke or condemnation.

Not so today. People express these thoughts openly and freely without fear of retribution.

Please understand. I am not arguing that anyone's right to free speech should be hindered. These people have a right to say what they believe as much as any of us do. If their right to free speech can be stifled, then so can mine. I am opposed to that.

What restrained these expressions in previous generations was not legal limitations on free speech. It was rather public reaction to such speeches. Expressions like those that begin this article would certainly shock people of earlier generations and would not be acceptable in most public arenas. The media certainly would not carry such speeches because of the fear of offending advertisers and thus reducing revenue. People simply would not tolerate such expressions. So these thoughts were expressed in private gatherings, away from public scrutiny. They were written in publicatiaons of limited interest and read mostly by those who agreed with them. This was not a denial of anyone's free speech rights; it was a matter of what was publicly tolerated and accepted.

It may be thought that the Internet is to blame for this proliferation of anti-Christian expression in America and in other parts of the world today. After all, the Internet gives an instant, world-wide soap box to anyone with any message whatsoever to proclaim. If you put it on the Internet, someone somewhere will read it.

But it is not the Internet that caused this kind of expression to proliferate. These anti-Christian sentiments were present in Biblical times. There have always been those who opposed the truth.

In the late 1950s, for example, I served as editor of my high school newspaper. I was saved early in my senior year and wrote about that experience for the school paper. No one challenged me. No one petitioned the school to censor me. The article was accepted as my experience. No one felt threatened, or, if they did, they said nothing. The public schools, while not endorsing any particular religion, were nevertheless pro-religion. Religious faith was a legitimate part of history and life and public schools recognized and accepted that fact.

In the 1960's, our nation's public school system underwent a revolution much like the cultural revolution that shook every aspect of American life and turned traditional attitudes up side down.