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TechnoratiRichard Baxter, a seventeenth-century puritan divine once wrote, “Do as much good as you are able to men’s bodies in order to the greater good of Souls. If nature be not supported, men are not capable of other good.” This is the basis for Christian relief and social work. The ultimate goal is the comprehensive salvation and reconciliation of the human person, body and soul.
Some from within the Church will no doubt complain and worry that the ACLU victory will further secularize our country. This may be superficially true, but The Silver Ring Thing has the opportunity to resist a far more damaging form of secularization: the kind that separates Christian faith from works.
And what is the alternative? Many of these same Christians would no doubt be uncomfortable with government funds going to groups that hand out Korans or the Book of Mormon at their rallies. The responsibility now rightly falls to concerned Christians to pool their considerable resources and fill SRT’s funding gap.
The temporary setback of the loss of government funding has the potential to be a long-term opportunity for The Silver Ring Thing. By resisting the temptation of the government’s “forbidden fruit” and meeting its funding goals through private religious endeavors, The Silver Ring Thing can be accountable to God rather than Caesar. And that’s the way it should be.
This article originally appeared on March 15, 2006.
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Jordan J. Ballor is associate editor with the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion & Liberty in Grand Rapids, Mich.
