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Faith In The Public Square

by | Wed, Jun 23 2021

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Man praying in morning sun

In this 20Twenty conversation, we are going to be talking about faith in the public square. You might be aware it is getting tougher in day-to-day life to let your little light shine and be a Christian in the public square here in Australia. Well, things have been heating up. Christians are out of favour, as the culture war appears to favour progressive ideas above Christian conservative values.

The Victorian government is on track to criminalise Christian prayer practices for people in the LGBT community next year. It could even affect the way Pastors preach from the pulpit and conversations around the family dinner table or on the streets in the state of Queensland. Queensland is on track to also have a similar restriction on Christians, even talking people out of euthanasia.

If there were liberal laws passed later this year, it does appear that even talking to people about a pro-life perspective could soon become criminal. So how can we as Christians have the courage to take our faith into the public square?

To answer this question and many more is our special guest Chase Windebank. Chase is from the United States, where he went to court to win permission to pray as a high school student in the state of Colorado.  Chase took legal action against his school after they told him he couldn’t meet with his Christian friends during a free period for prayer and singing. A lot of people have heard Chase’s story, and he’s joining us to talk about faith in the public square.

Chase says that growing up, ‘Focus on the Family’ was a central part of his life. “I got to travel with my Dad and engage with people who were really about the mission of training up families in a Christ centred way. That was a big part of my upbringing.”

Chase believes that growing up in a family where those values and Biblical truth were held very highly helped him to gather together with a few friends at school for prayer. “I entered Pine Creek High School here in Colorado Springs after being homeschooled from kindergarten through to eighth grade. It was quite a culture shock.  I realised that a lot of students didn’t know about Jesus, so I decided, why not start a prayer meeting during our free period. It was just a way for us to engage with Jesus in a practical way during the school day.”

Chase says that at first, his group grew quite slowly, and often it was just him and one other friend. “But we just stayed faithful with it. Then I remember the summer before my senior year, I was talking to the Lord saying I don’t want to do this anymore. It’s a lot of work. And I just don’t know if it’s making an impact. I remember a still small whisper saying, Chase, just go for it one more year. It’s only one more year. Our first meeting that year was 30 people. Then the next meeting was 40. Then the next meeting, 60, 70, 80 soon, 90 students were coming twice a week to pray and worship. It was so encouraging.”

In America, Chase points out that is common for students to understand their right to pray in the public square. “We had years of doing this prayer meeting without a problem. We went from the gym into the library and then into an unused choir room and there was no issue. But then somehow senior year they realised that with the growth, people assumed that the school was giving an endorsement of it. They got a little nervous, thinking that they could have a lawsuit on their hands with a student who was not Christian. I don’t know the full motives behind their reason to call me and say, you can’t pray anymore, but that’s what happened.”

“This was a complete surprise to me. In fact, when they told me I pulled out some printed laws that I had in my backpack and told them it says it straight in the constitution. I can pray and I have the ability to pray so I was quite taken aback when they told me I was no longer able to gather during school hours.”

“I believe that religion or freedom to practice our faith in the public square, it’s the starting point and the foundation for our nation and for a lot of other free nations around the world. And once that’s taken away, it’s a very slippery slope into other areas where other rights will be taken away.”

Listen to the rest of this thought-provoking conversation with Neil and Chase Windebank here…

Tune into 20Twenty and join the conversation with Neil Johnson, weekdays on Vision Christian Radio. Click here for your local times.

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