The United States is still licking its wounds from a contentious presidential campaign that ended in agonising deadlock. Despite the post-election ordeal, one good thing came out of the campaign: a resounding reaffir­mation of the role of religion in public life. Ironically, it came not from the right but from the left.

Campaigning in Detroit, Senator Joe Lieberman declared, “We need to reaffirm our faith and renew the dedication of our nation and ourselves to God and God’s purpose.” And he argued, “We need a greater place for faith in America’s public life.” Some observers were scandalised (though not as scandalised as they were when evangelical Christian leaders Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell said the same thing).

Was Lieberman right? Of course! He was merely echoing the words of America’s founders. John Adams famously said, “Our Constitution is made for a religious people. It is wholly inade­quate for the governance of any other.”

Getting this issue into public debate may help expose how false are the charges against Christians — like the accusation that we want to “impose” our agenda. Most Americans think, that charge was first aimed at the Moral Majority. Not so. It was raised in 1860 by slave-owners who attacked Abraham Lincoln and the aboli­tionists for wanting to “impose their reli­gious views”. Thank God they did “impose” their views!

The same accusation was made even ear­lier when William Wilberforce was fight­ing to abolish England’s slave trade. On the floor of Parliament, Lord Melbourne, a defender of the trade, thundered, “Things have come to a pretty pass when religion is allowed to invade public life.” Thank God religion invaded public life that time as well.

And the charge that Christians want to “impose” their views is preposterous on its face. Religiously motivated people do nothing more than everyone else does — work for a majority in the democratic process. We have no power to “impose.”

Polls show that 58 percent of Americans agree with Lieberman that reli­gion should play a greater role in public life. So the senator has done a great service opening a healthy dialogue in America. And he’s made possible a great apologetic opportunity for Christians to explain why Judeo-Christian influence is so important to America. The arguments are powerful. First, think about ethics. Dostoyevsky asked the great question in The Brothers Karamazov, “Can man be good without God?” Sure, atheists jump on hand grenades in foxholes, but can they consis­tently live a virtuous life? I would answer no. For one thing, in today’s relativistic era, they can’t decide what is right. In addition, every human being has an infi­nite capacity for self-rationalisation — as I discovered in the White House. Only a commitment to Christ transforms human will, as C. S. Lewis compellingly argued.

And the evidence proves an impact on society. Juvenile crime was lowest in England when Sunday school attendance was highest. As Sunday school declined, juvenile crime increased in direct propor­tion.

Second, religion encourages good health. Psychiatrist David Larson has spent 20 years researching faith’s effect on health. He discovered Christians have less stress, fewer heart attacks, and are less prone to commit suicide than those with­out faith. He even found that married Christians have better sex lives than secu­lar couples.

Third, Christianity encourages productivity. The work ethic grew out of the Protestant Reformation. Deferred gratifi­cation, work done for God’s glory, fueled the industrial revolution.

Fourth, the Christian faith undergirds political freedom and human rights. The whole idea of Western liberal democracy rests upon Christian premises. The Scottish cleric Samuel Rutherford pub­lished Lex Rex — “the law is king” — which led to the Rule of Law. Support for a republican form of government was advanced by the reformers, who advo­cated sphere sovereignty and limited gov­ernment. Christian commitment to “unalienable rights” is why Christians from Wilberforce to the civil-rights activists to the anti‑Communist resistance in Eastern Europe have been the most valiant defenders of human rights.

Finally, Christianity encourages compas­sion. Historically it was Christians who built hospitals and orphanages, fought slavery, and outlawed child labor. Today Christian compassion leads millions of Americans to feed the hungry, minister to pregnant teens, and buy Christmas gifts for Prison Fellowship’s Angel Tree kids each year.

A wealth of material buttresses these arguments. Christians need to learn to make the case – and then seize the opportunity. The time is ripe: more than half the nation recently told pollsters that America is off-track morally.

You and I must give them the ‘answers’ that they are obviously searching for.