
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, March 19, 1990                   TAG: 9003222333
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

ALL KNOWLEDGE IS CHURCH'S CONCERN

SEVERAL letters to the editor have criticized Shenandoah Baptist Church because the church's school, Roanoke Valley Christian, is involved in teaching science and other subjects that supposedly belong to the "secular" world only. Apparently these critics have not considered that if God created the universe, then he designed all the laws of science, physics, and other academic disciplines. If so, teaching this knowledge is certainly a legitimate concern of his and of his church.

I believe the century-long withdrawal of the Christian church from general education is one reason the church has so little influence in a day when our crumbling society so desperately needs it. Beginning back when the myth of evolution began to dominate science, the church allowed the secular world to falsely divide knowledge into "secular" and "sacred," and then push the church off into a corner to concern itself with the "sacred" only.

From this little corner, it is very difficult for the church to say God has the authoritative word in every area of life. And society can hardly be blamed for ignoring a Bible that, if untrue in the science building, probably isn't very true in the church building either.

In the science courses at Roanoke Valley Christian School, students learn of the great amount of scientific evidence for God's sudden, complete creation of the Earth and man. They learn how God's design and authority extend into all areas of academics and life.

For those students who accept and act on it, such teaching lays the foundation for a happy, productive life. Public education, on the other hand, totally separates God from academics, ethics, sex education and life. Thus students learn a view of the world which is tragically false.

In the federal lawsuit against Shenandoah Baptist, the government contends that RVCS is only a secular enterprise, separate from the church. Thus Big Brother himself is trying to separate knowledge into "secular" and "sacred," and push Shenandoah Baptist back into that anemic corner where good little churches are supposed to be. It is greatly to the credit of Pastor Alderman and his church that they have resisted the government's illegal efforts for 12 years.\ TOM TAYLOR\ ROANOKE :

by CNB