Editor, Gazette-Journal:

Churches have been making news lately. But the news, with few exceptions, is pointing out that the shepherds have become the sheep.

What should be of concern to most Americans is the apathy displayed by the majority of our church leaders. Once upon a time our churches were God’s fortresses, protecting our Judeo-Christian values against those who would seek to destroy them. In recent years, however, the vast majority of our churches have become pathetic and weak, afraid to stand up to the purveyors of political correctness who now control what can and cannot be said, or prayed, in public.

Many preachers are now watering down their sermons to make certain any references to Biblical sins are removed for fear of being prosecuted for "hate speech" by those doing the sinning.

On the night that Jesus was arrested, and later crucified, one of his closest disciples, Peter, told Jesus that he would never forsake him. Jesus replied: You will forsake me three times before the rooster crows.

I grieve over the fact that the great majority of today’s churches are the modern-day equivalent of Peter. When I was a boy we proudly and loudly sang meaningful hymns, such as "Onward Christian Soldiers." Remember the next words … "marching as to war?" In the America of my youth, those words really meant something. The churches were strong teachers of the Gospel, defenders of patriotism, ready, willing and able to stand up for God, and fight against any who would threaten their ability to do so.

As Peter denied Christ, so do our churches today. When one vocal atheist had prayer removed from our nation’s schools the rooster crowed, and the churches remained silent. When Christmas and Easter events gave way to winter and spring festivities, the rooster crowed again while the churches whined and looked the other way. Now, an institution as old as our nation itself, the "National Day of Prayer," is deemed unconstitutional. Once again, our churches make sad faces while the rooster crows, but they continue to remain on the sidelines, afraid to appear politically "out of step" with modern society.

Today’s churches seem to have forgotten one of Jesus’s most important scriptures, Luke 12:9. "But he that denies me before men shall be denied before the angels of God." There is no room in that Scripture for political correctness. It is high time that our churches realize that and begin to take a stand for God and against those who would threaten the Judeo-Christian principles on which our great nation was founded.

The decline of church attendance in the U.S. is in direct proportion to the decline of the churches’ influence as a protector of God’s Kingdom. I don’t think you can get to Heaven by being a member of the "Silent Majority." It’s time to sing "Onward, Christian Soldiers" again, but this time think about what the words really mean.

When George Washington asked Lutheran pastor John Muhlenberg to raise a regiment of volunteers, Muhlenberg gladly agreed. Before marching off to join Washington’s army, he delivered a powerful sermon from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 that concluded with these words:

"The Bible tells us there is a time for all things and there is a time to preach and a time to pray but the time for me to preach has passed away, and there is a time to fight, and that time has come now. Now is the time to fight! Call for recruits! Sound the drums!"

If our churches are content to be led by public opinion and political correctness, too afraid to take a stand for truth, justice and God, I’m afraid they will eventually end up as irrelevant institutions of the past, studied by history standards in a country we will no longer recognize.

Tom Robinson

Moon, Va.