The Secular Creed: Engaging Five Contemporary Claims by Rebecca McLaughlin

I heartedly endorse and commend to you a work by a rising star in Christian apologetics. The Secular Creed by Rebecca McLaughlin takes aim at five cultural claims, exposing their inherent weaknesses while calling believers to love an increasingly hostile world. This smaller work follows on the heels of her first book, Confronting Christianity: 12 Hard Questions for the World’s Largest Religion, which was named book of the year in 2018 by Christianity Today.

Rebecca grew up in England and came to America in 2008 and spent 9 years with the Veritas Forum, a non-profit that seeks discourse with students on life’s most difficult questions. She earned her PhD in Renaissance Literature from Cambridge and a theology degree from Oak Hill Seminary in London. This background, combined with a keen mind and dynamic writing skill, make her an effective voice for presenting the truth claims of the gospel.

What is most notable about Rebecca’s approach is the balance she provides between conviction and compassion. She possesses a unique ability to “speak the truth in love.” You may not agree with her words, but you cannot help but appreciate the spirit in which they are delivered. Hers is a whimsical analysis of the lies being perpetrated on a generation that desperately needs a loving push from the biblical side.

The Secular Creed compassionately confronts Critical Race Theory, the LGBT+ agenda, abortion, and transgender issues with great clarity. Her firm grasp of historical backgrounds, cultural issues, and biblical knowledge makes her arguments powerful and convincing. As a person who admits to growing up with same-sex attraction, she is especially suited to address the sexual issues of our day.

Excerpt:

Black lives matter because they matter to Jesus. We don’t believe that love is love but that God is love, and that he gives us glimpses of his love through different kinds of relationships. We believe women’s rights are human rights, because God made us—male and female—in his image; and for that same reason we believe that babies in the womb have rights as well. We believe God has a special concern for single mothers, orphans, and immigrants, because Scripture tells us so again and again. And we believe that diversity does indeed make us stronger, because Jesus calls people from every tribe and tongue and nation to worship him as one body together.

This is what Rebecca tells her children. It is also what all of us need to understand to disentangle the cultural confusion in our own minds and be better able to share the gospel of Jesus Christ to others with courageous compassion.