A Christian Manifesto (Francis Schaeffer)

In A Christian Manifesto, Francis Schaeffer discusses the infiltration of humanism into society through laws and policies (among other things), and the bad effect that will produce if the trend continues unchecked.  Schaeffer argues that humanism- putting man at the center of a world created (in their eyes) by chance and lacking moral absolutes- will inevitably lead to relativistic, shifting laws, cascading eventually to the rise of totalitarian states- as the French and Soviet revolutions have shown.  He calls upon Christians to reclaim the stance that created our democracy (and others throughout Europe)- the fact that there are absolutes, and that we as a society will not prosper unless the state is functioning in such a mindset- that there is something (or someone) higher than man/the state, and therefore man/the state cannot be the highest authority on anything. 

This book is a mixed bag.

The good
The book makes a lot of good points.  We are religious beings- we all worship something- and when you remove God as the center, invariably the state takes His place- and that never ends well.  If you look at America, our Declaration of Independence says near the beginning:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

The foundation of our nation is built upon rights that we have based on our status as created beings who hold a special place in the world.  When you remove that, and claim that humans (and all life) are just chance matter and energy, you're left with . . . who knows what.  It's the fundamental problem of humanism- if everything is random, how do you determine value, and therefore justice, and therefore laws/etc?

The bad
The book isn't structured overly well, and at times seems like a rant.  Schaeffer has written some classics, to include The God Who is There and How Should We Then Live, and this book doesn't quite live up to their quality.  Finally, the book is misnamed; there's no Christian manifesto presented to counter the Humanist and Communist Manifestos referenced, so that's misleading.

Overall, this work brings up good points, but doesn't present them as well as they could be.

Rating: B-