By: Jon Rendall, FBB Speaker

“Right Here, Right Now” was a pop song that dominated the charts in the early 90s. Singer and songwriter Mike Edwards wrote the lyrics after watching live broadcasts of the Berlin wall coming down. The song is a humanist anthem, filled with optimism and hope for mankind and the future. In many ways Edwards’ thinking made sense. The Cold War was over, Communist dictatorships were falling. Capitalism and democracy had won. Now, even impoverished Russians could enjoy McDonald’s and Coca-cola like the rest of us. Edwards believed he was witnessing a new era for humanity, described in the lyrics as “watching the world wake up from history.”

That was the world of the 1990s. People believed in a better world where technology and progress had limitless potential. In many eyes, the tyranny, war, oppression and authoritarianism of the old world were fading away. Cooperation, hope, optimism and prosperity would characterize the future. To this day “Right Here, Right Now” has an almost religious connotation as Edwards belts out “I was alive and I waited, waited. I was alive and I waited for this.” It sounds like a worship song. The band, aptly named Jesus Jones, captured a generation's belief and hope in three minutes of infectious pop. Bill Clinton even used Edwards’ song in his presidential campaign to emphasize his own hope for America’s future. 

The new hope was bigger than a song. Humanist author John Dunphy captured the same sentiment when he advocated for “a new faith: a religion of humanity that recognizes and respects the spark of what theologians call divinity in every human being.” Dunphy wrote that public schools and the “classroom must and will become an arena of conflict between the old and the new—the rotting corpse of Christianity, and the new faith of humanism.” Whether it was in school or on the radio, humanism was back in a big way. The world no longer needed God to be good. Humanity was doing great on its own. Or was it?

In reality, the 90s saw no real pause in the atrocities that have characterized human history. The Cold War may have ended, but the world was still full of problems including genocide, war, slavery, terrorism, corruption, greed, suffering and exploitation. But those images don’t sell, and they're off-brand with the humanist message. As long as the general populace amused themselves to death with vacuous nonsense the propaganda of humanism could march on.

The world did not “wake up from history,” and in 2022 global events are proving that. The invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent war in Europe have brought the reality of humanity crashing down like a javelin missile. When the son of a dictator can rewrite the past and get himself elected, when formerly democratic countries can be snuffed out and consumed, and looming threats of new wars fill the horizon, humanism becomes a difficult faith to maintain. Nations that have been neutral for centuries are suddenly seeking the safety of military alliances. Even the military-averse Liberal-NDP government of Canada is now increasing defense spending, and the dream of Big Macs in Moscow has died.

The politicians and thought leaders who once religiously ascribed to a humanist narrative of progress are being forced to acknowledge a harsh reality—mankind is not naturally peaceful or good. The world is waking up from Humanism.

Here’s the problem we face. Whether it’s a catchy pop tune, a sci-fi movie or a humanist manifesto, something about the doctrine of progress resonates with us. We want to hope. We want to believe there will be an end to suffering and pain. We want to believe that there is something better out there. But the truth is, for the garden to flourish again we must deal with the root of corruption and evil—the human heart. 

We long for hope because the stench of death fills our nostrils, not just the reek of physical death, but also the distinctive scent of spiritual death. Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus “you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”

Humans chase after new religions, new teachings, new technology, new passions and desires, and new systems of government because we are spiritually dead and blind. The kind of blindness that keeps us looking for salvation and hope in all the wrong places. Unsurprisingly, our directionless search only leads to more death. We’ll never find what we’re looking for until we are granted a new heart and a new spirit. Ezekiel prophesied that God would take our hearts of stone and restore them to flesh, that he would put his spirit in us. This is real hope. Not hope in the progress of man, but hope in the power of the Holy Spirit to transform our hearts. Even now the Kingdom of God is breaking through, no matter how hard the world tries to stop it.

Augustine famously wrote in his Confessions “Because you have made us for Yourself . . . our hearts are restless till they find their rest in Thee.” These ancient words were true then, and they are just as true today. We must place our hope in Jesus, no matter what the world throws at us. Jesus has the power to restore hearts, bring hope, and ultimately reconcile a fractured universe. When we see Him face to face and revel in his glory, we can truly say “there is no other place I’d rather be.” Blessings!

1. Parker, S. (2022, January 28). Don't look now, but your worldview may have a gap. Faith Beyond Belief. Retrieved May 30, 2022, from https://www.faithbeyondbelief.ca/blog/dont-look-now-but-your-worldview-may-have-a-gap

2. McKerracher, I. (2021, November 16). Corrective lenses. Faith Beyond Belief. Retrieved May 30, 2022, from https://www.faithbeyondbelief.ca/blog/corrective-lenses

3. Beange, A. (2022, January 28). All roads lead somewhere. Faith Beyond Belief. Retrieved May 30, 2022, from https://www.faithbeyondbelief.ca/blog/all-roads-lead-somewhere

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