In early 2024, Aaron Renn published his book titled “Life in the Negative World: Confronting Challenges in an Anti-Christian Culture.” Renn’s central thesis is that since approximately 1964, the American culture’s positive perception of Christianity has been gradually declining. This shift occurred in three distinct phases: a positive view through 1994, a neutral view from 1994 to 2015, and a negative view since 2015. While the exact years of these transitions may be subject to debate, few can deny that Christian beliefs have come under increasing attack over the past few decades.

This negative shift in public opinion is particularly evident in the healthcare sector. Christian Healthcare Professionals (HCPs) face increasing challenges in exercising their freedom to refuse certain procedures or treatments they perceive as contrary to their Christian beliefs. For instance, Dignity Health, a prominent Catholic hospital system in California, was recently sued in California Superior Court on September 25, 2025. The lawsuit alleges that Dignity Health’s refusal to provide abortion as an option for obstetrical care constitutes negligence, even if it is based on their Christian convictions. This case highlights the increasing threat against Christian HCPs who desire to practice Hippocratic medicine in line with their Christian beliefs.

This threat may prompt Christian students contemplating a medical profession to consider other professions or lead faith-motivated healthcare students to avoid specialties that are more likely to require anti-Hippocratic procedures, such as obstetrics, pediatrics, or palliative care. However, these threats can also be viewed as opportunities to serve as salt and light by speaking truth into the evils encroaching on medicine. This approach has its risks and will no doubt require an extra measure of faith and courage. It raises the question of why a Christian healthcare student should put their future and career at risk, especially when so much effort is required to complete a medical education. The answer is straightforward and is found in the Great Commission.

Jesus gives us the Great Commission in Mt. 28:19-20 after His resurrection. We are commanded to go and make disciples of all nations and teach them to observe all that we have been commanded. We don’t have to cross an ocean to find people who need to hear the Gospel. They will be among our patients and colleagues. The current cultural tensions within medicine provide an excellent opportunity to speak the truth, for example, about when life begins or biological sex in the context that we are created in the image of God. As we speak the truth in love in a winsome manner, opportunities will arise to share the Gospel, and the Holy Spirit can move in the hearts of those listening. Some may view this approach as rather simplistic, and at one level it is. But we should remind ourselves that this is essentially what the first-century disciples of Jesus did. They spoke the truth into the darkness throughout their everyday lives and, in the process, won their family and friends to the Lord. As Jesus reminds us in Mt. 19:26, with God, all things are possible.

Medicine provides a platform that focuses and increases our ability to speak against certain evils rampant within our culture, specifically, certain vulnerable populations such as the preborn, those at the end of life, and adolescents vulnerable to gender ideology. God calls us to protect the vulnerable in verses such as Ps. 82:3, Is. 58:10 and James 1:27. This is why CMDA has framed its advocacy efforts around protecting these vulnerable groups, along with other vulnerable populations such as victims of human trafficking and the poor.

Yes, there is risk involved, which is why CMDA also focuses its advocacy efforts to protect vulnerable Christian HCPs who are called to practice medicine in line with their Christian beliefs. Whether you are just entering medicine as a student, just beginning your postgraduate education, or finally entering your professional job, you have an individual choice to make. Will you take that risk and stand strong by speaking Biblical truth into the lies that swirl today in medicine, such as it’s just a blob of tissue at this point in pregnancy, or that everyone should be able to choose their gender and when and how they die?

I’m reminded of a quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer- “Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”

The benefits of taking the risk to speak out are not only eternal but will also increase your sense of joy knowing that you are walking in obedience to the Lord. But that does not mean it will be easy, which is why I recommend regularly reading about persecuted Christians around the world. The persecuted church has been a spiritual chiropractor for me in my walk with the Lord. Currently, three organizations are serving the persecuted church: International Christian Concern, Open Doors, and Voice of the Martyrs.   Here are some other practical suggestions and resources to consider as you contemplate this decision:

1. Strengthen your daily prayer time by including Paul’s request in Romans 12:1 to present your bodies as a living sacrifice.
2. Cultivate the habit of practicing the presence of God as outlined in Brother Lawrence’s book by that name, available as a Kindle book for less than $1.
3. Check out the Standing Strong curriculum produced by CMDA.