The United States of America — indeed, the West — is at war. It is not one fought for the acquisition of territory, conducted with guns, bombs and weapons of mass destruction. Rather, it is aimed at the control of conscience, waged with laws, social stigma and judicial coercion. Its battlefields are the courts, schools, universities, social media, TV and major newspapers. It is a war between secularism and Christianity being fought on several fronts: abortion, assisted suicide and euthanasia, redefinition of marriage, sexual identity and choice, and religious freedom.

The forces of secularism are conducting a moral onslaught trying to drive God from public consideration and religion from the life of the community. When God is no longer relevant, purely secular principles will reign. Without absolutes, when society is spiritually empty, anything will be possible, as moral relativism evolves to support man’s ego and craving for temporal pleasure.

Even with the outcome undecided, abominations abound.

Human life is held in low regard; abortion is rampant; sex is separated from marriage and viewed strictly for pleasure; marriage is redefined to include people of the same sex; the legality of polygamy and polyamorous relationships are being advocated; the procreation of children is becoming a laboratory product; sperm and female eggs are marketable items; surrogate motherhood is acceptable; children are being engineered to have three genetic parents; the concept of family is no longer limited to a father, mother and children; homosexual partners now conceive and adopt children; and the personal selection of one’s gender is beginning to be treated as a civil right.

It is a religious war, pitting militant secularism against Christianity.

Each has dogmas that its adherents consider immutable. The ends of one are temporal and materialistic, the other eternal and transcendental. Militant secularism pursues radical sexual autonomy, freedom from any form of moral judgment and conversion through evangelization and coercion to make its views the societal norm and justify its actions. These elements are found in the battles over gay rights, transgenderism and procured death.

The skirmishes are unrelenting, being identified with the names of those whose religious freedom has been threatened, such as Hobby Lobby, Memories Pizza, Arlene’s Flowers, Sweet Cakes by Melissa and Hitching Post Wedding Chapel, among many others.

In efforts to gain relief from the HHS contraceptive mandate, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty reports that 56 litigations have been filed on behalf of nonprofit organizations and 49 cases on behalf of for-profit groups that are fighting to not violate their religious beliefs. Combined, they represent 333 plaintiffs as diverse as universities, Catholic dioceses, religious charities, ministerial associations, family businesses and Bible publishers.

Secularism should not be mistaken for secularity.

St. John Paul II explained the distinction. Secularity separates the political realm from the religious, but does not suppress the latter. It implies the state is nonclerical, neither establishing nor promoting a given religion, nor prohibiting the free exercise thereof. It is concerned solely with the temporal concerns of its people, leaving the religious sphere, including the spiritual, cultural and charitable activities of the communities of believers, to operate as it sees fit.

Secularity allows a symbiotic relationship to develop, with religion fostering the morality and public virtue necessary in a democratic, pluralistic society, while the state creates a legal environment allowing religion to flourish and carry out its mission to serve and evangelize.

Secularism, in contrast, is an ideology that promotes animosity toward organized religion and disallows any public expression of faith or religious considerations. It relegates faith to the private sphere and leads, over time, to restrictions on religious liberty, promoting contempt for or indifference toward religion. A society based on secularism is intolerant of religion and attempts to impose its own values on the consciences of the people and exerts pressures to have religiously based organizations operate according to totally secular standards, even when those norms violate the tenets of the religion.

Secularism is essentially a religion that is not only without God, but hostile to God. As it becomes dominant in society, it expresses its true nature, militaristic atheism.

Today, America is moving from the principles of secularity, upon which it was founded, to those of secularism. It is not a frontal assault on all religious expression, but is occurring incrementally, in innumerable ways, through the government, media, education and corporations that promote misguided policies of tolerance, diversity and political correctness. These influences operate steadily to undermine traditional family values and militate against the transmission of Christian beliefs and traditions from generation to generation.

The primary moral force opposing militant secularism in America is organized religion, especially Christianity. Like Nazism, fascism and communism — all of which have tried and failed — secularism must destroy religion, or at least co-opt it. There can be no concessions between Christianity and militant secularism. As opposition is often difficult and disruptive, there are movements, even within the churches, to accommodate present social trends.

Accommodation, however, does not work with militant forces; for those who in good faith compromise on one issue tend to compromise on others, while those who seek domination use it as an opportunity to advance their cause.

There can be no middle ground on matters of abortion, euthanasia, the meaning of marriage or religious freedom. The battle will be long, and there will be setbacks. But opposition must be mounted on every front.

Christianity began in persecution and has faced oppression countless times over the ages. The abuse Christians in America will undergo will be uncomfortable and occasionally painful, but not life-forgoing. There may be boycotts, but not crucifixions; litigation, but not lions in the arena; social isolation, but not beheadings.

We can take counsel from Our Lord, who, when Moses died, appointed Joshua as leader of the Israelites, saying: “Do not fear nor be dismayed, for the Lord, your God, is with you wherever you go.” In engaging today’s culture: Pray, act, and trust in the Lord.

Lawrence Grayson is a visiting scholar in the School of Philosophy at The Catholic University of America.