Topic : Relativism

Another survey conducted by the Lutheran Brotherhood asked, “Are there absolute standards for morals and ethics or does everything depend on the situation?” Seventy-nine percent of the respondents in the 18-34 age group said that standards did not exist and that the situation should always dictate behavior. Three percent said they were not sure.

If this poll is correct, 82 percent of all students believe that right and wrong are relative terms and that morality is a ridiculous concept. This is the den of lions into which I walk every day. It is called the modern American classroom.

Imprimis, August, 1998, pp. 4-5

• Americans today are in tragic shape when it comes to ultimate truth. - George Barna in his book Absolute Confusion.
• Most Americans reject the notion of absolute truth.
• Most people believe that it does not matter what god you pray to because every deity is ultimately the same deity, shrouded in different names and attributes by humankind.
• Nearly two out of three adults contend that the choice of one religious faith over another is irrelevant because all faiths teach the same basic lessons about life.

Source unknown

A few years ago on the Dick Cavett Show, the Archbishop of Canterbury was speaking with actress Jane Fonda. The Archbishop said, “Jesus is the Son of God, you know.” Fonda replied, “Maybe he is for you, but he’s not for me.” To which the Archbishop profoundly answered, “Well either he is or he isn’t.”

Fonda’s response reflects the silly thinking of our postmodern world, that truth is simply a matter of subjective opinion. But the ultimate good news is this: “In these last days, he [God] has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe….and he provided purification for [our] sins” (Hebrews 1:2-3).

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The story is told of a man who came to visit his old friend, a music teacher. As the man came in, he said, “What’s the good news today?” The old teacher was silent as he stood up and walked across the room. He picked up a small hammer and struck a tuning fork. As the note sounded throughout the room, he said, “That is ‘A.’ It is ‘A’ today; it was ‘A’ 5,000 years ago, and it will be ‘A’ 10,000 years from now. The soprano upstairs sings off-key, the tenor across the hall flats on his high notes, and the piano downstairs is out of tune.” He struck the note again and said, “That is ‘A,’ my friend, and that’s the good news for today!”

The only hope for a world out of tune is to know that Jesus is the truth: “Yesterday, today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). That’s the good news of truth!

Dr. Clyde McDowell, Focal Point, Spring, 1997, p. 3

“There is no such thing as absolute truth.”

In 1991 in a George Barna poll 66% of Americans agreed: 3/4’s of 18-25 year olds, 59% of 55+ year olds.

In a 1989 L.A. Times poll, 61% said that abortion is wrong, and 74% said abortion should be kept legal.

George Barna

Lon Grammer claimed some impressive credentials when he transferred to Yale from Cuesta Community College in San Luis Obispo, Calif., two years ago, including a 3.9 grade point average. He did well at Yale, too, playing rugby while earning a B average. But a bare month before he was to graduate with a degree in political science, Yale expelled the 25-year-old and charged him with taking $61,475 under false pretenses. School officials say he lied about his GPA and forged recommendations from nonexistent teachers. He will be arraigned on larceny charges next week.

In a TV interview, he pleaded that his actions were no worse than what happens every day when people lie on resumes.

U.S. News & World Report, April 24, 1995, p. 20

An airline pilot flying over the southeastern U.S. called the local tower and said, “We are passing over at 35,000—give us a time check.” The tower said, “What airline are you?” “What difference does it make? I just want the time.” replied the pilot. The tower responded, “Oh, it makes a lot of difference. If you are TransWorld Airline or Pan Am, it is 1600. If you are United or Delta, it is 4 o’clock. If you are Southern Airways, the little hand is on the 4 and the big hand is on the 12. If you are Skyway Airlines—it’s Thursday.”

Peter Dieson, The Priority of Knowing God, p. 91

There was a time when most Americans respected the Bible, and you could quote it with authority. In 1963, according to Gallup, 65% believed the Bible literally; today the number is only 32%. There was a time when most Americans were familiar with biblical doctrine. You could say, “Believe in Jesus,” and at least they knew what you meant. But today most would be mystified. Newsweek tells of a child who saw a crucifix and asked, “Mommy, what’s that man doing?” There was a time when most Americans accepted absolute standards. They might disagree on what those absolutes were, but they knew that some things are really right or wrong. Today 70% reject moral absolutes.

Chuck Colson, Christianity Today, November 9, 1992, p. 112

A recent Barna Research Group survey on what Americans believe confirms what this brief scenario illustrates: we are in danger of becoming a nation of relativists. The Barna survey asked, “Is there absolute truth?” Amazingly, 66 percent of American adults responded that they believe that “there is no such thing as absolute truth; different people can define truth in conflicting ways and still be correct.” The figure rises to 72 percent when it comes to those between the ages of 18 and 25.

Christianity Today, October 26, 1992, p. 30

In his 1983 acceptance speech for the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion, [Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn] recalled the words he heard as a child, when his elders sought to explain the ruinous upheavals in Russia: “Men have forgotten God; that’s why all this has happened.” He added, “If I were called upon to identify briefly the principal trait of the entire twentieth century, here too I would be unable to find anything more precise and pithy than to repeat once again: ‘men have forgotten God.’”

John Wilson, reviewing “Solzhenitsyn and the Modern World,” in Christianity Today, Feb. 7, 1994, p. 57

Modern thinkers have rejected the very idea of objective morality: Darwin, who reduced morals to an extension of animal instincts; Freud, who regarded repression of impulses as the source of neurosis; Marx, who disdained morality as an expression of self-interest.

Charles Colson, Christianity Today, March 7, 1994, p. 80

A March (1994) poll for U.S. News and World Report’s April 11 issue found that 93% of Americans say they believe in God or a universal spirit. Of those polled, 65% say religion is losing its influence on American life, although 62% say religion is increasing its influence in their personal lives. Other findings:

• The Bible is the actual word of God to be taken literally, word for word: 34%
• The Bible is the inspired word of God, but not everything in it can be taken literally: 46%
• The Bible is an ancient book of legends, history and moral precepts, recorded by man: 16%
• God is a heavenly father who can be reached by prayers: 76%
• God is an idea, not a being: 11%
• God is an impersonal creator: 8%

Nearly 60% of Americans say they hold their current religious beliefs because of their parents’ example. More than 8 of every 10 Americans today believe that it’s possible to be a good Christian or Jew even without attending a church or synagogue.

U.S. News & World Report, April 4, 1994, pp. 48-59

In his book Dying for Change, Leith Anderson cites a 1988 survey of 18,000 respondents published in McCall’s magazine which found that 55% claimed to be “born again” and 41% said they attended church every week: “Yet most said they relied primarily on their own consciences rather than the traditions of their religions to make moral decisions. Less than 3% said they would go to a clergyman for guidance. A typical comment came from a Cincinnati woman who clearly stated that out-of-wedlock pregnancies and divorce are sin, but added that ‘the Bible is definitely against divorce, for instance, but sometimes you don’t have a choice. God will forgive you…and He will give you the strength to go on with your life and be happy.’”

Source unknown

A pastor I know, Stephey Belynskyj, starts each confirmation class with a jar full of beans. He asks his students to guess how many beans are in the jar, and on a big pad of paper writes down their estimates. Then, next to those estimates, he helps them make another list: their favorite songs. When the lists are complete, he reveals the actual number of beans in the jar. The whole class looks over their guesses, to see which estimate was closest to being right. Belynskyj then turns to the list of favorite songs. “And which one of these is closest to being right?” he asks. The students protest that there is no “right answer”; a person’s favorite song is purely a matter of taste. Belynskyj, who holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from Notre Dame asks, “When you decide what to believe in terms of your faith, is that more like guessing the number of beans, or more like choosing your favorite song?” Always, Belynskyj says, from old as well as young, he gets the same answer: Choosing one’s faith is more like choosing a favorite song. When Belynskyj told me this, it took my breath away. “After they say that, do you confirm them?” I asked him. “Well,” smiled Belynskyj, “First I try to argue them out of it.”

Tim Stafford, Christianity Today, September 14, 1992, p. 36.

At a recent gathering of seminary professors, one teacher reported that at his school the most damaging charge one student can lodge against another is that the person is being “judgmental.” He found this pattern very upsetting. “You can’t get a good argument going in class anymore,” he said. “As soon as somebody takes a stand on any important issue, someone else says that the person is being judgmental. And that’s it. End of discussion. Everyone is intimidated!”

Many of the other professors nodded knowingly. There seemed to be a consensus that the fear of being judgmental has taken on epidemic proportions.

Is the call for civility just another way of spreading this epidemic? If so, then I’m against civility. But I really don’t think that this is what being civil is all about.

Christian civility does not commit us to a relativistic perspective. Being civil doesn’t mean that we cannot criticize what goes on around us. Civility doesn’t require us to approve of what other people believe and do. It is one thing to insist that other people have the right to express their basic convictions; it is another thing to say that they are right in doing so. Civility requires us to live by the first of these principles. But it does not commit us to the second formula. To say that all beliefs and values deserve to be treated as if they were on a par is to endorse relativism—a perspective that is incompatible with Christian faith and practice.

Christian civility does not mean refusing to make judgments about what is good and true. For one thing, it really isn’t possible to be completely nonjudgmental. Even telling someone else that she is being judgmental is a rather judgmental thing to do!

Uncommon Decency, Richard J. Mouw, pp. 20-21

Allan Bloom writes: “Openness—and the relativism that makes it the only plausible stance in the face of various claims to truth and various ways of life and kinds of human beings—is the great insight of our times. The true believer is the real danger. The study of history and of culture teaches that all the world was mad in the past; men always thought they were right, and that led to wars, persecutions, slavery, xenophobia, racism and chauvinism. The point is not to correct the mistakes and really be right; rather it is not to think you are right at all.”

Against the Night, Charles Colson, p. 84

As Dorothy Sayers observed, “In the world it is called Tolerance, but in hell it is called Despair. The sin that believes in nothing, cares for nothing, seeks to know nothing, interferes with nothing, enjoys nothing, hates nothing, finds purpose in nothing, lives for nothing, and remains alive because there is nothing for which it will die.”

Against the Night, Charles Colson, p. 93

How rich is rich? According to a survey of people who ought to know, the answer is $1 million to $5 million in assets. Investment managers Neuberger & Bergman sponsored the survey of people who stand to give or receive inheritances (median household assets: $500,000). Paradoxically, 55% of those whose assets ranged from $1 million to $5 million don’t consider themselves wealthy.

USA Today, 11-11-91, D1

GLENDALE, CA (EP) - American men are among the world’s “most pagan,” according to pollster George Barna. A study reported in The Barna Report, his newsletter, found that the church has little or no influence on many American men.

About one in three American men claims to be a born-again Christian, but only 28 percent attend church on any given weekend. Other forms of religious activity—including Bible reading, Sunday school attendance, and giving time or money to a church—have all declined among American since 1991.

Barna also found that even men who claim to be Christians often hold unorthodox beliefs that are at odds with biblical Christianity. For instance, 28 percent deny that Jesus was physically raised from the dead, while 27 percent say He committed sins. Surprisingly, 55 percent of self-identified Christian men agreed that all people “experience the same outcome after death, regardless of their way into heaven.”

Barna found that less than half of Christian men believe that there are absolute moral truths (47 percent) or that the Bible and religion should be primary influences on moral thinking (40 percent).

To reverse this trend, Barna says churches must provide a male-friendly environment, including opportunities to interact with other men, practical Bible teaching, and real-world solutions to personal problems.

Northwest Christian Journal - MAY 1997

In the survey taken in early 1991, interviewees were asked, 'do you agree strongly, agree somewhat, disagree somewhat, or disagree strongly with the following statement: There is no such thing as absolute truth; different people can define truth in conflicting ways and still be correct.? Only 28% of the respondents expressed strong belief in "absolute truth,? and more surprisingly, only 23 percent of born-again or evangelical Christians accepted this idea! What a telling revelation! If more than 75 percent of the followers of Christ say nothing can be known for certain, does this indicate, as it seems, that they are not convinced that Jesus existed, that He is who He claimed to be, that His Word in authentic, that God created the heavens and earth, or that eternal life awaits the believer? That's what the findings appear to mean. If there is no absolute truth, then by definition nothing can be said to be absolutely true. To the majority, apparently, it's all relative. Nothing is certain. Might be. Might not be. Who knows for sure? Take your guess and hope for the best!

James Dobson, December 1991 letter, quoting George Barna, What Americans Believe

Allan Bloom writes:

"Openness-and the relativism that makes it the only plausible stance in the face of various claims to truth and various ways of life and kinds of human beings-is the great insight of our times. The true believer is the real danger. The study of history and of culture teaches that all the world was mad in the past; men always thought they were right, and that led to wars, persecutions, slavery, xenophobia, racism and chauvinism. The point is not to correct the mistakes and really be right; rather it is not to think you are right at all.?

Against the Night, Charles Colson, Page 84

• Relativism: what is right/wrong, true/false is determined by some group.
• Subjectivism: what is right/wrong, true/false is determined by each individual.

Source unknown

During a recent meeting of college educators at Harvard University, Cornell president Frank Rhodes rose to address the issue of reforms, suggesting that it was time for universities to pay 'real and sustained attention to student's intellectual and moral well-being.? Immediately there were gasps, even catcalls. One indignant student stood to demand of Rhodes, "Who is going to do the instructing? Whose morality are we going to follow"? The audience applauded thunderously, believing that the young man had settled the issue by posing an unanswerable question. Rhodes sat down, unable or unwilling to respond...Basic human nature dictates that when an individual is left to make moral decisions without reference to some standard above self, he or she invariably makes those choices on the basis of self-interest. Relativism results in radical individualism. As sociologist Robert Bellah concluded after an exhaustive survey, Americans have two overriding goals in life: personal success and vivid personal feelings.

Charles Colson, Jubilee, April, 1988