The subtle power of religious pluralism

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The 2001 Census for England and Wales revealed that 72 percent of the population identified themselves as Christian, but ten years later, this figure had dropped to 59 percent, while during the same time the proportion of those claiming no religion jumped from 15 percent to 25 percent. We can assume that “Christian” can be interpreted very loosely, but so can “no religion.” Both hide the fact that we live in an age permeated by religious pluralism. Even if we set atheists aside, huge swaths of people reject “God talk” as prejudiced radicalism and reduce quotations from the Bible as carrying no more authority than those from other religious books. Religious pluralism has inevitably spawned rampant relativism, which even claims that truth itself has been ripped from its roots. Yet archatheist Richard Dawkins’ statement that “all truth is relative” is a claim to absolute truth, so on its own terms it is false.

This points to the question of ultimate authority as the most significant apologetics issue of our day. The Christian apologist needs to face this head on. B.B. Warfield claimed, “If God be a person, it follows by stringent necessity that he can be known only as far as he reveals or expresses himself.” The Christian apologist must convey with conviction and clarity that He has done so.





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