Farris: Relativism is Dead

Remember back just a few years ago, when academia and other societal elites told us that there were no moral absolutes. Every person could decide for themselves what is right and what is wrong. 

There were even entire school courses built around this premise. One popular program was called Values Clarification. 

Academia challenged the idea that education should center on the pursuit of truth since truth was relative and individualistic. 

I heard Francis Schaefer speak on one occasion at Notre Dame Law School. He said that pluralism was always a temporary state marking a transition from one orthodoxy to another. 

The advocates of relativism wrapped themselves in the mantle of pluralism—back in the day. 

The pretense is over. The new orthodoxy has arrived and it intends to purge society of all contrary views. 

Facebook and its fact checkers are just the tip of the Progressive Orthodoxy power structure on the hunt for heretics who deviate from their official views. 

The cancel culture that seeks to deplatform, destroy, and silence anyone who disagrees with the new orthodoxy manifests itself in a wide array of venues from the boardrooms of mega-corporations to the riots in Seattle. 

The new orthodoxy has a checklist of its tenets that cover sexuality, environment, economics, and more. But one thing it does not believe is freedom—especially freedom of speech and freedom of religion. 

So what is the Christian response?

Two things. 

First, during the “truth is relative/pluralism” era, many Christians were cowered into silence under the theory that we should not force our views on others. 

That was an error then and it is a far more obvious error today. 

Every citizen should vote based on their values. Christians should vote based on their values. For goodness sake, progressives are voting their values and are willing to hunt down and punish all dissenters. 

Vote your values. It’s your right. It’s your duty. 

Second, Christian voters need to remember that freedom is a Christian value and it means that we stand for freedom for all faiths and all viewpoints. 

Even if we think Progressives are wrong about everything, it is our duty to stand up for their freedom of speech and faith. 

Part of the reason that many Christians were confused in the pluralism era arises from the failure to understand the difference between pluralism and freedom. 

Pluralism taught that all viewpoints were equally valid.

Freedom taught that all viewpoints have equal rights to be freely expressed.

Only Christianity sustains a theoretical basis for this kind of an approach to freedom. We believe that the mind, heart, and soul are the province of God and the individual. Government has no role. 

Vote your values. Proudly. Decisively. And remember that freedom for all is a core value of our faith and our nation.