Pluralism is dead. Our country was founded to be a pluralistic society. Sadly, we are now living in a relativistic society that has replaced the belief that truth is objective and can be known, with the belief that it is subjective and everyone is correct even when they hold contradictory beliefs.

I also think most Americans, thanks to the public and private school systems, confuse a pluralistic society and a relativistic society.

Pluralism= Objective truth exists and this fact is accepted nearly universally. The right to live by truth as you understand it is respected; disagreements are discussed with civility, and nobody is surprised or offended when creeds are held and followed. After all, people seek to  live by what they understand to be true, and our first amendment to our constitution states the pluralistic societies belief that everyone should be free to follow the creed they believe to be true, and that others are free to speak out and say they do not agree. Civil debate is encouraged and the freedom to speak ones mind and live by one’s chosen creed is held to be a God-given right.

Relativism=Objective truth is replaced by subjective truth; everyone is to affirm anything anyone chooses to believe as true. Anyone refusing to agree that opposing beliefs are equally truth is anathema. Freedom of speaking is violated because one cannot say, “I beg to differ.” Freedom of religion is violated because no-one is free to hold to a creed unless they also affirm its opposite. Persons found to believe their creed to objectively true and caught living by it are to be punished severely and re-educated.

That is my take on it, however inept my expression.  Relativism has replaced Pluralism and people are shocked to find that the tolerance and civility expected in a pluralistic society has been replaced by the intolerance of a relativistic society. Our culture, once pluralistic, is walking dead.

I want my kids to see the national parks so they understand that God the creator really does love us, and the shrines so they can understand that there have been many persons who loved God so much that he used them amazingly, and the wonderful parishes so they can see how people who really believe worship. I want them to cherish their heritage before it is gone forever, erased by newspeak.

Dear Lord, help me to teach my children to take seriously the teachings of St. Josemaria Escriva and St. John Paul the Great, and live boldly their Faith, as they pursue their careers and raise their own families, even in the face of persecution. +Amen.