America's Religious Icon: Relativism

In C.S. Lewis' book The Last Battle, an ape named Shift tried to convince the free animals of Narnia to embrace Calormene culture and serve their king, the Tisroc. Pretending to be Aslan's prophet, the Ape told the animals that Aslan had sold them into the service of the Tisroc in order to bring all the "benefits" of Calormene culture to the backward land of Narnia.

"Aslan has it all settled with the King of Calormen...All you Horses and Bulls and Donkeys are to be sent down into Calormen to work for your living—pulling and carrying the way horses and such-like do in other countries... "No, no, no," howled the Beasts. "It can't be true. Aslan would never sell us into slavery to the King of Calormen." "None of that! Hold your noise!" said the Ape with a snarl. "Who said anything about slavery? You won't be slaves. You'll be paid—very good wages too. That is to say, your pay will be paid into Aslan's treasury and he will use it all for everybody's good...We'll be able, with the money you earn, to make Narnia a country worth living in. There'll be oranges and bananas pouring in—and roads and big cities and schools and offices...and prisons—Oh, everything."

A humble lamb questioned the progressive spirit of the ape. "Please," said the Lamb, "I can't understand. What have we to do with the Calormenes? We belong to Aslan. They belong to Tash...They say Tash has four arms and the head of a vulture. They kill men on his altar...how could Aslan be friends with him?"

The Ape would not stand for such bigoted, intolerant, and ethnocentric ideas. "Baby!" he hissed. "Silly little bleater! Go home to your mother and drink milk. What do you understand of such things? But you others, listen. Tash is only another name for Aslan. All that old idea of us being right and the Calormenes wrong is silly. We know better now. The Calormenes use different words but we all mean the same thing. Tash and Aslan are only two different names for you know Who. That's why there can never be any quarrel between them. Get that into your heads, you stupid brutes. Tash is Aslan: Aslan is Tash."

Sadly, this progressive agenda and the religion of the Ape have come to our own country. Former president, George W. Bush, was an advocate of the Ape’s religion. Here is a verbatim transcript of an interview he did with ABC's Charles Gibson: Gibson: "Do we all worship the same God, Christian and Muslim?" Bush: "I think we do. We have different routes of getting to the Almighty." Gibson: "Do Christians and non-Christians and Muslims go to heaven in your mind?" Bush: "Yes they do. We have different routes of getting there."

In an interview with Al Arabiya television, Mr. Bush said, "I believe in an almighty God, and I believe that all the world, whether they be Muslim, Christian, or any other religion, prays to the same God."

For the Ape, Tash is Aslan; for George W. Bush, Jesus is Allah; and for the intelligentsia of America the idea of us being right and the Muslims wrong is silly. Philosophers call this kind of thinking religious pluralism, and underlying this philosophy is the American icon of relativism—the idea that all truth is relative: no idea, no religion, and no morality has universal authority.

The claim that there is no objective, external authority or truth to bind all men is incredibly attractive to those who want to be autonomous—a law unto themselves. God’s universal standards of truth, morality, and reality frustrate man's will, so he looks for a way to escape his Master. Relativism appears to provide a promising disguise for his escape from Divine authority.

Religious relativism provides a cloak for those who want to escape the universal authority of God, yet hide their atheism. The relativist’s denial of a universally binding authority is really a denial of a God who has spoken. For if a God who has spoken exists, His truth, His morality, and His reality would bind all men.

Ginger the cat understood the ramifications of religious relativism. “Noble Tarkaan,” said the Cat in that silky smooth voice of his, “I just wanted to know exactly what we both meant today about Aslan meaning no more than Tash.” “Doubtless. Most sagacious of cats,” says the other, “you have perceived my meaning.” “You mean,” says Ginger, “that there’s no such person as either.” “All who are enlightened know that,” said the Tarkaan.

Religious relativism wears the cloak of religion but underneath is a naked atheistic ape.

Relativism also provides a humble tunic to disguise the fleeing rebel. The “humble relativist” says, "How can you Christians say your religion is the only way to God? How arrogant to think your morals bind all humankind? Can’t you be like us and affirm all religions?" They sound so humble and we look so arrogant, but the reality is far different. What they portray as tolerant humility is an arrogant denial of God’s authority. They proudly deny the exclusive claims of Christ and set up in His place an idol of religious tolerance. This alleged humility is really an arrogant claim to a godlike authority that determines the way of salvation. Remove the humble tunic and their arrogant religious autonomy is revealed. "We are gods" is tattooed on the hairy chest beneath.

Furthermore, relativism provides a mask to disguise the fleeing rebel, particularly covering his hypocrisy. The relativist is the chief of hypocrites. Wherever you turn, you find relativists preaching tolerance and imposing their moral relativism upon those who would dare advocate universally binding standards. With a smile, they advocate an inclusive religion that excludes Christians who claim Jesus is the only way of salvation. They condemn believers for condemning homosexuality, and refuse to tolerate any who are intolerant of perversity. When the mask of relativism is removed, we find an ape with two faces, the king of hypocrites.

Having removed the disguise of relativism, revealing the arrogant, two-faced ape beneath, let us cut open this beast and look at the heart that pumps out this hypocrisy. At the heart of relativistic philosophy is a self-contradictory proposition. The claim that ‘all truth is relative’ is an absolute truth claim. So we ask the relativist: “Is the truth that ‘all truth is relative,’ universally true?” If 'all truth is relative' is universally true, then the claim that ‘all truth is relative’ is false. At the heart of the relativist’s philosophy is a self-refuting claim. From this self-contradictory heart flows the hypocritical life of the relativist.

Throw off your disguise, you hairy two-faced Apes; confess the evil of your arrogant hearts, and call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, for there is no salvation in any other. “There is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” This is the humble truth.

#Narnia #relativism #pluralism