Why Relativism Is Simply Inadequate
We live in a culture where there are endless options in virtually every arena of life - people expect there to be a similar array of options in the spiritual arena as well. Relativism maintains that each person decides for themselves what is true; truth is subjective and relative to the individual. According to this view one person can say, “There is a God”, and her best friend could say, “There is no God”, and both statements will be true, so long as they accurately express the sincere beliefs of the two individuals stating them. But is this acceptable?
Though relativism can work when it comes to matters of preference (e.g. “Liverpool FC is the best team in Europe” as opposed to “Barcelona FC is the best team in Europe”), I think that to say all truth is relative is totally inadequate and just doesn’t hold up as an adequate framework for interpreting life – and religion.
Just think about it: we live our lives relying on the belief that objective truth exists. If a crime takes place, for example, the police will attempt to gather evidence and then reconstruct how events really took place as best as possible (i.e. they won’t simply allow the alleged perpetrator to make up the truth for himself).
It is not the case that all truth is relative. At school I once jokingly took the phone of a relativist friend who was claiming each person decides the truth for himself. When he protested I said, “It’s true for me that this is now my phone”. Of course, he soon offered some objective reasons as to why I was wrong – and also proffered those same reasons to the teacher too.
Subjective truth may work in certain areas of life where there can be different opinions, tastes or preferences but it cannot be extended to statements of fact, including the question of God’s existence and nature. Just as 2+2 is either 4 or not, either God exists or He doesn’t.
Truth has an objective existence and a universal application; it is not merely a matter of preference or interpretation. Truth is about what corresponds to reality and as such it is independent of our opinions; in fact, our beliefs - regardless of how deeply held they are - have no effect on reality. Even if the majority accept it, a lie is always a lie; even if only the minority accept it, a truth is always a truth. Truth is not a matter of subjective feeling, majority vote or cultural trends. The statement "the world is flat" was wrong even when the vast majority thought it to be flat.
A true statement is one that corresponds to an actual state of affairs. This is why relativism is simply inadequate as a framework for interpreting religion. This is also why, when coupled with the positive evidence in its favour, Christianity cannot merely be considered just another option on the menu. Jesus said in John 14:6 that He is “the way, the truth and the life” - either He was right or He was wrong. I believe we need to recover the message in our pulpits and in our gospel proclamation that this is a world filled with both true and false notions, that we have a rational obligation to separate the two and a moral obligation to follow truth.
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Dominic De Souza, 4th June 2020