Christianity is in decline.
Homosexuality, religious persecution, Ebola, ISIS are on the rise.
When man turn his back on God, God find ways to get man’s attention.
Secularism has gripped western society and brought with it an insidious child ... relativism. In his homily to the 2005 conclave that would soon choose him as the successor of Pope John Paul II, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger warned those attending, “We are moving toward a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognize anything as for certain and which has as its highest goal one’s own ego and one’s own desires.”
“In recent years I find myself noting,” Cardinal Ratzinger said in his Without Roots, “how the more relativism becomes the generally accepted way of thinking, the more it tends toward intolerance. Political correctness … seeks to establish the domain of a single way of thinking and speaking. Its relativism creates the illusion that it has reached greater heights than the loftiest philosophical achievements of the past. It presents itself as the only way to think and speak — if, that is, one wishes to stay in fashion. … I think it is vital that we oppose this imposition of a new pseudo-enlightenment, which threatens freedom of thought as well as freedom of religion.”
That last point is key. While appearing to be the very essence of neutrality and equity — “all views are equal and equally valid” — it actually undermines both the freedom of thought and the freedom of religion. As to the latter, it does so (ironically) as a new religion itself, “a new ‘denomination’ that places restrictions on religious convictions and seeks to subordinate all religions to the super-dogma of relativism.”
The current situation with the Houston mayor demanding pastors to submit their sermons, is a good example. Consider, as well, that as government steps in to meet the "needs of the poor", beneficiaries soon substitute government for God since it provides immediate gratification. Hence the government effort to shut down the Little Sisters of the Poor via the HHS mandate.
Under secularism, there are no moral absolutes. Relativism prevails. As such, issues like abortion or gay marriage are decided by the secularist government since what is wrong by faith standards, no longer applies.
Pope Benedict XVI is still alive. His warning in 2005, however, was prophetic. We are witnessing this in our time.
Yep. Nothing to do with southern evangelicals really. They just held out a little longer against the rising tide of paganism.