To even the most casual observer, the world and life view of our nation has changed dramatically over the past years. Today I read about the Wellington judge who gave some brothel owners a small rap on the knuckles for their crime. He reasoned that the law ought to take into account the changing attitudes of society to the sex industry. Once you take God out of the picture, there is no standard for social cohesion, no room for transcendent laws before which all men are called to bow.
Man is the centre of the universe.
Along with this religious relativism we also face the challenge of religious pluralism. A few months ago we had a Hindu festival three houses from where we live. Islam is the fastest growing religion in our area. People from many different cultures and religious world views have come into our own backyard, and now the problems which we could safely leave with the missiologists working in those cultures come home to roost in our streets and neighbourhoods. The question is nearly as old as the hills.