But it is relatively new to us in Britain. In the remembered past, the Christian Faith was the accepted religion of most people, even by those who only adhered to it by their finger tips. Now the situation is very different, both with the emergence of secular viewpoints which don't feature God at all, and the immigration of quite large numbers of adherents of other faiths, establishing their own distinctive faith communities. In our times, pluralism is seen as a good and proper thing. Our culture sees the various beliefs as valid for their adherents, and calling for general respect by others, and no one group trying to stifle the others.
Tolerance is the watch word.
This stands in contrast to a predominant role of one religion or philosophy, which throughout human history has all too often led to intolerance of minority or alternative views. And sadly, the Christian Church has sometimes behaved very badly when it has been in a powerful position, even if it has been far from alone in doing so. If the tolerance of pluralism seems a welcome improvement, it also has its problems, however. We seem to find holding on to pluralism difficult. This makes out that there is no such thing as truth at all.