Everyone assures us that we enjoy the blessings of progress: Capitalism has produced great material wealth, modern technoscience has provided countless benefits. But the development that is pressed upon us with the greatest urgency is moral and spiritual. Today, we are told, the common man forges his own destiny. Toleration of dissent and experimentation has brought us a richer, more honest, more truthful way of living.
The story of liberation is told in religious as well as in political contexts. Modern churches present themselves as communities of believers rather than hierarchies. Everyone has a voice now. We honor personal experiences and individual circumstances. The Church’s approach is pastoral, not dogmatic. The message, though rarely explicit, is that true Christianity is being practiced today for the first time.
