Page 50 - The Church of Ireland Apologetic for Mission?

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• There is less inclination to think of a power beyond ourselves
• The concept of ‘revealed truth’ is not accepted
• Mere restatement of ‘truth’
is increasingly regarded as fundamentalism or as being the adopting of an absolutist mentality
• A lack of absolutes within a market place of ideas
• Society becomes more pluralist
• Society becomes more secular
• Ethics become more intuitive
• Unjust structures of oppression and exploitation are being challenged
as never before with authority and institutions being questioned
Postmodernism makes it more challenging to suggest a faith that believes in a divinity outside of ourselves, or in any concept of revealed truth. It also adds to the global pressures on the concept of mission, as illustrated by:
• The advance of science and technology, along with secularisation, that offers to make faith redundant. The underlying theme is ‘Why turn
to religion if we can sort things ourselves?’.
• The West, for 1000 years the home
of Christianity, has lost its dominant position in the world. It is slowly
being de-christianised, with a rise in atheism, neo-paganism, secularism and unbelief. As far back as 1982 David Barrett estimated that 53000 people were leaving church every week in north America and Europe.
• For years we took Christianity as being the one true and only saving religion. We now live in a religiously pluralist world. Freedom of religion forces us to reevaluate our understanding of other faiths.
c. d.
e.
• The guilt sometimes felt by those nations that have a colonial past.
• The anxiety that arises from the fact we have a shrinking globe and finite resources, with the capability of destroying the earth.
• The profound uncertainty felt in parts of the Western Church about even the validity of Christian mission.
Society in Ireland has changed enormously over the past 20 years meaning that the Church bears witness in a profoundly different context.
The changing nature of Irish society and the place of the Church within it means that culture and society is less and less shaped by the Christian Church. One interviewee commented “Ireland is now
a vastly more secular community but also with a spiritual challenge, especially within the context of disappointment and anxiety at the failure of the promises of the Celtic Tiger”.
Recent years have seen the development of rapidly changing and increasingly multi-cultural and multi-faith societies in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. A Hard Gospel publication noted:
Historically, throughout Ireland “the others” have been seen in the context of Catholics and Protestants and religious and political differences. However, there have for many years been settled minority ethnic groups with different cultures and traditions whose needs and rights must not be overlooked. These groups include Travellers and Indian, Pakistani and Chinese immigrants. Furthermore,
in recent years in Ireland, north and south, there has been a significant change in demographic trends with many people coming from other countries of Europe and beyond
to find work or seek asylum. There
is a growing diversity of cultures, traditions and nationalities which has presented challenges far beyond the traditional divide between Catholics