As a good Sydney Inner Westie, for the last few decades my breakfast has involved consuming, among other things, the Sydney Morning Herald. I liked its style, and particularly the insight of writers like Ross Gittins.
However, of late, I found it increasingly one sided socially, politically and ideologically. And so I did what a lot of my friends have done - I started reading The Australian.
But guess what - it’s just as predictably one sided! I have both of them open in the browser of my search engine, and it’s illuminating to read their different takes on the same story. I could almost write them myself, so one-eyed do they tend to be!
Our culture is crashing, it seems to me. The consensus that prevailed for centuries in the West, and has been under sustained attack for the last five decades, has finally moved into cardiac arrest. The thrashing around that we see - of which the miserably un-principled ‘debate’ about marriage is just the most obvious example - are its death throes. Post-modernism has done its primary, destructive work.
My assessment is that this represents an unparalleled moment of opportunity for the gospel. If we can speak into the culture in a way that answers its questions and responds (and at times redefines) its yearnings, then it may be that we will see a great movement of God amongst us.
One thing is pretty clear though. Anyone who sounds repeatedly like the Sydney Morning Herald - or The Australian - is not really bringing anything new, or distinctively Christian, to the table. We need to do better than that!