Why outrage culture is good news for the gospel

"Moral Relativism Is Dead

Why outrage culture is good news for the gospel."

This is the title of an article in Christianity Today.  

The question I have is this - is the current "outrage culture" really good news for the gospel?

The article talks about the perceived differences between conservatives and liberals, who has perceived moral superiority, and the decline in people who claim moral relativism.  Essentially, asking are conservatives really on the high ground, as they have generally believed.

The conclusion they come to is this -

It isn’t that conservatives and liberals have shrugged off transcendent ideas of right and wrong. Rather, they each appeal to a different transcendent moral foundation. We are not in an era of moral relativism but moral pluralism.

That’s not necessarily good news: It’s hard to build a unified society when we hold radically different moral visions. It’s even hard to have a conversation when we view each other as immoral

But it does offer evangelistic opportunities. Our Great Commission was never to convince liberals that there are objective moral truths. Our neighbors already have a deep sense that something has gone terribly wrong in our world, that “all have sinned.” In our conversations with unbelievers, we owe them the respect to try to understand their moral commitments and frustrations. They very well may be motivated to look for answers, especially as they find their best moral efforts frustrated. The fields are ripe for the harvest.

Our culture’s moral indignation offers opportunities to proclaim Jesus’ saving grace and direct people to the one who is truth, beauty, and goodness.

We are not in an era of moral relativism but moral pluralism.

What does that mean - moral pluralism?
Let's look at dictionary.com to find out -

1. a theory that there is more than one basic substance or principle.
    
2. a theory that reality consists of two or more independent elements.

It’s hard to build a unified society when we hold radically different moral visions.

A couple more questions - do we even want to have a unified society?
And if we do want that - why - to what end?

Some perspective on the questions

At first glace, this looks odd.

Is our goal, as Christians, a world in which "reality" consists of two or more independent elements?  You can tell, from other things I've written, I think - as a whole - that conservatives and liberals are both off the path as far as God and politics are concerned.  However, for whatever reason - conservatives often seem to come across as the more "religious" of the two.  Given the name of this site - God versus religion - that doesn't mean much to me.  I can't see how so many of the things either side says can be uttered in the same sound bite as the word God.

Jesus didn't believe in a unified society.  One need look no further than this famous question to see that -

Mt 22:15 Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. 16 They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are. 17 Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”
Mt 22:18 But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? 19 Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, 20 and he asked them, “Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?”
Mt 22:21 “Caesar’s,” they replied.
Then he said to them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

In case that's not enough, how about one more -

Mt 13:40 “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. 42 They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear."

everything that causes sin and all who do evil.