I'M OK, YOU'RE OK

Phillip Jensen, new Dean of Sydney's Anglican Cathedral, St. Andrews, has caused quite a stir Down Under. In his inaugural sermon Jensen actually stated (gasp!) that there is such a thing as truth. Not only that, but some people believe what is true and contradictory views are (I hope you're sitting down) not true! (oh, the humanity):

Phillip Jensen argues while there are many wonderful Hindus, Muslims, Jews and atheists in Sydney, they cannot all be right. Some or all of them are wrong, and if wrong, he says, "they are the monstrous lies and deceits of Satan, devised to destroy the life of the believers."

So just who, according to Phillip Jensen, is right and who is wrong?

PHILLIP JENSEN: The ones that are right are the ones who teach the truth, and the ones who are wrong are the ones who deny the truth. Jesus Christ either lived, or he didn’t live.

Now, this basic course in logic may not seem earth shattering to you, but Jensen's words have set off quite a fire storm among religious leaders in Australia. Truth, you see, is really what you want to make it. Rabbi Raymond Apple, 'a senior spokesman from Sydney's Jewish community', enlightens us:

The problem is that the word 'truth' can be understood on various levels and in various ways, and we believe that the truth is that human beings are entitled to be themselves with their own views, and no-one has any right in today's pluralistic democratic society to wield a big stick and to say, as they used to do in the bad old days of the wars of the religions, you have to accept what I say, or else your life will be in danger.

Ah, what is truth? Seems like someone else asked about that...