The modern, pluralistic world began in 1919 when photographs of a solar eclipse confirmed Albert Einstein's theory of relativity. Although Einstein argued only for the relativity of space and time, others argued for the relativity of goodness and truth. Old certainties of God, nation, and family were poured by the champions of relativity into a caldron from which arose the steam of numerous moralities, numerous theologies, numerous isms. The isms competed for the loyalty of Americans, while the variety of theologies confused their minds and the variety of moralities confounded their lives. Leaders of fads announced that depending upon circumstances, celibacy and promiscuity, heterosexuality and homosexuality, faithfulness and adultery were equally good. All of which moved Methodist Bishop Francis J. McConnell to highlight the spiritual climate of the twentieth century by saying, "The preaching of the divine fatherhood has become the preaching of the divine grandfatherhood--with all the suggestiveness of a grandfather's doddering inability to mark sharp distinctions between right and wrong."
In addition to the pluralism of rights and wrongs, the past 75 years have witnessed the quest by diverse racial and ethnic groups for control over their own destinies and a voice in society commensurate with their numbers. Claiming the American assertion that all persons are created equal, minorities have called for, worked for, and suffered for truly inclusive secular and religious institutions.
Diversity, then, is one of the dominant features of the tide of pluralism. Some elements of this diversity--racial and ethnic pluralism and theological variety--have been accepted by the churches that now compose The United Methodist Church. But if they had only worked for the acceptance of diversity, The United Methodist Church would not have come into existence in 1968. What made the new denomination possible was the quest for unity along with the acceptance of diversity.
This linking of unity and diversity is the trademark of the tide of pluralism. As the Methodist, Evangelical, and United Brethren churches rode this tide, they reached their highwater mark. In 1930 their share of the United States population was 6.48 percent. Since then, however, it has been declining and at the time of the Bicentennial of American Methodism stands at approximately 4.2 percent. Behind these statistics are a host of historical events, beginning with the war to end all war, the First World War.