At the apex

"I am astounded that in this day and age many churches still don't allow women to preach."

I heard it again on the radio today and it always feels like fingernails down a chalk board. Never mind the church policy issue for now; it's the "in this day and age" part that grates.

My favorite line in Disney's "Sleeping Beauty" comes where the prince announces --- to his father's protestation --- that he's going to marry a peasant girl:

Prince: "Now, father, you're living in the past. This is the fourteenth century. Nowadays…"

King: "Nowadays I'm still the king, and I command you to come to your senses."

All debates aside regarding the issue of "true love" versus "arranged" marriages, the script writer has amused and embarrassed us by showing the vacuousness of an appeal to modernity as the royal flush of argumentation. We find it very funny that the prince thinks he stands at the absolute apex of human enlightenment. This is because we believe we stand at the apex of human enlightenment, we of the 21st century, before whom all were barbarians.

Next time some expert on the radio says she rejects this or that position or tradition because it isn't "modern" or "progressive," I would like to hear her interviewer redirect the conversation to more substantial avenues --- such as whether the position has merit or is "true."