A problem of traditional religion is its inability to be sufficiently analytical in separating out different kinds of truth. It often insists for example that the Gospels are factual when a symbolic relationship is more appropriate. It bases its moral premise on absolutist principles which are far from universal.

By contrast, the modern intellect can divide up the truths and appreciate their differences. It can appreciate the distinctions between the factual and the moral, or that the emotional and the spiritual are roughly similar, as are the moral and the aesthetic truths. It can see that all truths are relative to perspective, a perspective skewed by limitations. There may still be absolutes but no one is privy to what they are.

These truth distinctions need to be reflected in language thus avoiding the 'category mistakes' which have caused so many stupid arguments in the past, arguments down to simple errors in the use of words. The richness of metaphor and symbolism may always have a place but should stop short of factual status. Discernment is the thing.