When his book Unknown Gods was published 22 years ago, University of Lethbridge sociologist and pollster Reginald Bibby painted a rather dreary picture of where Canada’s churches would be by about 2015. Congregations would be older, birth rates wouldn’t keep up with the number of folks who were dying off, and all the while many children weren’t being socialized into a faith. It was a linear decline, plain and simple. The writing was on the wall. “Even with the Toronto Maple Leafs, there is hope for a better next year,” he says in an interview. “Whereas with religion, it looked pretty much over.”

When 2015 finally came around, Bibby decided to revisit his book and check on his predictions. He discovered that for many religious groups, he was quite off-target. Catholics, for example, are building new churches in some parts of the country. Evangelicals increased their total numbers as Canada’s population grew. The same goes for Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and Sikhs. He had accurately forecasted a long, drawn-out decline for the United Church of Canada and the Anglican Church. But some religions were getting an infusion of new blood.

“What I screwed up on—it sounds so naive looking back—[is] I didn’t allow for the immigration variable,” Bibby says. “The thing that pumps new life into religion in Canada has been this mammoth entrance not only of Muslims, but also Catholics.” Not to mention the Protestants, Sikhs and Hindus.

The marriage of conservative religion and politics at Liberty University has always been transparent. When Religious Right icon Jerry Falwell founded the school in 1971, its statement of purpose called for commitment to a “Christian worldview” that includes Creationism, political conservatism “and a firm support for America’s economic system of free enterprise.”

The clarity worked. Since Ronald Reagan, Republican leaders have been making the pilgrimage to the mountains of central Virginia to speak at Liberty, which boomed under Falwell and his ability to draw evangelicals out of their churches and into public and political life.

But the cachet of appearing at Liberty has grown even more in the past decade as the school has exploded in size, financial resources and in its presence in places like Capitol Hill, where its alumni are now a familiar sight. Almost every single GOP presidential contender in recent years has spoken at Liberty, usually at its massive thrice-weekly chapel, which is held in a 12,000-seat sports arena and also watched by thousands of its 95,000 on-line students. It is the world’s largest Christian university with nearly 110,000 students.

But Ted Cruz’s announcement Monday was the first time a candidate has actually unveiled their run for president at Liberty, solidifying it further as the symbolic hub of conservative Christianity.

Perhaps you’ve heard the popular parable about the four blind men and the elephant. The story is told from the vantage point of a king who watches as these men grapple with the reality of the massive creature. It goes like this:

One man holds the tail, another its tusks; one grasps the elephant’s ears, another touches its massive body. When they report back on what it is they’ve encountered, the report matches their personal experience with the creature: it’s hard or floppy, long or smooth.

The meaning of this modern parable? Like the blind men, every religion has a limited understanding of the “elephant.” Each religion believes it understands g/God based on its practitioners own personal, limited experience. While we all assume the Divine matches our own religious description, it’s perspective all the way down.

This sounds nice, doesn’t it? I mean, we’re modern, sophisticated, enlightened people. How could we claim that one truth is the only truth? That one god is the only one true God?

At the risk of alienating the interwebs, Vintage Christians gently — but honestly — voice that there is no God but God the Father, Son, and Spirit — equal in power, majesty, and glory, revealed in three persons and possessing one essence. And we believe thisGod is both the Author of our Story and an Actor within it.