while we may be influenced by the climate of the times - see the different reception a racist comedian will get today compared to 50 years back - the church is supposed to be about eternal truths. bigotry, slavery, child abuse eg may be acceptable in some countries and at some times - if the role of the churches is not to give us moral guidance about our way of treating each other, then what is it for? the roman catholic church, having supported fascism in the 1940s, can't lecture anyone about morality.