Moral Relativism, or, Feet Firmly Planted in mid-Air What would provide a foundation, a grounding, a moral compass, for studying world issues? According to the Judeo-Christian (formed by both Old and New Testaments) tradition, humans are made Imageo Dei (in the image of God) This view states that there are many purposes in life and among them – to love God, and to serve God and others More importantly, all humans bear God’s image; this provides the foundation for everything else

Karl Marx, the author of the economic theory otherwise known as Communism, wrote that the individual is “merely matter”. It should thus not be surprising that Communist governments operating in the 20th Century murdered over 100 million of their own citizens Some evolutionary biologists say that the individual human is simply “…the highest form of primate” But the Judeo-Christian belief system states that human beings are intentionally created, and made in the image of their Creator Because of this, they are endowed by their Creator with the ability to reason – to think, to believe, to act on that belief, to make good choices, and, at times, bad ones

Why? St. Augustine (a 4th C. theologian of the Church) believed humans possess a free will – our ability to freely choose good or choose evil. This is in contrast to an atheistic understanding where we are guided by our genetic pre-dispositions or DNA – ergo, no free will Because God loves us, He gave us the choice (free will) to return His love or to reject His love For Christians, the way to serve and love God is by believing in Jesus Christ and accepting Him. St. Augustine

Because of this, a Christian worldview also requires the adherence to moral absolutes - the idea that there are fixed standards of what is right and what is wrong

The Problem: However, this notion that man is capable of committing evil, is what non-theists have difficulty with (especially since atheist governments in Germany, Russia, China and Cambodia killed at least 100 million people in the 20th C.) Of course there are sometimes extenuating circumstances that cause some people to commit evil – but it is not acceptable to say that there is no accountability for those choices (for example, the Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals after WW2). A survivor of Cambodia’s “Killing Fields” drew this practice of Khmer Rouge government practice of removing any opponents of their Regime in the 1970’s

Thus, the Judeo-Christian and secular paradigms are in conflict Why? If there is no sin (or concept of “sin), then there is no fixed or permanent standard by which to judge whether something is wrong (it’s all just opinion or utilitarianism – whatever works!) But then on what basis do we make “moral” judgments? What is the “worldview” or “paradigm” of the guys with the shovels in this picture?

If there is no fixed standard to which we make moral decisions, aren’t we free to do whatever we want? This doesn’t mean that non-theists have no morals It does mean they de facto have a different foundation for their convictions of what is right and what is wrong Some would call this moral relativism – and that poses a whole new set of problems

A philosophy (a set of ideas or beliefs) that denies there are any moral absolutes

Consequences: The main consequence of moral relativism is the removal of moral deterrents If sin didn’t seem like fun, we’d all be saints Relativism never produced a saint Relativism never produced a good society A society of moral relativists usually lasts one generation – Hitler’s 1000 year Reich lasted not even that long

Tradition: If you are a relativist, you are a snob You are a snob because virtually no society until the present thought they could possibly exist based on relativism The belief in a basic set of absolutes is the norm in human history

Moral Language: People quarrel. They argue about “right” and “wrong” all the time This means they actually believe that some things are right and some things are wrong If everything is relative or subjective, then you can never argue for “rightness” or “wrongness” of something – even the Holocaust Moral language matters – it’s not meaningless – relativism means there is nothing to fight for