I've mentioned moral relativism
a number of times in past notes. Let's take a closer look at what the
term means and why many believe it is a harmful infection rotting our
nation from the inside out.
As defined by the on-line Free Dictionary moral relativism is: "The philosophized notion that right and wrong are not absolute values, but are personalized according
to the individual and his or her circumstances or cultural orientation.
It can be used positively to effect change in the law (e.g., promoting tolerance for other customs or lifestyles) or negatively as a means to attempt justification for wrongdoing or lawbreaking."
The Dictionary also tells us that its opposite is "moral absolutism, which espouses a fundamental, Natural Law of constant values and rules, and which judges all persons equally, irrespective of individual circumstances or cultural differences."
Of the two, which is likely to
prove most beneficial in the long run? The answer should be easy. An
endless sliding scale of rules/standards to live by has little chance at
succeeding over time because it is unstable, ever changeable. On the
other hand a fixed set of rules/standards provides stability and a sense
of security in knowing what the rules/standards are. But, in today's
America the former in large measure trumps the latter. Check out the
definition of Natural Law too. It was one of the guiding principles for
our nation's founders as they set us on our course as a Constitutional
Republic.
For a long time our nation
enjoyed a relatively stable understanding of the principles embodied in
our Constitution. Yes, throughout our history wrongs have been
committed. That does not mean we were without a set of core principles
to help us correct course. Any entity no matter how large or small is
filled with imperfect humans prone to error or worse. But having a set
of well understood stable rules/standards provides a means by which to
right the ship. That, it seems to me, is where we have gone astray. We
lost our bearings and shifted from a stable baseline to one that is
unstable, even unpredictable. Extant cultural decay and societal
discord is the resultant consequence.
As Bradlee Dean notes in the
linked article, when we the people of this nation "...are no longer
rooted in the same principles, corruption seeps in and begins to divide
and conquer through outlets such as media, public schools and
colleges." He adds "In essence, the unprincipled in America are at war
with God and His Law, which commanded we should not kill, commit
adultery, steal, lie or covet. They seem to forget that 'Wherever law
ends, tyranny begins'...and tyranny is what you are dealing with today,
because most people do not know their history." To bolster his point he
cites a study by University of Houston political science professors
searching for the historical sources that informed the founders. Over a
10 year period they studied 15,000 writings available to the founders
and isolated 3,154 direct quotes from a number of sources. The most, 34
percent, came directly from the Christian Bible with many more Biblical
quotes found in other sources available to the founders. It is those
Biblically based principles that embody our Constitution. See this link
for details: http://www.newswithviews.com/Bradlee/dean112.htm
Reinforcing previous comments,
Dr. Tom Barron offers this observation: "Moral Relativism is the
precarious philosophical position that moral judgments are different
across different people and different cultures. The terms 'good' and
'bad,' 'right' and 'wrong' do not stand subject to universal truth
conditions, rather they are relative to the traditions, practices and
views of the group or society in which they are constructed." On the
heels of that observation, Barron adds: "Consistent with the utopian,
radical egalitarian core of their belief system, liberal/progressives
believe that no group or society is better than any other, and that the
different moral views held by others cannot be judged as superior or
inferior, or right or wrong. Furthermore, they believe that one must
tolerate the behavior of others even when one disagrees about the
morality of that behavior." To drive home the point
Barron quotes Larrey Anderson: "A standard of standard-less
behavior...Where society agrees to a social contract to have no social
contract...fostering a cult of tolerance, where those who enter avoid
the difficult process of making an actual (moral) choice and get to feel
good about it...where political correctness enforces this 'approved'
way of thinking, contradicting the very concept of tolerance that they
elevate." http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/03/the_lefts_moral_relativism.html
This, folks, is the current state
of our culture, our nation. And, indications are that things are
getting worse. We are not evolving to a better state/higher plane of
human development as liberal/progressives would like to have us
believe. We are increasingly degenerating to a state of disarray/chaos.
Liberal/progressives have in fact turned upside down our traditional
cultural norms and the very meaning of the word "tolerance". We are
becoming a culture/nation without any of the principles upon which our
once great nation was founded.
The links that follow offer just a few examples of the decay we are now experiencing:
(1)
Hollywood productions have long played a role in our decline. This
link demonstrates their celebration of the debasement of morality. In
this case
(2)
It wasn't too long ago that most of our society deemed homosexual
activity as unhealthy/immoral. But, moral relativism says it is okay,
even to be celebrated. Why not add incest to the growing list of newly
found acceptable behavior? A slippery slope, no? http://www.redstate.com/2013/04/05/why-not-incest/
(3)
Given their demonstrated behavior and policies they espouse, here is a
depiction of what a progressive ten commandments might look like. http://www.newswithviews.com/Duigon/lee194.htm
(4)
Here is but one example of the intolerant behavior in an ever
increasingly intolerant academic environment in public schools, colleges
and universities. While in this case the school has issued an apology
it is lame at best because they first supported the professor and
expelled the student. Its reversal was only forthcoming following a
huge public outcry. http://townhall.com/columnists/toddstarnes/2013/03/26/university-files-charges-against-student-for-refusing-to-stomp-on-jesus-n1548359/page/full/
(5)
This example demonstrates how low the morality of the extreme
liberal/progressive organization Planned Parenthood has sunk. Not only
does it promote the killing of unborn babies under the guise of a
woman's right to choose, it even supports killing babies after they are
born. This is, according to them, also a case in which the woman's so
called right to choose prevails. Not to mention that the dastardly deed
is at least partially supported by taxayers whether we agree or not.
More importantly, to them the rights of a living breathing infant do not
count. Murder of babies (or put another way euthanasia) to them
is okay. And I thought murder was a crime all of society agreed to.
See the slippery slope?
(6)
Last but not least we return to the view of our founders. To affirm
the unbelievable turn-around the liberal/progressive moral relativism
crowd has been able to engineer please read this link. The article
begins "Soldiers in the U.S. military have been told in a training
briefing that evangelical Christians are the No. 1 extremist threat to
America – ahead of groups like the Muslim Brotherhood, KKK, Nation of
Islam, al-Qaida, Hamas and others." This example, one of many, reflects
the evil consequences of adherents of moral relativism and resultant
liberal/progressive policies. What once was up is now down. What once
was wrong is now right. What once underpinned the very foundation of
our nation is now the problem. How, please tell me, is this even
remotely possible? http://mobile.wnd.com/2013/04/military-warned-evangelicals-no-1-threat/
There's
more but I think the point is made. Please, folks, help turn
this disaster around. Let's all make a concerted effort to return to
our Judeo/Christian roots. The founders had it right. Modern day moral
relativists have it all wrong. It is, therefore, up to each of us to do
our part in beating back the horrible travesty they are literally
forcing upon us all.
George Burns
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