×

Why Christians Should Not Always Defend “Absolute Morality” and Criticize “Relative Morality”

The moral argument for God’s existence can be formulated simply along these lines:

  1. If objective moral values and duties exist, then God exists.
  2. Objective moral values and duties exist.
  3. Therefore, God exists.

But many Christians try to make an argument like this by using the term “absolute morality” instead of “objective morality.” By seeking to defeat “relative morality” they think they are critiquing “subjective morality.

William Lane Craig has a concise explanation of why this is wrong, and the definitions of the terms help to explain the difference:

Screen Shot 2014-12-17 at 3.24.48 PM

Craig writes:

We can agree, for example, that it is not absolutely wrong to kill another person. In some circumstances killing another person may be morally justified and even obligatory. To affirm that one’s moral duty varies with the circumstances is not to say that we have no objective moral duties to fulfill.

Screen Shot 2014-12-17 at 3.23.29 PM

Craig continues:

If we do have objective moral duties, then in the various circumstances in which we find ourselves we are obligated or forbidden to do various actions, regardless of what we think.

He also shows that “universality” does not imply “objectivity”:

Universality of a moral code could just be evidence of unanimity of opinion (maybe ingrained into us by evolution). By the same token objectivity doesn’t imply universality either. In certain times and places some action (e.g., dressing in a certain way) may be objectively wrong and in other times and places morally permissible.

Finally, he shows why drawing these careful distinctions is important to formulating the moral argument correctly:

. . . the claim that “Absolute moral values and duties exist” will quite properly arouse more opposition than the claim that “Objective moral values and duties exist.” People will take you to be saying that certain things are always right or always wrong, regardless of the circumstances, which you are most definitely not affirming. The point is that if God exists, there are objective moral values and we have objective moral duties to fulfill in whatever circumstances we find ourselves. But the objectivity of those values and duties doesn’t imply that they do not vary with the circumstances. They are objective, whether or not they are also absolute and universal.

Keeping these distinctions straight will avoid a host of confusions!

You can find the discussion here.

LOAD MORE
Loading