Comments on: Assumptions in moral debate http://www.stoptheaclu.com/2008/12/14/assumptions-in-moral-debate/ Beating Them With Their Own Sickle And Hammer Thu, 18 Mar 2010 02:00:55 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 hourly 1 By: Shane http://www.stoptheaclu.com/2008/12/14/assumptions-in-moral-debate/comment-page-1/#comment-110224 Shane Tue, 16 Dec 2008 20:35:14 +0000 http://www.stoptheaclu.com/?p=18187#comment-110224 Can one be secular and believe in evil? The widespread abandonment of religion in Europe and on the left makes one wonder if the point of contention here is more a matter of whether all sides can agree that human beings are prone to calculated depravity. In a micro sense we all look to treat each other with compassion and respect, but in a macro sense our history is one of continuing murder and mayhem. How do we explain this? The Left will argue that our actions are inspired by culture (the poverty equals crime argument) while the Right argues that humanity has an innate predilection towards selfishness and self-preservation (if not evil in a broader sense). If you're a leftist, the solution to 'evil' is humility and government programs. To fight it is to become it, as war creates a culture of aggression that feeds on itself (see Gandhi's advice to the Jews). My longwinded point is to say that the Left and the Right may agree that evil exists - it's hard to deny. But in dealing with it's permanence, the left seeks to delude itself so as to create an environment where evil suffocates, overcome by love. There has never been a pacifist world where this environment has been allowed to exist, so the idealism continues to thrive in the imagination, and this is why threats to its realization are confronted with calls to face the evil within oneself before judging others. Hence, the move toward relativism. Religion and it's insistence on original sin might prepare a person to expect depravity and approach it accordingly, since it's not going away. Secularism, paired with the notion that humans can be perfected, inherently leads to the equivocation of evil, being man-made and so perishable. Can one be secular and believe in evil? The widespread abandonment of religion in Europe and on the left makes one wonder if the point of contention here is more a matter of whether all sides can agree that human beings are prone to calculated depravity. In a micro sense we all look to treat each other with compassion and respect, but in a macro sense our history is one of continuing murder and mayhem. How do we explain this? The Left will argue that our actions are inspired by culture (the poverty equals crime argument) while the Right argues that humanity has an innate predilection towards selfishness and self-preservation (if not evil in a broader sense). If you’re a leftist, the solution to ‘evil’ is humility and government programs. To fight it is to become it, as war creates a culture of aggression that feeds on itself (see Gandhi’s advice to the Jews).

My longwinded point is to say that the Left and the Right may agree that evil exists – it’s hard to deny. But in dealing with it’s permanence, the left seeks to delude itself so as to create an environment where evil suffocates, overcome by love. There has never been a pacifist world where this environment has been allowed to exist, so the idealism continues to thrive in the imagination, and this is why threats to its realization are confronted with calls to face the evil within oneself before judging others. Hence, the move toward relativism.

Religion and it’s insistence on original sin might prepare a person to expect depravity and approach it accordingly, since it’s not going away. Secularism, paired with the notion that humans can be perfected, inherently leads to the equivocation of evil, being man-made and so perishable.

]]> By: A Crucial Question: Revisited : Stop The ACLU http://www.stoptheaclu.com/2008/12/14/assumptions-in-moral-debate/comment-page-1/#comment-110202 A Crucial Question: Revisited : Stop The ACLU Tue, 16 Dec 2008 16:22:01 +0000 http://www.stoptheaclu.com/?p=18187#comment-110202 [...] excellent and thought-provoking December 14 article “Assumptions in Moral debate”. http://www.stoptheaclu.com/archives/2008/12/14/assumptions-in-moral-debate/ [...] [...] excellent and thought-provoking December 14 article “Assumptions in Moral debate”. http://www.stoptheaclu.com/archives/2008/12/14/assumptions-in-moral-debate/ [...]

]]> By: The Machine http://www.stoptheaclu.com/2008/12/14/assumptions-in-moral-debate/comment-page-1/#comment-110051 The Machine Mon, 15 Dec 2008 04:59:34 +0000 http://www.stoptheaclu.com/?p=18187#comment-110051 I think that the time for talking is over. I think that the time for talking is over.

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