Absolute Relativism: Tolerance or Tyranny?

In a world of diverse people and diverse ideas many have continually sought to answer the elusive question?  How can we coexist?  A popular idea that has emerged in our society of Absolute Relativism.  This essentially teaches that “Truth differs from person to person and culture to culture.  Thus, there is no absolute Truth except nothing is absolutely true.”  In essence, absolute Truth simply cannot be found.  This attitude has completely changed the definition of “Tolerance.”  Tolerance once meant that we would treat others with respect, even if we did not agree with each other’s views.  Now Tolerance is being defined as embracing all views and equally valuable and true (even if these views often make opposite claims) and refusing to accept this is means you are a narrow-minded bigot.  This is creating a society in which debating the validity of somebody else’s claims are seen as a nasty, personal attack, and its why debates of a religious and ethical nature are becoming emotional battles devoid of any and all logic.  Right now, in Canada, you can be sued for saying or writing anything that can “expose a person or persons to hatred or contempt.”  In other words, criticizing ideas and lifestyles is now becoming a crime.  We now are seeing reflections of this in America.

• The ACLU regularly backing lawsuits to squash any mention of God in public to cater to a few “intolerant” atheists.
• A college student threatened with expulsion in California for saying a prayer for the sick teacher even though the teacher granted her permission to do so.
• A civil rights organization that protested a statue of Jesus found on the floor of the ocean.
• Attacking the conscientious objection rights that currently allow Catholic doctors and hospitals to refuse to participate in providing abortions. 

 Ironically, relativism is destroying diversity, not embracing it.  A world where people can openly and honestly disagree is diverse, but a world that mandates unity through “conformity to relativism” and accuses people of bigotry for disagreeing, is anything but diverse.  The view of Absolute Relativism is in fact self-defeating, for to claim that “absolute Truth does not exist” is in fact an objective claim about Truth.  The new definition of “Tolerance” is likewise contradictory because it is in fact, intolerant of the previous definition of “Tolerance.”  Absolute Relativism is also wrong, because there are Absolute Truths that exist in our world.  If one man says “2+2=4” & another says “2+2=7,” we would not say “For the sake of Tolerance, we’ll say both answers are equally valid.”  The simple fact is that one is right and one is wrong.  The truth about “Absolute Relativism” is that it is not answering the question of “How can we Coexist?”  It is in fact creating a very serious problem in our society: a society in which morality no longer exists. 

No right-minded person would ever say that atrocities like the Holocaust or the 9/11 attacks could ever be morally justifiable actions.  On the day that we watched burning bodies leaping from the Twin Towers, did any one of us think that “Flying planes into those buildings was right for the terrorists, so who are we to judge for their actions?”  Would we likewise say that “Hitler wiping out over 6 million Jews was right according to his view, so who are we to judge his decisions?”   However, this is exactly what the Relativist mindset teaches: that there is no absolute wrong, so we therefore cannot say that these atrocities were wrong.  Many do not know this, but Relativism has in fact inspired some of the most notorious figures of modern history.

• Jeffrey Dahmer: Serial Killer- “If it all happens naturalistically, what’s the need for God?  Can’t I set my own rules?  Who owns me?  I own myself.  So what’s the point to modify your behavior to keep it within acceptable ranges?”
• Adolf Hitler: Nazi Dictator- “There is no such thing as truth, either in the moral or scientific sense.”
• Benito Mussolini: Italian Dictator- “Everything I have said and done in these last years is relativism, by intuition.  From the fact that all ideologies are of equal value, that all ideologies are mere fictions, the modern relativist infers that everybody has the right to create for himself his own ideology and attempt to enforce it with all the energy of which he is capable.” 

 Since none of these men recognized any higher reality-moral or religious-to which he should conform, he created his own code of moral conduct and enforced it.  Sadly, the 20^th century has already shown us that John Lennon’s Dream of “Imagine there’s no Heaven and Hell,” and if we simply abandoned the established faith set beliefs, we could “live in peace” has failed repeatedly.  The Khmer Rouge had no belief in heaven, hell, or faith in a higher power.  This belief ultimately destroyed their country and killed over 2 million people.  This is but one example of many. 

In truth, Relativism robs us of all sense of meaning.  It creates a sense of emptiness and despair.  Science cannot answer the questions of “Why do I exist?  How am I suppose to live?  What happens when I die?”  Only philosophy and theology can answer those questions.  Perhaps the reason that the depression and suicide rate has grown so much in our country is due to the fact that Relativism is destroying our sense of purpose and making us focus on shallow and meaningless things, and when these shallow things are not answering our sense of meaning, many begin to feel that life itself is meaningless.  Left with moral compasses that are directed only by self-reflection and desire, countless numbers of people are drifting into depression and ruin.  What we want to call “loving acceptance” is in truth “moral abandonment.”  As Pope John Paul II once stated “To educate without a value system based on truth is to abandon young people to moral confusion, personal insecurity, and easy manipulation.” 

Though many in our society try to deny it, we are enjoying the fruits of a Judeo-Christian culture.  It was Christianity that invented the hospital system, public universities, and pushed for the abolishment of slavery all over the world.  It’s not unique that Christian nations had slavery, all nations that existed before and after the advent of Christianity had slavery.  What is unique is that the Christian based nations were the first ones to push for the world-wide abolishment of slavery. 

The claim that the teachings of Jesus are true is not the same as saying that all other teachings in the world are 100% wrong.  Quite the contrary.  When I read a book about a Muslim and Christian who became friends and engaged in religious dialogue with one another, they actually found that they shared many of the same views about the shortcomings of atheism and blind evolution.  At the same time, by engaging in dialogue, they actually helped teach each other their many of their pre-conceived views were not entirely correct and their knowledge about the teachings of each other’s faith as well as their own increased substantially.  In the First Letter of the Apostle Peter he did not urge the followers of Jesus to be short-tempered with people or show contempt for their beliefs, but to preach the Truth with “gentleness and respect.”  So, with gentleness and respect, I will say that Relativism is not the answer and it is not promoting “Tolerance.”  It is in fact a self-defeating ideology that is full of shortcomings and takes away the hope for open and honest dialogue.