{"id":8186,"date":"2014-01-19T14:22:46","date_gmt":"2014-01-19T14:22:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2014\/01\/19\/judgmentalism-moral-judgment-moral-relativism-and-god\/"},"modified":"2014-01-19T14:22:46","modified_gmt":"2014-01-19T14:22:46","slug":"judgmentalism-moral-judgment-moral-relativism-and-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2014\/01\/19\/judgmentalism-moral-judgment-moral-relativism-and-god\/","title":{"rendered":"Judgmentalism, Moral Judgment, Moral Relativism, and God"},"content":{"rendered":"

This from a reader:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

I still read your blog conscientiously, but sometimes stare at your words in ignorant awe.<\/span><\/p>\n

I have a question for you this morning which may be of interest. In a recent conversation with someone who described himself as a "gay" Christian (or is it a Christian "gay" ?), I gave reasons for observing that "gay Christian" is an oxymoron. My interlocutor said I must not be judgmental and justified his position by the saying, \u201cYou have your way, I have my way. As for the right way, it does not exist.\u201d I made no headway with my argument that a belief in moral relativism is incompatible with a belief in God. If God is the incontestable ground of moral absolutes, it seems to me you can't have one without the other. Am I on the right track ?<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Thank you for reading.  Several points in response.<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Can one be a Christian and a homosexual?  I don't see why not, as long as one does not practice one's homosexuality.  So I don't see that 'gay Christian' is an oxymoron.  (AsI am using 'practice,' a homosexual man who succumbs to temptation and has sexual intercourse with a man on an occasion or two, while believing it to be immoral, is not practicing his homosexuality.  The occasional exercise of a disposition does not constitute a practice.)
<\/span><\/p>\n

2. To be judgmental is to be hypercritical, captious, cavilling, fault-finding, etc.  One ought to avoid being judgmental.  But it is a mistake to confuse making moral judgments with being judgmental. I condemn the behavior of Ponzi-schemers like Bernie Madoff.  That is a moral judgment.  (And if you refuse to condemn it, I condemn your refusal to condemn.)   But it would be an egregious misuse of language to say that I am being judgmental in issuing  either condemnation.  <\/span><\/p>\n

3. If your friend thinks it is wrong to make moral judgments, ask him whether he thinks it is morally<\/em> wrong.  If he says yes, then point out that he has just made a moral judgment; he has made the moral judgment that making moral judgments is morally wrong. <\/span><\/p>\n

4. Then ask him whether (a) he is OK with contradicting himself, or (b) makes an exception for the meta assertion that making moral judgments is morally wrong, or (c) thinks that both the meta judgment and first-order moral judgments (e.g., sodomy is morally wrong) are all morally wrong.  (C) is  a logically consistent position, although rejectable for other reasons.<\/span><\/p>\n

5. He might of course say that 'must not' in 'must not be judgmental' is not to be construed morally, but in some other way.  Press him on how it is to be construed. 
<\/span><\/p>\n

6. Is moral relativism compatible with theism?  No.  If the God of the Christian faith exists, then there are absolute (objective) moral truths.  This is quite clear if you reflect on the nature of the Christian God.  It is not clear, however, that the arrow of entailment runs in the opposite direction.  A Christian could affirm that it does, but he needn't. Either way, moral relativism and theism are logically inconsistent.<\/span><\/p>\n

7.  A further point.  When your friend 'went relativistic' on you, there was nothing unusual about that.  Alethic and moral relativism in most people are not  thought-through positions, but simply ways  of avoiding further discussion and the hard thinking necessary to get clear on these matters.  It is a form of 'psychic insulation':  "You can't teach me anything, because it's all relative."<\/span><\/p>\n

8.  A final point.  That<\/em> there are moral absolutes leaves open what<\/em> they are.  While moral relativism is easily dismissed, especially if one is a theist, it is considerably less easy to say what the moral absolutes are, even if one is a theist.  So there is no call to be dogmatic.  One can, and I think ought to, combine anti-relativism with fallibilism.<\/span><\/p>\n

Related: To Oppose Relativism is not to Embrace Dogmatism<\/a> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nRelated articles<\/legend>\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>Morality, Religion, Law<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a>When Philosophical Questions Grow Up Do They Leave Home? Some Bad Arguments of Lawrence Krauss Exposed<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/fieldset>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This from a reader: I still read your blog conscientiously, but sometimes stare at your words in ignorant awe. I have a question for you this morning which may be of interest. In a recent conversation with someone who described himself as a "gay" Christian (or is it a Christian "gay" ?), I gave reasons … Continue reading “Judgmentalism, Moral Judgment, Moral Relativism, and God”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60,143,153,361],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ethics","category-god","category-morality-and-legality","category-relativism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8186\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}