All Religious Beliefs are Equal

Socrates: "So you believe that each man's opinion is as good as anyone else's?

Protagoras: "That's correct."

Socrates: "How do you make a living?"

Protagoras: "I am a teacher."

Socrates: "I find this very puzzling. You admit you earn money teaching, but I cannot imagine what you could possibly teach anyone. After all, you admit that each person's opinion is as good as anyone else's. This means that what your students believe is as good as anything you could possibly teach them. Once they learn that each person is the measure of all things, what possible reason would they have to pay you for any further lessons? How can you possibly teach them anything once they learn that their opinions are as good as yours?" 

--Plato's Theaetetus

"One of my freshman students was unable to go home for the weekend, so he stayed in town and attended a city church on Sunday morning. As the student reported the event, the pastor's thesis was that 'All religious beliefs are true.' Not wishing to provoke a confrontation with the pastor, the student attempted to slip out of the church; he failed. The pastor insisted that the student share one of his religious beliefs so the pastor could demonstrate his open-minded tolerance. Finally the student sighed, surrendered to the pastor's demands, and said: "Since you won't let me leave until I tell you what I believe, here it is. Sir, with all due respect, one of my religious beliefs is that you are going to hell." Angered by the student's remark, the ministerial defender of religious relativism replied, "Well, I guess I made a mistake. All religious beliefs are true except yours.""

--Ronald Nash, Life's Ultimate Questions 

 

 

 

 

 

Calling the Bluff of Moral Relativists

“A great many modern people cling to the protection of views which are not merely false, but incoherent. For instance, they dogmatically insist that truth cannot be known, all the while supposing that what they say is true. Once upon a time it was enough to point out the incoherency—to call attention to the obvious. No longer. Today the reply is likely to be, ‘I’m incoherent, but so what? I don’t need coherency, and I can do without meaning.’ I answer, ‘I don’t believe you, because we both know that the longing for meaning and coherency is deep-set in every mind, including yours. The real question, then, is this: What is it that is so important to you that you are willing to give up even meaning, even coherency to have it?’”

--J. Budziszewski, The Revenge of Conscience

 

Your Fly is Open

"The skeptic is never for real. There he stands, cocktail in hand, left arm draped languorously on one end of the mantelpiece, telling you that he can't be sure of anything, not even of his own existence. I'll give you my secret method of demolishing universal skepticism in four words. Whisper to him: "Your fly is open." If he thinks knowledge is so all-fired impossible, why does he always look?" 

--Robert Farrar Capon, Hunting the Divine Fox (1974 A.D.), quoted in James Sire, The Universe Next Door (2009 A.D.)  

 

The Christian Answer to Relativism

"The Christian answer to relativism is theological: the reality of the Creator God. He is both Creator and Interpreter. Made in his image, we have a relationship to the created universe that is not illusory. He is free to reveal himself in time and space, and in the languages of the cultures that develop in human history. Christian theology takes seriously the cultural contexts in which his revelation is given, and the Christian mission takes seriously the cultural contexts it addresses. Hermeneutical studies have reminded us that our own culture has an impact on both tasks. But so does God's word have an impact on all languages and cultures. Confronted with God's revelation, our own understanding changes, and we altar our assumptions. Not a circle, but a spiral of clearer conception and communication of the message results. God has made his truth communicable; he calls us to 'think his thoughts after him.'"

--Edmund Clowney, The Church 

Reality Calling Our Bluff

"I remember lecturing at Ohio State University, one of the largest universities in this country. I was minutes away from beginning my lecture, and my host was driving me past a new building called the Wexner Center for the Performing Arts.

He said, “This is America’s first postmodern building.”

I was startled for a moment and I said, “What is a postmodern building?”

He said, “Well, the architect said that he designed this building with no design in mind. When the architect was asked, ‘Why?’ he said, ‘If life itself is capricious, why should our buildings have any design and any meaning?’ So he has pillars that have no purpose. He has stairways that go nowhere. He has a senseless building built and somebody has paid for it.”

I said, “So his argument was that if life has no purpose and design, why should the building have any design?”

He said, “That is correct.”

I said, “Did he do the same with the foundation?”

All of a sudden there was silence.

You see, you and I can fool with the infrastructure as much as we would like, but we dare not fool with the foundation because it will call our bluff in a hurry."

--Ravi Zecharias

Aragorn on Moral Relativism

"How shall a man judge what to do in such times?" [asked Eomer] "As ever he has judged," said Aragorn. "Good and ill have not changed since yesteryear; nor are they one thing among Elves and Dwarves and another among Men. It's a man's part to discern them..."

J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers