Jim:
>>STOP THE PRESSES! RE-DO PAGE ONE! HEADLINE: "RUSSELL STEWART ADMITS
MATERIALIST MORALITY IS NOT OBJECTIVE, UNIVERSAL OR ETERNAL. CYBERSPACE
STUNNED."<<
Pim:
<< What's so surprising about that ? I am more confused about claims that
such a morality does exist which is objective, universal or eternal. >>
PG: The Christian theist assumes God and the atheist assumes no God. God,
if
he exists, would be the transcendent, objective standard of morality. The
Would he ? After all how do we know that god would be a standard of
morality or that god would not change his/her mind about morality ? And
how can one be sure that god has told us about his/her ideas about
morality and if our interpretation of his words are correct ?
PG: debate at present is not about proving or disproving this basic
assumption,
but rather it is about whether or not the WORLDVIEW each conceives, when
CONSISTENT with the chosen premise, allows us to insist that anything is
'right' or 'wrong.'
The christian worldview has the problem of interpreting what part of the
'morality' taught in the bible should be practiced.
PG: I would go so far as to say that by the Christian Theist CONSISTENT
worldview, an "objective, universal, eternal" moral standard exists, and by
I would disagree since christians themselves disagreed over time and space
about how to interpret the bible. Nor has it been proven that the standard
is objective, universal or even eternal.
PG: the Atheist CONSISTENT (that is, taken to its logical conclusion)
worldview, the moral standard is subjective. It comes down to his or her
opinion. Where government establishes an 'objective' standard of law it is
still only subjective consensus, as it has nothing that transcends human
beings.
And similarly, the christian morality comes down to the opinion of the
intepreter of the bible and its conflicting messages.
PG: Russell plucks a seemingly 'objective' moral standard out of thin air
when
he makes self-awareness the criterea for abortion. One might ask though,
It's as much a standard as the catholic interpretation that life begins at
conception. There is little reason to believe that there is such a thing
as objective morality, nor eternal or universal