Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Confusion Reigns
Al Mohler takes a look at some decree out of some body in Europe that has decided creationism is a threat to human rights. Mohler chooses to attack this assertion by fisking the declaratory document. Fair enough, but there is something far more fundamental at play here.
Ask yourself this simply question:
What happens when we strip humanity of it's dignity? Is it not fair to say that the Nazis viewed the Jews without dignity? Likewise did not many in the chattel slave trade (as opposed to the mere owners, many of whom treated their slaves with a great deal, though still limited, amount of dignity) view blacks without dignity?
Clearly without some concept of human dignity, atrocity results.
It was argued recently at a dinner table conversation in my home that absent some sense of human specialness - a sense that can ONLY arise if we are understood to be created by something higher, somehow, even if not in strictly biblical terms, must ultimately force one to adopt nihilism
Absent some sense of human specialness,we have no authority with which to establish a moral system. Without that authority, any moral system is indeed arbitrary and therefore indefensible. Chaos reigns.
This declaration out of Europe is non-sensical on the most fundamental levels, for by it they destroy their own authority.
I suggest we not follow it.
Technorati Tags:creationism, evolution, europe, morality, authority
Generated By Technorati Tag Generator
Ask yourself this simply question:
From whence human dignity?Is not some notion of human rights based on a concept of human dignity, and further a dignity somehow higher than the rest of the universe? If humanity is simply the end result of purely natural processes how can there be any humanity dignity at all? Are we not then reduced to just the latest version of the living machine?
What happens when we strip humanity of it's dignity? Is it not fair to say that the Nazis viewed the Jews without dignity? Likewise did not many in the chattel slave trade (as opposed to the mere owners, many of whom treated their slaves with a great deal, though still limited, amount of dignity) view blacks without dignity?
Clearly without some concept of human dignity, atrocity results.
It was argued recently at a dinner table conversation in my home that absent some sense of human specialness - a sense that can ONLY arise if we are understood to be created by something higher, somehow, even if not in strictly biblical terms, must ultimately force one to adopt nihilism
Nihilism (from the Latin nihil, nothing) is a philosophical position, sometimes called an anti-philosophy, which argues that the world, especially past and current human existence, is without objective meaning, purpose, comprehensible truth, or essential value. Nihilists generally assert some or all of the following:Creationism can be considered many things, but it cannot be argued to be a threat to human rights. Pure evolutionary thought, which mandates the absence of a creator, removes any concept of human specialness. Forget human specialness, life itself, in any form, lacks any sense of dignity in a purely evolutionary mindset. Without that sense of dignity, morality must breakdown.
- there is no reasonable proof of the existence of a higher ruler or creator,
- a "true morality" does not exist, and
- secular ethics are impossible;
therefore, life has no truth, and no action can be preferable to any other.
Absent some sense of human specialness,we have no authority with which to establish a moral system. Without that authority, any moral system is indeed arbitrary and therefore indefensible. Chaos reigns.
This declaration out of Europe is non-sensical on the most fundamental levels, for by it they destroy their own authority.
I suggest we not follow it.
Technorati Tags:creationism, evolution, europe, morality, authority
Generated By Technorati Tag Generator
