The Death of Truth on our Campus?
By Justin G. Taylor
George Will once wryly commented that there is nothing too vulgar in our
experience
that would prevent us from flying a professor in from somewhere to defend it.
Why this attack
on our teachers and our institution? Because it is here, in our lecture
halls, that were are being
told that truth is dead. I encourage the reader to evaluate with me the issue
of truth and
relativism on our campus.
Two events were quite disturbing to me last year. The first one
occurred in one of my
religion classes, where the question was posed, "How many of you believe that the Holocaust
was wrong." To my surprise, many did not raise their hand. The second situation was in the
office of a professor. I asked him, "Don't you think that it is absolutely wrong to torture an
innocent child?" Although he couldn't think of a single exception, he still refused to say that it
was always wrong. Have we given up our faculties of reason in the name
of tolerance?
A recent poll indicates that seventy-two percent of 18-25 year olds
do not believe in
absolute truth. I would like to question one of them, and ask, "Well, are you sure that this is so?"
They may answer yes. "Are you absolutely sure?" If they answer yes again, then they have
essentially said "there are no absolutes, excepting the absolute that there are no absolutes!" My
final question would be, "Due to the fact that you believe in one moral absolute, could it be
possible for two to exist?" If their answer is no, then they have just
given me two absolutes!
Not only is this not logically coherent, it is experientially
unlivable. You may say "rape
is right for you, but wrong for me," but when it hits home, when it is a loved one, the rules
suddenly change. The conclusion is inescapable: it is a morally reprehensible act. Deep down, I
believe that we really do hold some things to simply be wrong.
Also, we must consider the consequences of believing that truth
does not exist. This
worldview devoid of normative values ultimately cannot say that anything is wrong: including
the Holocaust. What prevents history from repeating itself? The death of truth must lead to the
ultimate death of humanity. I am aware that many say that great wars, intolerances, and
inquisitions have been done in the name of religion and truth. Sadly, this is so. However, these
atrocities are not a direct result from what Jesus taught. Rather, these are people who clearly
have deviated from Christ's teachings. Remember, however, that the Holocaust is the logical
result of nihilism. Consider the poignant statement of Viktor Fankl, a survivor: "I am absolutely
convinced that the gas chambers of Auschwitz, Treblinka, and Maidenek were ultimately
prepared not in some ministry or other in Berlin, but rather at the desks and in the lecture halls of
nihilistic scientists and philosophers." It was Dostoyevsky who said, "Without God, all things
are permissible."
It is here that I am usually challenged to give an example of at
least one moral absolute.
Just off the top of my head, I will cite four: 1) Loving our neighbor is the highest virtue--thinkers
as diverse as Kant, Confucius, and Jesus have agreed, 2) rape is wrong, 3) torturing innocent
children is wrong, and 4) humility is better than hypocrisy. There are
many others.
People who believe in truth are not necessarily unbending,
uncompromising people who
can "never be wrong." We don't believe we have ever answer, or that we can ever have our
minds changed! To use this caricature is a straw man attack. I see no logical inconsistency in
asserting that there really are moral absolutes, while the best way to reach an ethical decision is
through cooperation, discussion, and interaction. We believe that truth does not change, though
our perceptions of it may. Consider that one person may stick their hand in a bowl of 70 degree
water and conclude that it is warm, while another may feel that it is cool. What remains constant
is the temperature. It was Churchill who said, "The truth is invontrobertivle. Panic may resent
it; ignorance may deride it; malice may distort it, but there it is."
To his credit, the professor I mentioned earlier is not an "utter
relativist." But by
allowing exceptions to something that is inherently wrong, the rules of the deadly game have
already been set. Actually, I take that back. In this game, there simply are no rules. Nietzsche
wrote that God is dead. The more prophetic Malcolm Muggeride, however, is the one who
wrote, "It is truth that has died, not God." It is my hope that the students here at UNI will be the
ones to report to the world that the report of truth's death is
premature.
The Mars Hill Forum on Apologetics posted an article by Doug Groothisu
entitle, What
is Truth?"
Go back to Contend for the Faith.
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