Moral Relativism

During his recent trip to the United States, Pope Benedict brought a warning to Catholic colleges and universities to guard themselves against moral relativism. Moral relativism is the idea that there is no truth with a capital “T”, only truth (lower case). The lower case vs. capital use reflects the debate of the nature of truth itself. There are those who believe that there is an ultimate and universal Truth (esp. in areas of morality and discussions about God) and those who believe that all truth is individual and particular to each person. The majority of secular colleges in America have been preaching a relative form of truth since the 1960’s in their Humanities departments. It was the spread of this form of “truth” that worries the Pope in regards to Catholic schools. We in the Protestant branch of Christianity also need to be on our guard. Relative truth can seep into Protestant colleges and universities just as easily, not to mention Protestant churches. If truth isn’t absolute and universal there can be an excuse for nearly any immoral behavior. Abortion, divorce, business fraud, cloning, drug use, etc. have all been defended under the guise that there is no ultimate definition of right and wrong for all of us. That line of thinking is deadly dangerous for any Christian institution, be it Catholic or Protestant.