The views stated here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the editors of this newspaper. We welcome supporting or opposing views on any published item. Received August 28, 2024.
Did you ever think about this question: Are there absolutes when it comes to “good” or “evil” or is it all relative, depending on the places and times?
I ask this because I see it as the most important thing to consider when you go to the polls this fall.
Up front, I’ll let you know that I am an “absolute morality” guy because the alternative has produced some of the most awful consequences, such as the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Yet embracing self-defined standards of morality goes far beyond this obvious result because it also dismisses that there is an “Ultimate Lawgiver,” i.e., God, who sets those standards in the first place. If you believe this, you are certainly free to do so but you must also accept what goes along with it. Here is an example:
This quote from the Declaration of Independence is now rendered totally meaningless: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” No “Creator” also means no Lawgiver, which makes the human race nothing more than a cosmic accident of random events. That means we have no more intrinsic value than a virus, an amoeba, or a stone.
As I see it, we now have a contest this election season between two parties with diametrically opposite views as to whether it must adhere to absolute pre-existing standards of good and evil which are just as unchangeable as the physical laws of nature or make them up for itself – and then impose them on the rest of us.
You decide!
Edward Wood, Killingworth
