by Ray Newman, radio and television commentator, attorney, educator, author

Thursday, September 30, 2010

BEAUTIFUL FACTS

It was easy to forecast the inevitable collapse of America's moral code, as it easy to forecast the pending destruction of our civilized society.

And the reason is simple: a failure on the part of the great majority of Americans to recognize and accept that there is an objectively identifiable and knowable basis for a proper moral code...to wit, the nature of man. Morality is a code of pro-life conduct, and where else to find it than in the particular nature of our species.

In simplest terms: man has only one means of acquiring knowledge, his capacity for scientific thought based on facts about the one reality he lives in, and so rationality is a prime moral virtue. Man's survival requires him to obtain certain values (nutritional food, shelter, etc.) and is enhanced by others (companionship, love, social relationships, etc.), all of which are to be found only in reality, and so productivity and honesty are prime moral virtues.

Those who do not believe there is an objective basis for morality, those who base their moral code on subjective feelings, are destroying our lives. And since morality is the basis of our political beliefs, they are destroying our country as well.

Interviewed the other day by a friend of my daughter, who was writing a paper about atheism, I was asked the predictable question: Without a belief in God, what objective standard do you have for morality? How flagrant the double error! Not only does he presume that without a mystical belief there could be no basis for morality, but he assumes that an objective morality can be found in a nonprovable, unknowable, imaginary. subjective, fantasy.

It cannot. Every parent who tells his child not to steal because "that's not a nice thing to do", is promoting his child's destruction...since "nice" is a subjective term, and when the child grows up, he can and will define it as he sees fit. Every political commentator who supports or rejects a proposed new law because it will "work" or it doesn't "work", is promoting the destruction of our country...since "work" is a term that can and will be defined subjectively and arbitrarily. Every preacher who tells his flock to obey the will of the Lord, is promoting his flock's destruction...as witness the rationale offered up by today's murderous terrorists.

During a break at one of my classes, some students and I were sitting around talking about extra-terrestrial aliens, and one student asked me: "What do we possibly have that aliens would want?" I answered: "There is one thing". "What's that?", he asked. "Intelligence", said another student.

(And all--all--intelligence is based on objective facts of reality.)

Smart fellow!

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