Tag Archives: Tolerance

Religious pluralism and moral relativism are self-refuting

Check out this post from Neil Simpson’s blog.

Neil writes:

Self-refuting: [Religious pluralists] claim that other paths to God are valid, but they specifically exclude Christians who think Jesus is the only way.  But if all these paths are valid, why isn’t orthodox Christianity?  And if orthodox Christianity is valid, then these other paths are not.  Also, the definitions of “God” in these religions are mutually exclusive.

Pluralists simply don’t understand or apply the logical law of non-contradiction: You can’t have a personal God (Christianity) and an impersonal God (Islam) at the same time, or be saved by faith in Christ alone (Christianity) and by good deeds (everybody else), die once and face judgment (Christianity and Islam) and be reincarnated (Hinduism), Jesus dies on a cross (Christianity) and Jesus does not die on a cross (Islam), etc.

In the same post, he also explains why religious pluralism actually an arrogant and hypocritical point of view, not a tolerant one!

Now, check out this post from Pugnacious Irishman.

Rich explains how to do defeat moral relativism without even saying a word. You better learn how to do it, because the majority of the people you meet today believe in moral relativism. Rich knows – he’s a school teacher and this is the ethical theory that all the young people subscribe to.

My thoughts

This sort of weak tolerance of all viewpoints and moralities doesn’t cut any ice with open-minded atheists and skeptics. They like to discuss arguments and evidence. The best atheists and agnostics are guided by reason and evidence, so they are not offended by your exclusive views. On the contrary: the fact that you hold to unpopular, divisive views appears to them as courageous and authentic. Remember, Anthony Flew was an atheist once. Sure, most atheists are guided by untested assumptions and selfishness, but some of them can be reasoned with.

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Dr. Matt Flanagan explains what moral relativism is and why it fails

Check out this 5-part video of Matt Flanagan’s recent lecture at the Thinking Matters conference in New Zealand.

If you don’t understand what moral relativism is, this is a thorough treatment that covers all the bases.

Coach suspended for 30 days without pay for being mean

Yes, he said a terrible thing, and yes, this was poor judgment. But does he deserve all this punishment just for saying something that offended some people?

The article is in the Salt Lake Tribune. (H/T Andrew)

Excerpt:

Hawaii football coach Greg McMackin has been suspended by the university for 30 days without pay for Thursday’s anti-homosexual comments he made toward the Notre Dame football program during the Western Athletic Conference meetings in Salt Lake City.

As a part of the suspension, McMackin has agreed to voluntarily coach the Warriors without pay during his suspension. His salary during that time will be used to support a student intern in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender program on the Hawaii campus.

As a part of McMackin’s punishment, he must participate in a public service announcement describing how words can hurt and support awareness training for the athletics program. He also must personally participate in activities directed at improving the environment for the LGBT community.

People say mean things to me all the time, and I don’t complain (that much). I have found that if I scare people by threatening them because they have offended me, then they don’t want to talk to me any more. But I want people who disagree with me to talk to me! So I try to be forgiving instead of intimidating people who want to express a different point of view.

Why can’t people just forgive people when they make a mistake and say they’re sorry?