Consequences of Moral Relativism
In 1992, there was a Supreme Court case, Planned Parenthood v. Casey: 505 U.S. 833 (1992), which almost overturned the position of Roe v. Wade (1973), which ruled the Constitution of the United States would protect a woman’s right to abortion. In Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992), Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Anthony Kennedy stated, “At the heart of liberty is the right to define one’s own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life.” He received many critiques on this statement, but it’s a popular belief summing up why abortion is legal. This position is agnostic at best but creates a societal framework where every person has the right to create their own meaning, which is atheistic. And the haunting question, “What is truth?” gets buried under the U.S. Capitol building with a “sign” on the outside saying, “STOP. DO NOT ENTER.” “Truth” is now your creation of it. Ah, here now we have the fruit of German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche’s popularized quote, “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?” “At last!” you might think. “No more ‘freedom to submit to God’ but rather ‘freedom to take the position of God’.” But what are the implications of this, and the statement made by Justice Anthony Kennedy?
If “God is dead," then morality (what is good or bad) can always change, which makes nothing objectively good or bad. Let’s take the extreme implications of this mentality. If we label robbery as “bad” for everyone, at all times and circumstances, we are bringing in absolutes to morality, which can’t happen in an atheistic mindset. Therefore, robbery is only relatively bad and may become “good” for the majority in the future. Or what about religions such as the Aztecs who believed sacrificing children fed the gods, which is “good” for them. Does that therefore make sacrificing children “good” in certain cultures, situations, or religions? If you think sacrificing children is always bad, then you are now giving an absolute, which again contradicts an atheistic mindset. If God does not exist, then that means morality is cultural or relative. Therefore, in a democracy fueled by moral relativism, if the majority believes something that was once bad is now good then it becomes good. If the majority believes a baby in the womb is life, then it becomes life, but the moment the majority says the baby in the womb is not life, it no longer is life. We must admit that these are the implications that logically flow from an atheistic society. Good and evil don’t actually exist. If we keep moving with this logic, if there is no God, then anything goes. I can do whatever I want, whenever I want, and it doesn’t have real meaning. To believe life has meaning, worth, or value becomes purely subjective creativity. Isn’t creating meaning as an atheist a “cover-up” to hide from the infinite abyss of darkness in the universe and the fact that life is objectively meaningless?