A Rant on Relativism (archaic)

This was originally posted on April 29th 2004. There was an atheist friend that I had at school, and apparently he had said something about relativism that angered me at the time. Though I agree with the basic gist of what is said here, I speak far more... forcefully than I would today. It is interesting to note how much more tolerant I am of others' points of view now. Though I would still say that relativism is absolutely wrong, I wouldn't be this pejorative anymore.

Anyway, here is the rant:

"Truth is absolute! Oi, this so bothers me. Anyone out there who doesn't believe this, I want you to start wearing tin foil on your head so we know who you are!

"If you want to claim there is no such thing as truth, though I disagree with you, that's a legitimate belief. It one wants to state that the truth is unknowable, again, that is a legitimate belief. But if you say that truth is relative, then you are ignorant. Truth is by definition absolute. What people have done is redefine truth to mean belief. That is stupid. We already had a word for that, belief! Stop redefining words at your leisure and use the ones we already have.

Truth:

(1)The noun form of the adjective true
(2) Any idea, thought or thing with the state of being true.

True:

(1) adjective form of the verb to be
(2) the state of being, existing

"Truth is by nature absolute because it depends on whether or not something is in existence. the phrase "This is a rock" is either true or false. If it is true, then it is a truth. Otherwise it is not a truth.

"There are some things more abstract, like lets say murder. Not killing, murder, there is a difference though I don't care to really get into that right now. Most people would agree that murder is wrong. However right and wrong, morality if you will, is loosely connected with truth, but only loosely. Morality only becomes truth if there exists a universal standard.

"There are two that have been proposed. The most obvious, and the one that i contend with, is that of God, being a supreme and omniscient being, can define an universal standard of morality, thereby allowing morality to become encapsulated within truth. Biblical, God defines morality in terms of love. When one acts with love, then almost universally will act morally. In Matthew 22: 37-40, Jesus says that all of the law of God is based upon loving God, and loving your neighbor. If you do these two things, the law will be fulfilled.

"The other proposed universal standard is that of effect. You look at the effect of an action, and if it causes more harm than good, it is wrong; if it causes more good than harm, it is right; if it cause the same amount of good as harm, then take out your coin. With this standard, one examines the two choices then, if one is moral, chooses the one that results in more good. This is the atheistic standard, and by and large a good one.

"OK, I think I'm starting to ramble, so I'll just conclude. Truth is absolute. If you see something that isn't absolute, and call it truth, then you are no longer discussing a truth, but a belief. Call it what it is. Morality is generally a group of beliefs, but if there is a universal standard, then there is one group of morals that is correct, making it truth."