Pope Benedict XVI and Moral Relativism

I heard on the radio yesterday that the Pope again renounced moral relativism. Not surprising, of course – after all, religions tout the idea of absolute truth and moral certainties.

So, is moral relativism the evil that Joseph Ratzinger (and, I believe, Tony Blair) tells us? I’ll take just one simple example of the logic and follow it through. Let’s take a look at the ten commandments – bastions of absolute truth that they are. Or are they?

The sixth commandment; Thou shalt not kill is pretty straightforward and makes sense to most of us. Except, of course, moral relativism creeps in at the start. The original text does not say “kill” it says “murder”; there being a difference. “Kill” is a mistranslation of the Hebrew text. The absolute truth of thou shalt not kill means that armies would have to lay down their weapons – yet we realise that there are times when taking up arms and killing the enemy is necessary for our survival. It would also mean that when George Bush signed the death warrants for convicted murderers, he was committing a heinous sin (a Christian disobeying the ten commandments – whatever next?). Therefore, thou shalt not kill does not apply – even the original text recognised the need for relativism rather than absolutes. Thou shalt not murder makes much more sense. Except…

If someone close to you is dying from a terminal illness and is suffering all that that implies – pain and loss of dignity – and they ask you as someone they love and who loves them to grant one final wish; the one thing that you can give them; the opportunity to choose the time and manner of their passing – what do you do? If you accede to their wish, you commit murder. But is it morally wrong? Of course, according to the Catholic Church with its view of absolute truth, yes, it is. To many of us, it is a painful decision with no absolute truth. And therein lies the rub. Whatever decision an individual makes in such a circumstance, it has to be their decision based upon their own sense of morality. Most of us can understand the pain of such a situation and ask ourselves how we would react in their place. We all recognise that murder is morally wrong – yet, given such a circumstance, some of us would commit murder and believe it to the be the right and honorable thing to do – and others looking on would not judge harshly. Yet a criminal offense has been committed.

And that is all that moral relativism is saying. Unlike the black and white absolute truths peddled by religious despots, moral relativism recognises the agonising choices those of us living in the real world have to make. It is not evil, it is real life.