Connected to Ethics
Paul Chamberlain, Ph.D.
Trinity Western University
General Moral Principles
Specific Moral Questions
Correct Moral Action
Complex moral & social dilemmas
Ethical Questions:
 More of them
 Increasingly complex
 Technology
Cultural Moral Messages
 Personal
 Private
 Neither right or wrong
 Opinion
 Cannot impose
Loss of Moral Principles  Loss of
a Moral Compass
How should we think about God’s
moral teaching?
 Directions for the Human
Machine
 A Friend
Is the moral landscape changing?
 Traditional moral values are
questioned/ set aside
Her baby was
born with
spina bifida
If the mother
had known,
she wouldn’t
have had him.
Now she is
suing her
family doctor
for...
Is the moral landscape changing?
 Sanctity of life ethic
versus
Quality of life ethic
Why does our Society seem so
morally confused?
What’s going on here?
I don’t understand!
Contradictory moral views
held by the same people
Isn’t morality relative?
Definition: no objectively true moral
values
Subjective Truth
Depends upon the attitude or opinion of
the person
Is created/determined by the subject
Objective Truth
Does not depend upon anyone’s attitude
or opinion
Is there to be recognized/discovered
Baseball Umpires:
“I call’m as I see’m”
“No, I call’m as they are”
“They ain’t nothing til I
call’m”
Analysis of Moral Relativism:
1) No act could be condemned
2) No act could be commended
3) Blue Folders
4) “A victim of injustice always
knows an injustice is being done”
5) A genuine injustice means that
some objective standard of justice
is being violated.
Morality & Social Responsibility:
How we Grow it
Paul Chamberlain
Give young people a biblically
informed way of understanding
God’s moral teaching
 Directions for the Human
Machine
 A Friend
The Tolerance Question
“Can I live out my morals
without others thinking
I’m intolerant?”
The Assumption:
Intolerance is always bad
&
Tolerance is always good
 ) Why is tolerance so
important in our culture?
Truth is relative
Truth is the enemy
Goal : - get rid of truth
- pursue tolerance
Result:
Becomes Truth versus Tolerance
Tolerance wins
Objective truth is rejected
Truth is downplayed
&
Tolerance is elevated
 ) What is true tolerance?
Tolerance entails
disagreement
 ) Should Christians be
tolerant?
Yes
But not toward everything
What should we do?
 Speak truth in love:
Eph. 4:15
 Respect other’s rights to
do the same
 Protect what we hold dear by
legitimate intolerance
“Is it wrong for me to impose
my moral values on others?
Marginalized Morality
Public Policy
KEEP OUT!!
A Response
* Call for Consistency
* Ask: Can my view really be
written off as a “religious” view?
* Define “Impose”
A Conversation on
Responding to a Few Objections
What follows is a fictional, yet realistic,
conversation between Michael who considers
himself a free thinker and his friend Isaac.
Michael objects to the way Isaac expresses
his moral convictions to others.
Michael - “You’re imposing your
moral/religious values on me. You can’t do
that. Keep them to yourself. They’re your
values.”
Isaac - “Don’t you believe in individual
liberty?”
Michael - “Yes. Which is why I want to stop
people like you from imposing their values on
the rest of us. It limits our rights and
freedoms.”
Isaac - “Don’t you express your views on
moral issues? Don’t you try to influence
public policy in a way you believe to be
good?”
Michael - “Yes, but I’m not religious. You
are; and you’re trying to impose your
religious morals on the rest of us who are not
religious.”
Isaac - “Does everyone agree with your moral
values?”
Michael - “No, I guess not.”
Isaac - “So we both have values which not
everyone agrees with.”
Michael - “True.”
Isaac - “And when you argue that certain
laws should be enacted, aren’t you doing the
same thing you were accusing me of doing,
imposing your moral values on others who do
not necessarily agree with you?”
Michael - “I don’t like the word ‘impose.’”
Isaac - “Neither do I, but since you used it,
could we talk about it for a moment?”
Michael - “Why not?”
Isaac - “Is it imposing one’s moral values on
to others to get involved in the democratic
process to lobby and campaign, and to try to
influence public policy in a way that you
believe is good? Doesn’t democracy even
invite us to do this? Is that imposing?”
(At this point, Michael could answer either
“yes” or “no.” Suppose the answer is . . .)
Michael - “No.”
Isaac - “Good. Then we agree that as long as
we are doing this, neither of us is imposing
our moral values on others.”
(But suppose He answers . . .)
Michael - “Yes, it is imposing.”
Isaac - “Then we’re both guilty. So is
everyone who tries to influence public policy
this way. Right? Let’s get serious. We both
know that imposing is the wrong word to
describe what we’re doing here.”
(Note: This is usually applied only to certain
worldviews, i.e., religious ones, but this is
inconsistent. The same activity is carried out
by many people of different views, but the
negative term “impose” is reserved for those
views which some disagree with.)
(Suppose this further objection is raised)
Michael - “But there is a difference between
what you are doing and what I am doing.”
Isaac - “And what is that?”
Michael - “You are restricting people from
doing something they want to do. We are
not. If people want an abortion, or
euthanasia, I say go ahead. If they don’t
want to, they don’t have to. But you are
trying to enact laws to stop people from
doing these things because you think they are
wrong. That is imposing.”
Isaac - “And you don’t do this?”
Michael - “No way! Not a chance! I impose
nothing on anyone!”
Isaac - “How do you feel about child
pornography?”
Michael - “It’s disgusting. It harms
children.”
Isaac - “Should it be illegal?”
Michael - “Of course it should be illegal!”
Isaac - “What about rape, murder, speeding,
tax evasion, and driving on any side of the
road you please? Should these be illegal
too?”
Michael - “Obviously. Stupid question.”
(somewhat irritated)
Isaac - “Even though some people want to do
these things?”
Michael - “Yes! And your point is . . .?”
Isaac - “That you do it, too.”
Michael - “Do what?”
Isaac - “You impose your values onto others
who do not agree with you or want to live by
your values. Every legal restriction is a
restriction on someone’s choice and you just
said you’re in favour of legal restrictions.”
Michael - “Sure, to prevent someone from
harming another person.”
Isaac - “Let me get this straight. You believe
it is legitimate to argue for laws which you
believe are necessary to protect people even
though some others may disagree with you?”
Michael - “Yes, and that’s the only reason!”
Isaac - “Exactly.”
Michael - “What?”
Isaac - “I said ‘Exactly.’ Because that is why
I think abortion should be restricted by law.”
Michael - “Who is being harmed in
abortion?”
Isaac - “The unborn, which I believe to be
fully human in embryonic form.”
Michael - “But I don’t believe the fetus is
human.”
Isaac - “Yes, I know. We disagree about who
or what is being harmed in an abortion.
Since I believe the fetus is human, I believe
an abortion harms, in fact kills, a human and
didn’t you just say it is legitimate to argue
for a law you believe is necessary to protect
people even though others may disagree?”
Michael - “Yes.”
Isaac - “So you don’t really have a problem
with what I’m doing do you? You just called
it ‘legitimate.’”
(Pause)
Michael - “But aren’t you forgetting
something?”
Isaac - “Probably. What?”
Michael - “Those abortion protesters. Surely
you admit they are imposing their morality
onto others. They’re trying to stop people
from having abortions.”
Isaac - “Yes, they’re just as bad as those
logging protesters, and those seal hunt
protesters, not to mention Martin Luther
King and his civil rights protests. Do you
condemn these, too?”
(Michael may answer either way. Suppose he
answer . . .)
Michael - “No.”
Isaac - “Why not? They’re engaging in civil
disobedience too, and trying to stop people
from doing something they want to do. This
is inconsistent.”
(But suppose He answers . . .)
Michael - “Yes, I do.”
Isaac - “Then what you’re really disagreeing
with is civil disobedience in all forms, not just
abortion protesters. You may be right. This
is debatable, but let’s not be too quick here.”
Michael - “Why not?”
Isaac - “Are they really so different from the
rest of us who lobby for new laws to restrict
certain activities? In both cases we’re trying
to stop people from doing things they want to
do. In civil disobedience, the people
themselves, try to stop the activities. In the
other, we get the government and police to
stop them for us.”
Michael - “But this is different. These people
are breaking the law.”
Isaac - “True. That is the difference. In one
case we use legal means to stop people. In
the other case, they have given up on these
and have turned to other means.”
Michael - “Which are illegal.”
Isaac - “Yes. I think that although this
should be a last resort, history has shown
that governments are sometimes like big
ships, slow to change course to bring about
justice.”
Sometimes it is individual people who
recognize the injustice of a particular law or
public policy and who are willing to put
themselves at risk to force the issue, to appeal
to people’s sense of justice and end an
injustice. I’m thinking of slavery and the
underground highway, M. L. King, the Ten
Booms, Gandhi, the Hebrew midwives in
Exodus, the followers of Jesus in Acts 5.”
But couldn’t social consensus
be the basis of morality?
Might makes right
Any social consensus is
morally right
Power
Susan Smith
A Few Good Men
Nuremburg Trials
What’s our moral foundation?
Two Scenarios:
1) The world/universe without God
Unanswered Questions:
What could produce real good &
evil?
What is so special about humans?
2) The world/universe with God
Isn’t Christianity anti-gay?
 not in spite of Christian teaching
 but because of Christian teaching
One Misguided Response
 scripture does not teach that
homosexual activity is wrong
 problem: Leviticus 18:22 , Romans
1:26-27, I Cor. 6:9-11
Better Approach
What scripture calls immoral?
 homosexual orientation:
Yes_
No _
 homosexual activity: Yes_ No _
 orientation = tendency, desire,
temptation
 temptation = sin : Hebrews 4:15
 temptation to sin
sin
2 different things
Christian Moral Teaching
 homosexual activity is wrong
 homosexual orientation is a
special temptation for some
 love homosexuals
 not a super sin