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Is truth absolute or relative?
INTRODUCTION
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Some current religious/philosophical debates concern:
 | The nature of truth:
 | Are there answers to some questions that are absolute. That is,
they are universally true for all time and in all
societies? For example, it is possible to say "Thou shalt not murder"
absolutely?
or |
| Are answers always relative to a particular culture, or era, or
worldview? (A worldview is a person's
basic beliefs concerning deity, humanity and the rest of the
universe.) |
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| The morality of certain acts and behaviors:
| Does a specific act always fall into the same classification (right,
wrong, or morally neutral)? or |
| Can an act be either right, wrong, or neutral, depending on the culture, the
precise
situation, and the era? |
|
| Assuming that "truth" exists, how do we determine it?
| There exists a near consensus on many matters of right and wrong,
truth and falsehood within conservative Christian faith groups;
their morality is based on their unique interpretation of the Bible,
a book which they generally believe to be inerrant
and inspired by God. |
| There is often an agreement on many issues of right and wrong/truth and
falsehood within liberal Christian faith groups, based on their
unique interpretation of the Bible and other sources of
information. |
| There may well be still a third consensus among many Agnostics, Atheists,
Freethinkers and Humanists, on these matters, based on their core secular beliefs. |
| On matters of behavior, religious conservatives, liberal faith groups,
and secular groups agree on many items, such as the immorality of murder, theft,
lying, adultery, etc. But they often differ totally on sexual and other topics.
e.g. as abortion
access, homosexual rights, pre-marital sex,
child corporal punishment, death
penalty....the list goes on. |
| Both groups of Christians believe that they are interpreting the Bible
correctly and that the other side is mistaken. If truth exists,
then only one group
(perhaps neither) is right. |
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The essential conflict concerns the nature of truth and values: whether they are
absolute or relative.
| Some people, particularly those from the conservative wing of
various religions argue that absolute truth exists. They feel that
they can study their religious holy texts and derive from it statements that are
absolutely true. |
| Many others say that absolute truth does not exist; all truth is relative
to the religion, society, and era in question. That is a rather silly
statement. It is, in itself, an absolute statement. By definition, it
is invalid! |
| Still others argue that all "truth" that they have seen to
date is relative. Absolute truth may be out there, but they have not
seen any indications of it. They have evaluated true/false statements
about many theological and moral truths, but have never found any that
can be proven to be absolute. |
A religious group might consider a moral statement to be absolute,
because it is based upon their core, foundational beliefs and assumptions.
A Southern Baptist might assert that the statement "Homosexual
behavior is a sin" is an absolute truth, because of their
interpretation of the Bible. A Christian from a mainline or liberal
denomination might say that the statement "Sexual behavior,
whether homosexual or heterosexual, is not a sin, if it is consensual,
non-exploitive, safe, and confined to a committed relationship"
is an absolute truth, because of:
| Their interpretation of the Bible's text; |
| Their understanding of the nature of sexual orientation |
| Their personal experience, and |
| Their study of
information from medical sources, mental health professional associations,
and human sexuality researchers. |
Since the two statements disagree, both cannot be absolute truths. Each
group may consider their own view to be absolute. But at least one is
wrong. However, we can say that both statements are true in relation to each
group's core beliefs.
Copyright © 1999 to 2005 by Ontario Consultants on
Religious Tolerance
Latest update: 2005-MAY-29
Written by: B.A. Robinson
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