WHAT IS TRUTH?

TRUTH THE WAY THINGS ARE -- REALITY --

Then what is… LOSING TOUCH WITH REALITY

INSANITY

Where does Truth come from?

IS TRUTH RELATIVE? Protagoras: Truth is relative. It is only a matter of opinion. Socrates: You mean that truth is mere subjective opinion? Protagoras: Exactly. What is true for you is true for you, and what is true for me, is true for me. Truth is subjective. Socrates: Do you really mean that? That my opinion is true by virtue of its being my opinion? Protagoras: Indeed I do. Socrates: My opinion is: Truth is absolute, not opinion, and that you, Mr. Protagoras, are absolutely in error. Since this is my opinion, then you must grant that it is true according to your philosophy. Protagoras: You are quite correct, Socrates

What does Truth have to do with how you feel about your belief system? Absolute or relative?

-- personal character-- --usually unchanging-- “Treat others as you want to be treated.” (Christianity) “Not one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother what he desires for himself.” (Islam) “One should not behave towards others in a way which is disagreeable to oneself. This is the essence of morality.” (Hinduism) “Do not do to others what you would not like yourself.” (Confucianism) “We obtain salvation by loving our fellow man and God.” (Sikhism) “Having made oneself the example, one should neither slay nor cause to slay….As I am, so are other beings; thus let one not strike another, nor get another struck. That is the meaning.” (Buddhism) “Thou shalt love they neighbor as thyself.” (Judaism)

stress a social system in which those morals are applied = Professional absolutism Fixed moral laws which are to be obeyed at all times ANTINOMIANISM No fixed moral laws, but actions that are spontaneous NIHILISM No God – no rules– every person is a law unto himself

SITUATIONAL ETHICS  Joseph Fletcher  balance between antinomianism and absolutism  LOVE is sole factor in making judgments How are you able to foretell consequences of a persons’ actions commands is loving God

What role should morality and Ethics play in Religion?

--Leo Tolstoy “Morality cannot be independent of religion, since it is only a consequence of religion – that is, of the relationship a person has to the world – but it also included in religion by implication. Every religion is an answer to the question of the meaning of life. And the religious answer includes a certain moral demand.”

HOW WOULD YOU DEFINE AMERICA?

What role should religion, morality, and ethics play in Society?

MAYFLOWER COMPACT - 11/11/1620 We whose names are underwritten…having undertaken, a voyage to plant the first colony…”

MAYFLOWER COMPACT - 11/11/1620 “In the name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwritten…having undertaken, For the glorie of God, and advancemente of the Christian faith…, a voyage to plant the first colony…”

The New England Primer st Grade Reading Book Only Bible sold more copies

Harvard Princeton Columbia ALL FOUNDED ON CHRISTIAN RELIGION PRINCIPLES

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY “Cursed is all learning that is contrary to the Cross of Christ.” Founding Statement 1746

JOHN ADAMS “ Statesmen, my dear Sir, may plan and speculate for liberty, but it is Religion and Morality alone, which can establish the Principles upon which Freedom can securely stand.” -1776

Original Delaware Constitution 1776 Article 22 Every person who shall be chosen a member of either house, or appointed to any office or place of trust…shall…make and subscribe the following declaration, to wit:

Original Delaware Constitution “I, _________, do profess faith in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ his only Son, and in the Holy Ghost, one God, blessed evermore; And I do acknowledge the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by Divine Inspiration.”

SAMUEL ADAMS 1778 “Religion and good morals are the only solid foundations of public liberty and happiness.”

NORTHWEST ORDINANCE 1787 Article III “Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.”

“The great pillars of all government and of social life [are] virtue, morality, and religion. This is the armor…and this alone, that renders us invincible.”

GEORGE WASHINGTON “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports….In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens.…” -Farewell Address 1796

BENJAMIN RUSH “The only foundation for…a republic is to be laid in Religion. Without this there can be no virtue, and without virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object and life of all republican governments.” Signer of Declaration of Independence 1 st Attorney General

Webster’s Dictionary – 1828 Politics “The science of government; that part of ethics which consists in the regulation and government of a nation or state, for the preservation of its safety, peace and prosperity; comprehending the defense of its existence and rights against foreign control or conquest…and the protection of its citizens in their own rights, with the preservation and improvement of their morals.”

ALEXIS de TOCQUEVILLE “The Americans combine the notions of Christianity and liberty so intimately in their minds that it is impossible to make them conceive one without the other.”

Noah Webster “In my view, the Christian Religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government, ought to be instructed…no truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian Religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people.”

NEA “…if the study of the Bible is to be excluded from all state schools; if the inculcation of the principles of Christianity is to have no place in the daily program; I the worship of God is to form no part of the general exercises of these public elementary schools; then the good of the state would be better served by restoring all schools to church control.”

President Clinton “The First Amendment…does not convert our schools into religion-free zones.”