Identity Politics is the result of abandoning Truth.
When I started writing this commentary, I was going to begin with the premise that Identity Politics was the cause of Moral Equivocation and application of double, or multiple standards, but quickly realized that, no, Identity Politics is the result, not the cause of application of “relative truth”.
Truth cannot be relative, but must be held as absolute. Some philosophers have, for centuries, attempted to blur the lines of Good and Evil by questioning truth, as relative, pragmatic, or even plural. This is nothing new. But societies and civilizations rise and fall on the understanding and application of Truth. Why? Because Truth is the basis for Good and Evil.
Understanding Good and Evil is prerequisite for a civil and just society. Mankind has temporarily run into this understanding occasionally throughout history, but it generally does not tend to hold through for multiple generations.
For 50 years we have toyed with Relativism (Truth is relative to the situation-we called it “situational ethics” back in the ‘70’s), and found that we preferred to embrace Pluralism (wherein everything is true, and all philosophies, cultures, ideologies, and religions are of equal value). Pluralism has castrated the minds of Americans and Europeans (culturally and socially) preventing a thought process based upon the fundamental idea of Truth, which brings the understanding of Good and Evil. If Evil does not exist, then what is Good? Who defines it? If there is no difference then Mother Theresa and Adolph Hitler are equal, and share the same eternity. See where that leads?
It leads the Epicurean, (who is always questioning Truth) Pontius Pilate, to look Jesus Christ Himself in the face and ask, “What is Truth”?
Absent of Truth, then “every man does that which is right in his own eyes.” We then gather with those who share the same “truth” as we, so as to justify our position, and point out how “morally corrupt” our opposition is, based on the false premise that we, do indeed, hold the moral high ground. With no fundamental truths to direct or stay our emotional whims, we have then become victims of our own emotional reaction. The society who does this is ripe for the picking. Either by an outside force, or by an opportunistic individual from within.
By adopting Pluralism, we have tried to embrace everything as of equal value; by embracing everything, we hold on to nothing.
This is not a political commentary. It is a call to repentance.
Without God there is no Truth. No Understanding. No Purpose. NO Future. No Hope. Jesus Christ embodies all this.
And that’s my sermon for today.
But listen to Ben for a few seconds. He’s a bit more concise (Starting at 1:20:53. Video should start there.)