Faith and Moral Reasoning [From a Faith Perspective — Bucks County Courier Times]

Recently, my wife and I, and some very dear friends, traveled with a group of people who did not know each other before the trip. We were people from various states and countries who had virtually nothing in common apart from our interest in seeing a particular region in Italy on a bicycle. It was a lovely vacation, a once-in-a-lifetime trip for us. And the group got along quite well, which was a bit of a surprise to me. At a time when our nation is so starkly divided politically and culturally, I anticipated either an avoidance of divisive conversation or some degree of tension. We experienced neither. While America is on the cusp of a contentious presidential election, our gaggle of cyclists enjoyed an ideological cease-fire. While there were no open conflicts or any evident tensions, we did engage in conversations on issues that could have become contentious but did not. This could be because the group was congenial and gathered around a leisurely purpose. But it set me to reflect upon something that truly divides Americans, which is almost irreconcilable. And the matter of faith plays into it.

As an evangelical Christian educator and social theorist, I have observed that culture and society have progressed in a particular direction since 2016. I have noticed for longer than that how polarized the country is on any number of political and cultural issues. But in the last eight years, the divisions in America have become more pronounced and visceral. Polls on matters ranging from candidate preference to abortion, gun control, and immigration show Americans are sharply divided, with the majority margins rarely above three or four by percent. In addition to this, the emotion expressed on any given issue makes it easy to see why communities, workplaces, churches, and families are experiencing tension, division, and even fractured relationships. These observations have led me to ask whether something more fundamental is underneath these disagreements and this division. And are we divided over something deeper than the issues? I believe the answer to both questions is yes.

From a faith perspective, as a Christian who believes in the teaching and authority of the Bible, I also conclude that in the person of God, there is a higher moral authority according to whose standards and expectations our individual lives and our society should be ordered. There is a lot to unpack there that this column does not allow for. But for people of the Christian faith who have this view of the Bible and believe in God's moral authority, this is a major dividing line, one on which we cannot compromise without compromising our core beliefs and values, the things that we hold central to our faith, living, and thinking. Our moral reasoning is inextricably tied to our faith.

At the same time, we live in a secularized and pluralistic society where a significant number of people have embraced subjectivism and moral relativism. Many people believe there is no absolute, objective, or knowable truth. They believe individuals decide for themselves through reason and experience what truth is. So, it stands to reason that moral relativism is a good fit for moral reasoning. This is a difficult place to find ourselves as a society; on any given issue of a political or cultural nature, we have people taking sides who may disagree on a more fundamental level-not about policy or even what is right, true, or moral, but on what basis they decide what is right, true, or moral. All you have to do is think about the words used by those who disagree on the issue of abortion: pro-life versus pro-abortion or pro-choice versus anti-abortion. The assignment of these terms to those who hold a particular view with which we disagree underscores that what we disagree about is not merely how we respond to an unplanned or compromised pregnancy but how we understand the basis on which that decision is made and how we decide who decides. Perhaps one step to navigating this divide is to acknowledge more precisely what divides us on this more profound level. It is difficult to find a way through if we are misidentifying the problem.

This article was originally published in the in-print issue of Bucks County Courier Times on October 27, 2024.