Moral Relativism 1

Moral Relativism

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In America, we have always prided ourselves on being a tolerant society, as indeed we should. Somewhere along the way, however, it became difficult for some Americans to believe we ought to respect all points of view (especially religious and moral points of view) without believing that all religious and moral points of view were pretty much equal.    

But how does one believe that all religious and moral points of view are pretty much equal? The way that many of us have reconciled this in our minds is to get rid of the idea of truth altogether, and to say that anyone who claims his or her ideas about morality or religion to be the true ideas is breaking the solemn commandment to be tolerant and respectful of differing beliefs.

There is just one problem here. And it is a glaring problem. Those who want to banish the idea of truth from our moral vocabulary for the sake of toleration forget the fact that toleration itself is a moral value. If the truth about morality really cannot be known, therefore there is no longer any reason to value tolerance or intolerance.