Illinois Right to Life Committee's Executive Director William Beckman writes in a guest op-ed today:
So why did liberals reject moral absolutes? Only because they disagreed with them! They could never have really rejected the concept of absolutes because in their eyes, it is absolutely true that liberals are always right, and everyone else is always wrong.
The Folly of Ideological Absolutes
by William Beckman, Executive Director of Illinois Right to Life Committee (beckman@illinoisrighttolife.org)
Most liberals reject absolute truth, especially moral absolutes. In contrast, they maintain the following positions as absolutes:
- Mentioning a link between abortion and breast cancer is “deceptive”
- Warning about psychological impacts from abortion is “false and misleading”
- Noting that abortion may impact future fertility is “misleading and untrue”
- Declaring that an embryo is human life is “religious fanaticism”
- Declaring with certainty that God exists is more “religious fanaticism”
- Teaching abstinence only education is “immoral”
- Suggesting that teens can abstain from sex is “impossible and unrealistic”
- Praying in front of an abortion clinic “intimidates” women
- Pregnancy care centers certainly “intimidate” women
- Suggesting that evolution is only a theory is “teaching religion”
- Challenging global warming as unproven is “inviting global destruction”
- Preventing same sex partners from getting married is “unjust discrimination”
So why did liberals reject moral absolutes? Only because they disagreed with them! They could never have really rejected the concept of absolutes because in their eyes, it is absolutely true that liberals are always right, and everyone else is always wrong.
As a result, to liberals, finding common ground means accepting their position. Thus, the only worthwhile response possible is to defend the moral absolutes that liberals have arbitrarily rejected. For example, when they maintain that embryonic stem cell research is absolutely necessary, we maintain that it is absolutely unacceptable, while we continue to recognize and encourage the tremendous progress being made with adult and cord blood stem cells.
Defending absolutes is much easier when truth is on your side. We don’t need to invent the lie of the week to defend our position like they do. Consider their recent attacks on abstinence education, pregnancy care centers, and adult stem cell research. These attacks are based on questionable studies, misrepresentations of fact, and altered quotations. Such tactics reveal the folly of absolutes based on liberal ideology.
