Bidens typical pro-choice" argument was originally a defense of slavery. Personally Im opposed to slavery; I just refuse to impose that on others unlike my friend here Mr. Abraham Lincoln."
When Joe Biden was asked about abortion in the vice-presidential debate last Thursday he replied with what in part has become boilerplate. I accept my churchs position on abortion…" he said. Life begins at conception; thats the churchs judgment. I accept it in my personal life; I just refuse to impose that on others unlike my friend here the congressman Paul Ryan."
The personally-opposed no-values-imposed (PONVI) argument is nothing new. For instance consider the following version of a typical pro-abortion appeal:
If each person will only agree to mind his own business and leave his neighbors alone there will be peace forever between us.... I am now speaking of rights under the constitution and not of moral or religious rights.... It is for women to decide... the moral and religious right of the abortion question for themselves within their own limits....
Now consider that this passage was altered by Professor Michael Pakaluk but was originally written by Stephen Douglas with states" in the place of women" and slavery" in place of abortion." This typical pro-choice" argument was originally a defense of slavery. (Note that Douglas the consummate politician did denounce slavery in private.)
So the fallacy of the PONVI position is revealed when we apply it to other things. Personally Im opposed to rape but I understand the world is shades of gray; Personally Im opposed to slavery; I just refuse to impose that on others unlike my friend here Mr. Lincoln." Would we consider this a moral and compelling reason to not prohibit these things?
Some will now say that rape and slavery are very different from abortion in that they directly hurt another person. To thus contend however is to depart from the PONVI argument and delve into the nature of the act in question. It then follows that if abortion also directly hurts another person it may warrant prohibition as well.
And this is the problem with PONVI: it is a dodge. Abortion or whatever is being discussed may be good bad or morally neutral; it may or may not be a legitimate function of government to legislate on it. But well never know when indulging the PONVI dodge because it doesnt actually tackle the nature of whats being discussed. Instead its only moral component is the implication that its noble to not impose values on others. Yet we do this all the time: a law by definition is the imposition of a value.
Another common argument used against the pro-life stance is that its a religious position and thus not the legitimate stuff of laws. Vice-presidential debate moderator Martha Raddatz abortion question played upon this as she asked the two candidates how their Catholic faith shaped their views on the subject. And it was in a way reflected when slavery advocate Stephen Douglas said I am now speaking of rights under the constitution and not of moral or religious rights…." And neer the twain shall meet?
Not according to Joe Biden. My religion defines who I am… It has particularly informed my social doctrine" he said in the debate. He then went on to chide his opponent saying that Congressman Ryan takes issue with Catholic social doctrine." Think about that for a moment. Biden wasnt criticizing Ryans personal charitable behavior but his public policy; moreover Catholic social doctrine involves a multitude of ways in which we can help our fellow man and Biden believes that the government should help citizens (and maybe non-citizens) in a multitude of ways. Thus Biden was chastising Ryan for not letting his religion influence a huge swath of public policy. Like a Saudi cleric Biden was advocating the imposition of religious principles through government. And guess what?
Hes right to do so.
(That is he was inadvertently right about the nature of lawbut not about the amount of it we should have.)
For while we can have a separation of church and state there can never be a separation of church and just law. I know this is a controversial statement but Ill explain what I mean by connecting the dots.
Any law is the imposition of a value" but a just law is more specific: it imposes morality. After all a law states that there is something we must or mustnt do. But why must or mustnt we? Sure it could be because monarchs or masses feel like it and have the power but thats simply might making right. For a law to be just what is prescribed or proscribed must be respectively a moral imperative or morally wrongor a corollary thereof. To dispute this is to say that you would prohibit something even though its not wrong or mandate something even though its not a good. What would be the point? Only tyrants do that.
So a just law must reflect morality but what is morality? Who determines it? There are only two possibilities: man or something outside of man does. Lets consider the implications of each one.
Imagine that 95 percent of humanity liked chocolate and disliked vanilla. Would this make vanilla wrong" or immoral"? Of course not. We know such things are mere matters of taste. Okay but then how can we rightly claim that murder rape or slavery is immoral" if the only reason were doing so is that the vast majority of us dont happen to like it? If the only argument we can hang our hat on is consensus preference then it falls into the same category as flavors: taste.
Some will now point out that the aforementioned acts hurt others but who is to say thats wrong? Exasperated you may now say Everybody! Thats who!" But everybody" is people so were again down to consensus preference. Its a merry-go-round always bringing us back to the same pointless point. And theres only one way off it.
This is to accept the point: the one way we can rightly say an act is wrong" or immoral" is if something outside of man and supreme (i.e. God) has deemed that its sois if its dictated by the objective reality called Truth. This is why the Founding Fathers took pains to emphasize that our rights are endowed by our Creator. They knew that for a principle to have credibility it has to reflect more than merely consensus preference. It has to reflect morality which incidentally is never personal" but universal and eternal.
So here are the dots and destination: a just law must reflect morality. Morality implies God. Things of God are discussed and discovered in the realm we call religion. Therefore religion must and always does shape lawif that law is to be just. There is no way around it.
And what if God didnt exist? Then what we call a just law couldnt be any more right" than unjust" law as this too would be reduced to preference. It is realities such as this that devoted atheists should consider. You wont believe in the divine? Alright. But then we can dispense with words such as right wrong good bad (as they relate to behavior) morality and even values as theyre then just redundancies that while lending an illusory sense of meaning only apply in religious fairytales and therefore muddy the waters. Just say what you mean and accept that our laws and social codes are all a matter of taste; accept that all of our arguments are mere vanity that theyre but an intellectual veneer applied to an edifice of desire and that theres nothing noble in our cultural and political battles. Its just a matter of who controls the guns by capturing the votes.
And what of religion in government? Well if religious ideas really do come from God the creator of the Universe then they should infuse everything. And what if they dont hail from Heaven and thus lack this divine credibility? Then religion is man-made just like everything else so why discriminate against it? Why say that man-made ideas we happen to call secular (now anyway) may be the stuff of laws but man-made ideas we happen to call religious may not be? If all is man-made religious/secular is in a sense a false distinction.
Of course operating with a full understanding of the relativistic world view devoted militant secularists now could tell us why they discriminate against religion": Because we can." And this explains why our political battles become more underhanded and vicious all the time: If man is the measure of all things" he can never fail to measure up no matter how far down he goes.