Culture Wars

1. Culture Wars 12 Sep 2012 Bill Brewer — Bill Brewer

2. Overview • Gay activists have insurmountable obstacles in convincing us sexual orientation has any purpose other than justifying homosexuality • It is not real— e.g., twin studies • If real, homosexuality would still be inferior in being to heterosexuality— e.g., contingency of the former upon the latter • If equal, homosexuality would lack moral authority— e.g., innocent, free-will, and enlightened suffering on the behalf of others • Today, we will finish with a discussionof tolerance Gay Activists Axiology SEXUALORIENTATION Ontology Reification • 12 Sep 2012 — Bill Brewer

3. Pop Quiz Both of these people value private property • True or False? Good people have the same values as bad people. • The difference is not in values but in the order in which their values are held • Values exist in a hierarchy— lower to higher • Evil arises when lower-order values trump higher-order ones • A misplaced value “breaks bad” • Revolutionaries overthrow their enemies by using their enemies values against them True Person B Person B In this case, we can even say, “inverted ethical systems” Different ethical systems — Bill Brewer

4. Comparison of Ethical Systems SYSTEM A: • Equality is defined in terms of outcome • Unequal opportunities are a reasonable price for equal outcomes SYSTEM B: • Equality is defined in terms of opportunity • Unequal outcomes are a reasonable price for equal opportunities SYSTEM A SYSTEM B HIGHER VALUES Outcome Opportunity Equality Equality Unequal Opportunities Unequal Outcomes LOWER VALUES Person A Person B — Bill Brewer • 4

5. Comparison of Ethical Systems • These are two radically different ethical systems • People holding to these different systems would speak the language of equality • But they would mean entirely different things SYSTEM A SYSTEM B HIGHER VALUES Outcome Opportunity Equality Equality Unequal Opportunities Unequal Outcomes LOWER VALUES Person A Person B — Bill Brewer • 5

6. Comparison of Ethical Systems Which system . . . … has moral authority? … permits people to act more significantly? … fosters prosperity? • Answer: It depends SYSTEM A SYSTEM B HIGHER VALUES Outcome Opportunity Equality Equality Unequal Opportunities Unequal Outcomes LOWER VALUES Person A Person B — Bill Brewer • 6

7. Comparison of Ethical Systems In the past • Competing ethical systems share zones of toleration of varying sizes based on their common interests • In American society, it used to be we just disagreed on how ("the ways") to get where we all wanted to go. Our common interests ("our ends") were largely the same • The cultural warfare currently going on now, however, is the result of competing ethical systems whose ends are so radically different that the zones of tolerance are rapidly disappearing SYSTEMA SYSTEMB WAYS WAYS ENDS Zone of Tolerance Today SYSTEMA SYSTEMB ENDS ENDS WAYS Zone of Tolerance • 12 Sep 2012 — Bill Brewer

8. HIGHER VALUES LOWER VALUES Churchas Contrast Community • CHURCH • Character • Virtue • Calling • Soul • Intentional Community • Appropriate Speech • Being Known • Covenant • Will of God • Inalienable Rights Gender Affirmation Tolerance • CULTURE • Personality • Values • Lifestyle • Self • Coerced Community • Freedom of Speech • Right to Privacy • Contract • Will of the People • Civil Rights • Gender Denial • Moral Neutrality PARTICULARISM PLURALISM — Bill Brewer

9. Churchas Contrast Community HIGHER VALUES • The contrast between church and culture is between higher and lower values • Note the lower-order values are not inherently bad!! Intentional Community Appropriate Speech Gender Affirmation Inalienable Rights Being Known HIGHER VALUES Will of God Character Tolerance Covenant Calling Virtue Soul Self Values Lifestyle Contract Personality Civil Rights Gender Denial Moral Neutrality Right to Privacy Will of the People Freedom of Speech Coerced Community LOWER VALUES LOWER VALUES — Bill Brewer

10. Churchas Contrast Community HIGHER VALUES • In a pluralistic culture, the higher-order values get swept away • The lower-order value go out of control Intentional Community Appropriate Speech Gender Affirmation Inalienable Rights Being Known Will of God Character Tolerance Covenant Calling Virtue Soul Self Values Lifestyle Contract Personality Civil Rights Gender Denial Moral Neutrality Right to Privacy Will of the People Freedom of Speech Coerced Community LOWER VALUES — Bill Brewer

11. Out of control lower-order values . . . Relief of pain/suffering No abortion Marital sex Passive killing of terminally ill Restricted abortion Pre-marital sex Gambling as a vice Cohabitation Abortion on demand Active killing of terminally ill Homosexual partnerships Partial-birth abortion Gambling as public policy Active killing of those wanting to die Homosexual marriage Killing of sick babies Homosexual adoption Active killing of those not wishing to die Killing of healthy babies Pedophilia • 12 Sep 2012 — Bill Brewer

12. Downward Spirals • Lk 11: 24-26 “When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ 25 When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. 26 Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first” • 12 Sep 2012 — Bill Brewer

13. Churchas Contrast Community • In a pluralistic culture, moral neutrality becomes a higher value HIGHER VALUES Intentional Community Appropriate Speech Gender Affirmation Inalienable Rights Being Known Will of God Character Tolerance Covenant Calling Virtue Soul Self Values Lifestyle Contract Moral Neutrality Tolerance “Tolerance” Personality Civil Rights Gender Denial Right to Privacy Will of the People Freedom of Speech Coerced Community LOWER VALUES — Bill Brewer

14. But first, a true story . . . A teacher in Newton, Massachusetts, had attended numerous values clarification workshops and was assiduously applying its techniques in her class. The day came when her class of sixth graders announced that they valued cheating and wanted to be free to do it on their tests. The teacher was very uncomfortable. Her solution? She told the children that since it was her class and since she was opposed to cheating, they were not free to cheat. “In my class you must be honest, for I value honesty.” “In other areas of your life you may be free to cheat” — Sommers, Christina Hoff (Associate Professor of Philosophy, Clark University), "Teaching the Virtues," reprinted in AFA Journal, Jan 1992 — Bill Brewer

15. Moral Neutrality Of course, except for gender-selective abortions because that would be demeaning to women Moral neutrality is a stance that … • Opposes all moral commitments as simply attitudes masquerading as facts (emotivism) • Grounds itself in the certainty of not knowing • Views the truth of its position as self-evident and in need of no defense • Is frequently equated with tolerance Moral neutrality is defective in that . . . • It cannot answer “why be neutral” • It is impossible— in the real world there is no “zero perspective” • It is nihilistic and stupefying • It lacks self-awareness • Its conclusions are arbitrary • It is frequently just a pose . . . • For disarming opponents • To simply justify arbitrariness Abortion must be available without restriction to honor the freedom of women to choose And of course, except for abortions based on sexual orientation because that would be demeaning to gays — Bill Brewer

16. Tolerance • Tolerance is "right judgment in the preservation of worthy ends against mistaken means“ • Put more simply, it means being willing to put up with (i.e., right judgment) lesser evils (i.e., worthy ends) if their suppression (i.e., mistaken means) produces greater evils • Real tolerance requires a moral stance • Tolerance is advanced, not by suspension of judgment, but by better judgment • Moral neutrality (not taking a stand), if such were even possible, makes tolerance unnecessary In debate, we tolerate falsehood in the pursuit of truth — Bill Brewer

17. Tolerance PublicPropriety HIGHER VALUES • Tolerance is "right judgment in the preservation of worthy ends against mistaken means“ • Put more simply, it means being willing to put up with (i.e., right judgment) lesser evils (i.e., worthy ends) if their suppression (i.e., mistaken means) produces greater evils • Real tolerance requires a moral stance • Tolerance is advanced, not by suspension of judgment, but by better judgment • Moral neutrality (not taking a stand), if such were even possible, makes tolerance unnecessary In exchange for . . . A lower-level value is slighted to preserve a more worthy end PrivateImpropriety LOWER VALUES Put up with . . . • Preservation of the public good can require sanctions when such acts are made public • Examples include • Incest • Euthanasia • Gambling • Simulations of child pornography • In earlier times, homosexuality — Bill Brewer

18. Tolerance • Tolerance implies a hierarchy of values in which offenses to lower-order values are tolerated for the sake of higher-order values • Example: Anti-abortion activists are tolerant in not resorting to violence in their opposition to abortion • An illustration— saving a dog • Anti-abortion activists use right judgment (non-violence) in the preservation of worthy ends (elimination of abortion) against mistaken means (violence) Hey!!! We don’t save a dog from being killed in traffic by scaring it into the path of oncoming cars Likewise, we don’t steer people away from an evil (e.g., abortion) by doing things (e.g., violent protests) that would deepen their commitment to the evil — Bill Brewer

19. Tolerance vs. unity of the virtues . . . • Tolerance is one virtue among many • The “many” are unified— no one virtue can be effectively taught in isolation from the others. • In scripture we see a “unity of the virtues” • Dt 15:5 … being careful to do all this commandment [singular] … • Jas 2:10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it • Gal 5:3 I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law • Mt 5:18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished • Tolerance by itself can never substitute for a complete system of virtues • Moral neutrality (re-labeled “tolerance”) is even less adequate Chastity Humility Temperance PracticalWisdom Kindness Charity Patience Diligence The Unity of the Virtues — Bill Brewer

20. Tolerating Gay Activism? • Traditional norms and the “new normal” of gay activists are radically different • The zone of tolerance is therefore small • Gay activists try to widen that zone by • Inventing and reifying sexual orientation • Caricaturing heterosexuality • Appropriating the moral authorityof others • Misrepresenting moral neutrality as tolerance • . . . • The smallness of the “zone of tolerance,” however, is NOT a problem to be solved but rather a reality to be respected • The natural social location of homosexuality is on the fringe of society • Bringing it into the mainstream is ultimately cruel to both gays and straights alike • Homosexual ideology is incompatible with a just, enduring, and prosperous society Traditional Norms New Norms of Gay Activists Normalize alternative sexualities Socializemoral identities WAYS Zone of Tolerance SYSTEMA SYSTEMB ENDS ENDS • 12 Sep 2012 — Bill Brewer