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The day when the people celebrates on the U.S. Supreme Court's rule on same-sex marriage. Photo from The Atlantic. |
A society can become more technologically advanced while becoming less certain about the moral principles that should guide it.
We live in a culture increasingly shaped by entertainment, personal fulfillment, emotion, and individual freedom. None of these things is necessarily wrong. The problem begins when pleasure becomes the measure of what is good, personal desire becomes the measure of what is right, and moral truth is reduced to whatever society is willing to accept at a particular moment.
For Christians, this raises an important question:
Should Christian faith be set aside whenever society discusses morality, equality, freedom, law, and culture?
I do not believe so.
Is Faith Still Relevant to Moral Reasoning?
Christianity should not be treated as though faith automatically means the absence of reason.
Christian belief has historically made claims about truth, human nature, morality, justice, dignity, responsibility, and the purpose of life. Christians therefore have every right to bring those convictions into public discussion, just as people with secular, philosophical, political, or cultural worldviews bring their own assumptions into the same discussion.
That does not mean the Bible should simply be imposed upon everyone in a pluralistic society.
It does mean that Christians should not be expected to abandon their convictions merely because those convictions are religious.
A society committed to genuine intellectual freedom should be capable of hearing religious arguments, secular arguments, and philosophical arguments—and examining each according to its reasoning and evidence.
Faith and Reason Are Not Enemies
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A graffito along Escario Road going to Ayala Cebu - Cebu City, Cebu, Philippines. Photo by J.P. Abecilla |
I believe faith and reason belong together.
Christian faith should never become an excuse for ignorance, intellectual laziness, or hostility toward questions. At the same time, reason should not be defined so narrowly that anything involving God, Scripture, or religious belief is automatically dismissed as irrational.
The Christian Scriptures themselves encourage believers to think carefully about what they believe.
First Peter 3:15 says:
“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.”
Notice that Christians are instructed not merely to believe, but to be prepared to give a reason for that belief.
Just as importantly, the verse requires that this be done with meekness and respect.
That matters.
A Christian argument becomes weaker when conviction turns into contempt. There are religious people who behave arrogantly and secular people who behave arrogantly. Neither group should be judged entirely by its worst representatives.
The failures of some preachers do not invalidate Christianity, just as the failures of some secular thinkers do not invalidate every secular argument.
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The Authorized King James Version. Mr. Abecilla's personal Bible. Photo by J.P. Abecilla |
What Do We Mean by Freedom?
One of the central questions of modern society concerns freedom.
Freedom is valuable. But freedom itself does not automatically tell us what is good.
A person may be free to make a decision while the decision itself can still be wise or foolish, moral or immoral, beneficial or destructive.
Christianity therefore understands freedom as something more than the ability to do whatever one desires.
From a Christian perspective, genuine freedom is connected to truth and moral responsibility.
Jesus said:
“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
— John 8:32
That is very different from saying that whatever makes us happy must therefore be right.
Desire alone cannot establish morality.
Emotion alone cannot establish truth.
Popularity alone cannot establish goodness.
And neither religious nor secular people should assume that an idea becomes correct simply because society has become comfortable with it.
Truth Is Not Determined by Popularity
Perhaps the deeper disagreement between traditional Christianity and much of modern secular culture concerns the nature of truth itself.
Is moral truth something we discover, or something we create?
Christianity teaches that truth ultimately exists independently of individual preference. Human beings may understand it imperfectly, disagree about it, or even reject it, but we do not make something true merely by approving it.
That conviction inevitably places Christianity in tension with some modern ideas.
But disagreement should not automatically be described as hatred, ignorance, or intolerance.
Christians should be willing to examine their beliefs carefully, defend them reasonably, admit when they have argued badly, and treat people who disagree with them with dignity.
Likewise, a genuinely liberal society should be willing to tolerate Christian convictions even when those convictions challenge contemporary cultural assumptions.
Holding Conviction Without Losing Humanity
I remain committed to the major teachings of the traditional Christian faith.
That commitment does not require hostility toward people who think differently from me. Nor does respect for others require me to pretend that every moral position is equally true.
There should be room for both conviction and civility.
Faith without thoughtful examination can become shallow.
Reason without humility can become arrogant.
And freedom without any moral framework can eventually become little more than the pursuit of personal desire.
The challenge for Christians is therefore not merely to condemn what they believe is wrong.
It is to demonstrate, through reason, Scripture, character, and compassion, why they believe something is true—and to do so without forgetting the humanity of the person standing on the other side of the argument.
Truth does not require cruelty to defend it.
And respect does not require the abandonment of conviction.
— J.P. Abecilla
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