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The principles of fairness contra "Gott mit uns!".

Article Excerpt
The cultural divide in America today cuts deep, separating two contending conceptions of morality. Those who believe that there is a need for a moral reformation based on the principles of fairness confront "evangelical foot soldiers" convinced that God is on their side ("Gott mit uns!") in an all-out battle between good and evil.

The first form of morality is humanistic and secular. Its chief aim is to realize human happiness in "the city of humankind." It wishes to rely on reflective intelligence in resolving moral dilemmas. It emphasizes tolerance and the negotiation of differences. It holds that men and women are responsible for their own destinies and that they can, with some measure of goodwill, achieve meaningful and enriched lives for themselves and their communities. It advocates the civic virtues of democracy and the extension of universal human rights to all persons on the planet.

The second form of morality is traditional religious morality, which has taken on an extremist evangelical and fundamentalist twist in recent years. It is focused on the "City of God" and the coming, apocalyptic end of civilization as we know it. Rooted in religious faith, allegedly revealed to our forebears who lived in a nomadic and agricultural culture of the past, it declares that humans are "sinful" and that their ultimate duty is to obey the moral Commandments, divinely delivered. Since we are dependent upon God for salvation, human beings in themselves are incapable of achieving moral virtue. There are absolute commandments that a person must believe in and follow Evangelical doomsday prophets today declare that the end times are approaching. They view the wars in the Middle East as signs of divine deliverance. Those who believe in Jesus as their savior will be saved by the divine Rapture, those who do not will be, as in Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins's best-selling novels, "Left Behind" to suffer terrible punishment.

Secular humanists are skeptical of this apocalyptic interpretation of human history and cosmic destiny. It would be difficult to take this dramatic tale seriously, if not for the fact that it is taken so seriously by tens of millions of well-meaning Americans who hold considerable political and economic power. Secular humanists turn instead to modern science for their interpretation of the cosmos and the place of the human species within it. Science explains the emergence of the human species as a product of evolution; it seeks to explain the universe in natural, causal terms. Secular humanists' moral outlook is not weighed down by anthropocentric concepts of sin, guilt, redemption, and salvation. It is optimistic about the potentialities for improving the human condition.

Fortunately, many liberal religionists are equally disturbed by fundamentalist doomsday prophecies, and they are sympathetic to the principles and values of humanist morality. Although they are surely influenced by the Old and New Testaments, they...

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