Matthew Parris – Spectator
..though an atheist, I accept that my morality ”” and to a considerable degree what we call western morality ”” is anchored in a Christian culture. Whether or not we ourselves believe in God, we’ve all soaked up the ethical teachings.
And they’re useless. ”˜Do unto others as you would that they would do unto you’ is, like ”˜Love your neighbour as yourself’, either impossible or circular. Circular if it means ”˜Act towards others as you think they should act towards you,’ because this leaves open the question of how you think people should act, and would permit a cannibal to eat another cannibal. If, however, the commandment means ”˜Treat others as it would please you to be treated by them,’ then the precept is impossible because you’d give all your money to the first beggar you encountered. We’d all be off to Calais to try to smuggle migrants in our car boots.
Christianity (as represented by the Gospels) is all but silent ”” extraordinarily so ”” on the question of familial obligation. There is some evidence that Christ was impatient with family, and none that these were ties He wanted to reinforce. As to ”˜community’, the parable of the good Samaritan suggests a certain impatience here, too. As to nation, I find ”˜Render unto Caesar”¦’ an evasive answer, because it does not assist our understanding of which things ”˜those things that are Caesar’s’ might be.
If, as I believe, the main difficulty that faces us in deciding moral duty is the difficulty of prioritising, then Christianity is profoundly unhelpful…