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No Good without God

From Fabius Maximus on Batman:

While most comic books tell traditional stories of transcendental saviors and folks given magic powers, the Batman saga is different.  Smart, handsome, rich — he gives up a life of ease, instead molding himself into a pinnacle of physical and metal skills in order to painfully wage war on the forces of disorder that have engulfed his city.

Why does this story have such appeal, to adults and children, during the past 70 years?  I believe it evokes our fears about the weak foundations of our society, tottering against threats both foreign and domestic.

...

Since values are not rational and not grounded in our natures, they must be imposed.  They must defeat opposing values.  Rational persuasion cannot make them believed, so struggle is necessary.  Producing values and believing in them are acts of the will.  Lack of will, not lack of understanding, become the crucial defect.

Commitment is the moral virtue because it proves the seriousness of the agent.  Commitment is the equivalent of faith when God has been supplanted by self-provided values.

Nietzsche was a cultural relativist, and he saw what that means — war, great cruelty rather than great compassion.  War is the fundamental phenomenon on which peace can sometimes be forced, but always in the most precarious way.  Cultures fight wars with one another.  They must do so because values can only be asserted or posited by overcoming others, not by reasoning with them.

No.
It is not the reasonable, but the atheists, that are incapable of asserting their own goodness.

Instead, they assume it — “the Truth is Good” — the same assumption all religions have, even more basic then their second assumption: that this religion is true.

Meaning and values come from choosing to be good, rather than choosing to be evil.

Among the politically correct, as well as most of its foes, it certainly seems that commitment is the substitute for faith — altho many of the foes of PC are religious and are fighting for their faith, against (nearly-?) Godless PC materialism and relativism.

There is only Good if there is God, otherwise good is merely a matter of opinion, which degenerates into a matter of power, and, thus, will.

Insofar as Batman represents imperfect Good, fighting against Evil, it remains a classic fantasy theme, every bit as much as Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings.
People who want to be good, find it easier to do so if they believe ... that God is Good.

Posted by: TomGrey at 07/29/08 23:47 | link | comments
morality

Back from vacation, now 52

Wow, what a great vacation. A week or two of daily hot morning sun and beach, a nice lunch, maybe a nap or a game with the wife and kids while the little one sleeps, then more hours in the very warm, not hot, later afternoon sun.
In Italy, at Lignano, where I owe pictures.  Maybe the video of the great pizza.  Maybe the video of yours truly chaneling Jim Morrison for "Light my Fire" in Karaoke, with decent midi music backup.

Happy Birthday to me -- I'm 52.

Posted by: TomGrey at 07/29/08 23:28 | link | comments (2)
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