Christian ideas imply a view of the origin of creation entirely under the sovereign rule of God. In discussions of morality, the Christian must point backwards, to creation and to the fall. There are many, however, who see the past as irrelevant. They see progress aligned with improved morals and religion, always tied to the past, with getting in the way. Martin Amis, for example, argues that 9/11 was the result of what he calls a “time war” – a war of resistance to progress and modernity: “September 11 was a day of de-enlightenment… The conflicts we now face or fear involve opposed geographical arenas, but also opposed centuries or…
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- 9/11, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Ethics, Gene Veith, Jessica Stern, Jürgen Habermas, Karl Marx, Martin Amis, Moral Equivalence, Speaking of Terror Part 5, Terror
Speaking of Terror – Part V
Much of what was written after 9/11 and in the build up to war in Afghanistan and Iraq was about morality. A common theme posed by the secularist was the problem of moral equivalence. Moral Equivalence is a phrase used in political debate to describe those who deny any moral hierarchy in a conflict,1 it is the “100 percent and 360 degree inability to pass judgment on any ethnicity other than our own.”2For example, when applied to religion, rather than nations, Christians are often perceived to be in the same boat as the Islamist as Veith notes: Christians find themselves in a precarious position. While they believe the kingdom of…