Zenit's weekly news analysis contained an article entitled The Risks of Relativism, which features, among others, philosopher Julian Baggini, an editor at TPM. The Zenit piece quotes Baggini, "The black-and-white choice Ratzinger offers us is, therefore, a bogus one. The absolute moral certainty he claims the church offers is hollow." This quotation was taken from a piece Baggini wrote for the Guardian (here).
Should you read the Baggani piece, you will come across this paragraph, which outlays the clear misunderstanding many have of the Catholic Church, and even religion in general.
We have known for a long time that orthodox religion has a preference for black-and-white certainties, but this crude dichotomy between the absolute moral truths of the church and the so-called laissez-faire relativism of the modern secular world is crassly simplistic. Yet perhaps we should thank Pope Benedict for bringing the issue to a head, for that might mean that at last it will be possible to confront and slay the myth that without God anything is permitted.
While orthodox religion--as opposed to say, heterodox religion?--may have a preference for black-and-white certanties, Mr. Baggani gives us no reason why this preference is unwarranted or unreasonable. If you'd like to read more non sequitors please check out the piece.
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