The Great Lie of western liberal democracy today goes by the name of “relativism,” and it is a very real threat to the survival of global civilization. Relativism has many forms, but simply put it is the unsubstantiated assertion that truth is subjective and all points of view are equally “valid.” Various forms of this relativism are at the heart of what has been presumptuously labelled ‘post-modernism.’
The ridiculousness of relativism is easy to demonstrate. Crudely put, relativism reduces to the absolute claim that all absolute claims are false. If true then the claim that “relativism is true” is false. Either relativism unjustifiably exempts itself from its own conclusions, or it is absurdly self-negating. Appallingly, this incoherent so-called philosophy has enthralled vast swaths of academia and eroded some of our most fundamental democratic principles. Nowhere is this more obvious than in our public discourse concerning religion.
The religious corollary to the Great Lie is the oft-repeated notion that, at some fundamental level, all religions are equal. Such a claim is so ridiculous that it can only survive in a vacuum of factual knowledge. Even a modicum of learning about the teachings of various religions reveals dramatic variation in how and what they teach.
Take the use of violence for instance. No rational thinker with even a passing knowledge of the Koran can claim that Islam’s teachings on violence are even crudely comparable to those of the Jains or the Amish. Where are the Jain suicide bombers? Where are the Amish martyr brigades? Where are the Quaker death squads? The Chinese conquest of Tibet has been one of the most brutal acts of colonialism in the past century. Why don’t we see the Dalai Lama holed up in a Himalayan cave sending Buddhist monks flying into Beijing buildings? The answer is obvious – no matter how you warp or twist Tibetan Buddhist teaching you simply cannot derive a doctrine of violence. A brief flip through the Koran (to say nothing of the Bible) reveals rich fodder for the opposite conclusion.
By refusing to acknowledge the bone-headedly obvious differences between religions we have blinded our discourse to the most dire threat to global civilization since the Cold-War: the soon-to-be nuclear armed fascist cult of jihad and martyrdom known as The House of Islam. Western nations are being given a choice – reaffirm their Enlightenment ideals or submit to Islam. It should be an easy choice.
Further Reading: Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Infidel; Sam Harris, The End of Faith.
