The validity of a worldview, follow it to its logical conclusion. The logical conclusion of relativism is absurdity.
Bloom then tells the story of his students’ response to the Hindu custom known as sati: burning a widow alive on her husband’s funeral pyre. The British, of course, banned the custom, and sharply reminded the Hindu priests that the British had a different custom: hanging men who burned women alive.
How did the students react? Bloom said his students were so steeped in relativism they could only meekly reply “that the British should have never been there in the first place.” Heaven forbid they’d admit it’s wrong to burn women alive.
With relativism so deeply ensconced in our schools and culture, it’s no wonder that Christianity is increasingly viewed with a jaundiced eye. After all, Christians assert that there is a capital “T” Truth, and that we are made in His image — and that therefore every human life is precious. We dare to believe in inviolable moral laws as well — you know, like marriage is sacred and adultery is wrong. We’re kind of crazy like that.
But remember this next time you feel like despairing over the trajectory of our culture: The dictatorship of relativism is built on a self-contradicting foundation of sand. The truth, as Shakespeare wrote, will out. Always.
