21st-century Christian Philosopher

This week I watched a discussion about the press and the US election on CSPAN. Though I like to avoid writing about politics, I wanted to reflect on the question raised by one lady that “values” was a new “code word” for religion.

First, I think that I can break it down a little better.

The pollsters offered five labels for voters to choose among. Any voter could have chosen to place their vote in the moral values bucket. But it seems that more conservatives than liberals chose this label, 4 to 1.

Calling it a “code word” ignores who made up the labels. The pollsters did not offer “religious belief” as a category. The voters didn’t describe their vote as much as they picked among descriptions.

Second, I think there is something to what she said.

It seems that people—even those who squirm at religion—can sense that religion and “value” are connected. We religous believe in value the way that we believe in a god. The concept is no more mystical than God. At base, we mean the same thing as economists: the value placed by a person or a group of people. Thus, God beholds all things and we observe the value He places. We need only believe in the beholder.

Skeptics call this opinion or even illusion. To them, you can only speak of the value people place on things, not of value as if it were an objective attribute. We make up claims of value. It’s something that I make, and then something that you differ with, and then something that a certain group of people hold in common at roughly the same level. Popular opinion is the only final arbiter of value.

I can see why a reasonably advanced skeptic might stop using the word “value”. Plus, you might also see why a believer or even a follower would gain an idea of value consistent with faith. But can we accept that a “code word” can be used for the same thing on both sides of the political divide—unless it means simply “Yes, things have value from the supreme beholder of value, God himself.”