Morals Charge. - "The Clash of Orthodoxies: Law, Religion, and Morality in Crisis" - book review

National Review, Feb 25, 2002 by Carol Iannone

Why should anyone respect the rights of others? Merely prudential answers -- such as, people should respect the rights of others so that others will respect their rights, or people should respect the rights of others to avoid being punished -- simply won't do. The fact is that people can often get away with violating others' rights. And they know it. And many do it. If people shouldn't violate the rights of others, it must be because doing so is morally wrong, but on the secularist account -- why is it morally wrong? What is the source of its moral wrongness? . . . No satisfactory answer is forthcoming. None, I submit, is possible.

While the secularist stands shakily on slippery ground, searching for foundations he probably would not acknowledge even if he could find them, George can serenely declare that "free choice, rationally motivated action, and objective moral truth . . . point beyond themselves to a more-than-merely-human source of meaning and value, a divine ground of human intelligence and free will." Yes, a transcendent source, a revelation to be sure, but one that can be tested, affirmed, and chosen by human reason.

The Clash of Orthodoxies is superbly argued, wholeheartedly, confidently, and even joyfully dedicated to exploring the intricacies of the issues in its purview and dealing fully with the opposing views. (There could be more continuity between the chapters, which betray their genesis as separate efforts in different venues.) And while even traditionalists may disagree with some of his arguments and conclusions (particularly his view of John Paul II as a classical liberal), Robert P. George has done a great service in demonstrating that traditional morality still has an authoritative role to play in modern life, and in showing how a person of faith can enter the public square, fearlessly, unashamedly, intelligently, and, above all, reasonably.