Elegy for Charles Darwin on the 150th Anniversary of The Origin of Species and During the Trial of Faith Healer Dale Neuman.
“He reasoned we’d evolve, become greater than the sum of our parts, but Darwin never met Dale, who killed his daughter with prayer because doctors are devils. Darwin conjectured we’d adapt from the inside, like Stop Leak, and plug the holes in our lives, bar our souls from oozing out, check ignorance from seeping in. Darwin surmised we’d adjust to our futures, but Dale didn’t like the new 20th century full of free will, science minus magic, and no gods left to exorcise his daughter’s diabetic demons. Dale prayed, injecting holy spirit into her instead of insulin and for his faith, his prayers were soon answered. A coma cured the child and sent her back to Jesus, a home where Darwin’s evil was barred from entry.” — Jim McGarrah, from Breakfast at Denny’s, Ink Brush Press 2013.
While we, as citizens of this country, contemplate new wars, diseases, and natural calamities of every description, we continue to ignore the importance of a pandemic that may destroy our way of life in the 21st century. It’s a plague so insidious and subtle that it appears in the minds and hearts of millions as a perfectly healthy way of life. I’m referring to moral absolutism or the belief that what you believe is right and proper without question because it arises from a source higher in moral integrity than anyone who disagrees with it. Coincidently, this belief will almost certainly align with our own personal prejudices, which is exactly why we seek it out. It’s easy and doesn’t require much effort from our thought processes. The truth isn’t muddled with anything as vague as random circumstance. It is categorically correct or incorrect always. What we don’t seem to recognize is that because of this quality, moral absolutism almost always leads to hate of the “other” persons or organizations or races that don’t share the values we are absolute about.
Moral Absolutism can be seen historically as the genesis of wars, ethnic-cleansing, genocide, Manifest Destiny, the Salem witch trials, the Inquisition, the Crusades, slavery, and terrorism. It is on the rise again in the present, whether by a surreptitious design of leaders less burdened by morals of any kind or through the circular path of human nature. Without constant vigilance and discipline, maybe every society simply returns to its baser instincts periodically, and the quest for civility must begin again through a consciousness raising.
One, but not the only by far, example of the subtlety and pervasiveness in this attitude of moral absolutism lies in its ability to convince people of different extremes that their value systems are opposite each other when the similarities would result in virtually the same ending for some promised physical reality. Whether the methodology employed to work toward that delusional finale in a future that never arrives is pacific or violent, the arrogance of moral superiority generating the actions creates a source of anguish internally and externally in societies. A simple comparison of two very diverse groups illustrates this point. The eschatology of Muslim Extremists and Christian Evangelicals espouse very similar ultimate goals.
It is true that Islamic extremists often rely on random violence to gain converts and eliminate opponents through physical terrorism with the desired hope of reaching an ending of this “system of things” or “world order” leaving only the faithful in a paradisaical society. On the other hand, it is also true that Evangelical Christian organizations often resort to spiritual violence, among other forms of emotional terrorism, with the same goal in mind. Call it the Rapture or Armageddon, it is the angelic blood bath promised by the Book of Revelation in which non-believers are destroyed, absolutely. Both religions teach that their god is the one true god and has chosen them above all others for salvation based upon their willingness to follow specially appointed leaders who are blessed with an understanding of a sacred rule book that other organizations and individuals do not have.
Both believe that their followers must exercise blind credulity in accepting orders from said leaders. Those theistic leaders falsely claim either through ignorance or arrogance or both that only they understand the mysteries of their specific sacred book. The followers of each protest vehemently that theirs is an individual acceptance of orders through reasoning and personal witness and not blind obedience, although the reasoning remains in strict harmony with their leaders, or they are forced from the group. One pillar of both is this dogma that only members of the congregations or caliphates will live through a catastrophic and ultimate war even if the methodology for this final apocalypse is very different. One is carried out by humans and the other by heavenly forces, but the slaughter is just as ugly and as simple. You either accept and obey or you don’t and that is the line that must never be crossed.
No matter what the genesis of this absolutism or its moral values—religion, race, politics, gender—obedience without question is the gold standard by which the faithful are measured and must live and die. However, it helps to be easily persuaded and lack any critical thinking ability as well. These two weaknesses seem to transcend all others. As mentioned earlier, those are defining characteristics in religious zealots like Dale Neuman. But in the 21st century we are witnessing a similar phenomenon occur in politics on an unprecedented scale. There are hundreds and hundreds of these absolutist groups active world-wide. Here are just a few of hundreds in our own United States—The Klu Klux Clan, the American Nazi Party, Golden Dawn, White Aryan Resistance, Patriot Front, Storm Front, John Birch Society, Family Research Center, Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), Black Riders Liberation Party, New Black Panthers Party, Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints, and Proud Boys.
This list is by no means all-inclusive, and the various groups have tenets that fit almost every aspect of our socio-political lives. There seems to be organizations with principles of moral absolutism to fit the specifics of any hatred of anything for any citizen in America. The problem is that many of these fringe groups have aligned themselves with absolutist movements that are now considered mainstream, like the Tea Party Movement and the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement. What was once considered insanity by most of us seems to be accepted now as normal.
Based on our own Constitution and the values inherent in a free society, there is little that any authorities can do unless some physical act occurs that is illegal, and then it may prove to be too little too late. Thoughts and speech are not punishable, and this is a good thing. It’s what makes us free. But this freedom requires responsibility. This is where the individual citizen plays a major role. Before we accept anything as true and support it, we are required to examine its principles and values fully and on our own. This is an area in which our society seems to be failing and, if this lassiez faire attitude continues very much longer, we may soon find ourselves in a very different country, one which we no longer recognize as the America we once believed in. Please consider this before you join, donate, or vote.
Jim McGarrah, Author 