Subjective Morality?

[bennyboy]

There was a notable moment in the W. Lane Craig / Hitchens debate when the latter observed that the former had dropped his usual favourite adjective in favour of a new one... 'absolute' was out and 'objective' was in.

If even christian apologists have dropped the idea of 'absolute morality', that's progress.

I thought this WLC article might be interesting for some.

https://www.reasonablefaith.org/writings...al-values/

Full text, and it's interesting me to read the strong implication that he's guiding another Christian in how to present certain ideas to non-Christians (i.e. he's considering his difficulties in his own debates):

A
Thanks for your work with Reasonable Faith, Joshua! I hope your local chapter flourishes!
The reason I think it preferable to talk about objective moral values and duties rather than absolute moral values and duties can best be seen by considering their opposites. The opposite of “objective” is “subjective.” The opposite of “absolute” is “relative.” Now very little reflection is needed to see that “relative” does not mean “subjective.” Just because one’s moral duties are relative to one’s circumstances doesn’t in any way imply that they are subjective, that there is not an objectively right or wrong thing to do in such a situation. So the distinction objective/subjective is not the same as absolute/relative.
“Absolute” means “regardless of the circumstances.” “Relative” means “varying with the circumstances.” We can agree, for example, that it is not absolutely wrong to kill another person. In some circumstances killing another person may be morally justified and even obligatory. To affirm that one’s moral duty varies with the circumstances is not to say that we have no objective moral duties to fulfill.
“Objective” means “independent of people’s (including one’s own) opinion.” “Subjective” means “just a matter of personal opinion.” If we do have objective moral duties, then in the various circumstances in which we find ourselves we are obligated or forbidden to do various actions, regardless of what we think.
Similarly, I trust you can see that the issue is not universality either. Universality does not imply objectivity. Universality of a moral code could just be evidence of unanimity of opinion (maybe ingrained into us by evolution). By the same token objectivity doesn’t imply universality either. In certain times and places some action (e.g., dressing in a certain way) may be objectively wrong and in other times and places morally permissible.
Drawing these distinctions carefully is vital to the moral argument because the claim that “Absolute moral values and duties exist” will quite properly arouse more opposition than the claim that “Objective moral values and duties exist.” People will take you to be saying that certain things are always right or always wrong, regardless of the circumstances, which you are most definitely not affirming. The point is that if God exists, there are objective moral values and we have objective moral duties to fulfill in whatever circumstances we find ourselves. But the objectivity of those values and duties doesn’t imply that they do not vary with the circumstances. They are objective, whether or not they are also absolute and universal.
Keeping these distinctions straight will avoid a host of confusions!

I should also like to point out that his site is a Q&A site, and he answers very many questions that look a lot like our objections to Christianity: whether God is unfair, issues with the POE, issues about free will, crime, and "heaven" and so on.