by Sir Arthur Foulkes
The debate over free will and determinism is as old as the hills and there is no end in sight. Professor Paul Davies of Macquarie University of Sydney, Australia, observes that it is picking up steam and he is worried about it.
Writing in the magazine Foreign Policy, Professor Davies points out that belief in some measure of free will is common to all cultures and a large part of what makes us human.
“It is also,” he says, “fundamental to our ethical and legal systems. Yet today’s scientists and philosophers are busily chipping away at this social pillar – apparently without thinking what might replace it.
“… But even if they are right, and free will really is an illusion, it may still be a fiction worth maintaining.”
To most Christians, God-given free will is an article of faith. It was defined in the fourth century by the great North African doctor of the church St. Augustine of Hippo in his book On Free Choice Of The Will.
The vast majority of Bahamians claim to be Christian, yet there is in our national psyche strong elements of determinism and fatalism.
This is attributed to God rather than the scientific model in which every event and act is said to be wholly attributable to a chain of prior occurrences. In other words, whatever happens is the will of God.
Some take delight in quoting that old saw, “the voice of the people is the voice of God”, apparently oblivious to the untenable conclusions it can lead to. If that were true then we would have a sure method of settling all moral and religious issues: refer them to popular vote.
Years ago I attended the funeral of a young man who had been killed by another in a senseless act of violence and I recoiled in disbelief when the presiding minister told the family and the congregation to accept their loss as the will of God.
The death of that young man was, it seemed to me, due not to the will of God but to the immoral exercise of free will by another human being.
A variation on this theme is the growing tendency of some in the Bahamian political arena to attribute their actions to the will of God.
Writing in the Religion Section of The Tribune of November 17, Clement Johnson expressed some unease over the use of religion in the political arena. He quoted a young lady who said that the over-use of religious jargon at the recent party conventions was “almost sickening”.
He also quoted Deacon King of the Baptist Church:
“What bothered me most was the way people were dancing to religious music, and how some of the speakers were going on like they were preaching. Our people need to decide if they are going to be political leaders or evangelical preachers.”
In this column last week I expressed disappointment in Dr. Bernard Nottage for saying he had been convinced that his rejoining the PLP was “ordained by God”.
I happen to believe that it was a good thing Dr. Nottage decided to join one of the two major political parties if only because I also believe that his political talents – and that of others – are wasted in splinter parties.
But what if some of his colleagues in the CDR believe that it was a mistake? That the CDR does have a future? That the PLP is on the wrong track? Would that mean they are opposing what God has ordained? And that Dr. Nottage did not do what God ordained until he was convinced by Leslie Miller?!
The decision to join a particular political party is, generally speaking, a morally neutral choice. If the party under consideration is overtly committed to evil like the Nazi party in Germany in the early part of the last century then the choice is clear.
In the context of the Bahamas – and most western democracies – the citizen does not face such a stark choice but may still be inclined to make finer judgments based on his own particular moral compass.
Perhaps something St. Augustine said about free will and moral choices can be useful to politicians making political choices and to all of us about all the other choices we make. We should consider both consequences and motives because:
“Fear attacks from one side and desire from the other; from one side, anxiety; from the other, an empty and deceptive happiness; from one side, the agony of losing what one loved; from the other, the passion to acquire what one did not have; from one side, the pain of an injury received; from the other, the burning desire to avenge it.
“Wherever you turn, avarice can pinch, extravagance squander, ambition destroy, pride swell, envy torment, apathy crush, obstinacy incite, oppression chafe, and countless other evils crowd the realm of inordinate desire and run riot.”
History is replete with examples of Christians blaming God for their own foolish and malicious acts, including murder, war and persecution. The crusading princes of the West, under the banner of the Cross of Christ, inflicted the most horrendous atrocities against Muslims.
One of them recorded how the Holy City of Jerusalem was ankle-deep in “the blood of the infidels”. They had apparently forgotten the command of Jesus Christ to put away the sword. For evil measure, these same Christian crusaders from the West also slaughtered Christians in the East.
So it has continued. In Europe, Catholics and Protestants persecuted each other in turn, and today some western “princes” believe they are ordained by God to wage aggressive war against other people and to drop bombs on their cities.
Bahamian politicians – indeed, all of us – should guard against the temptation to affect moral and spiritual superiority over others by claiming the personal direction and approval of God for our very human deeds.
This tendency has not yet reached dangerous levels. In fact, it is sometimes quite pathetic and occasionally laughable. But it can become dangerous.
We are fortunate to live in a country where there is religious freedom; where there is harmony between the various denominations; where there is a consensus which allows co-operation between church and state for the good of God’s people; but where there is also a healthy separation of church and state, and no state church.
In our political parties there are Christians of all denominations and, while we are called upon as citizens to make political judgments, it is not for us to judge who is trying the hardest to do God’s will. Certainly, nobody should be impressed by the number of times one says “Lord, Lord”.
None of us should claim God as a member of our political party, or as our personal political consultant, or as being on our side in the political arena.
Instead we should all get on our knees and, remembering the human tendencies St. Augustine spoke about, ask God to help us be on His side and to give us the grace to tell the difference between self-will and His will.
When we are tempted to shout loudest about how God is directing us, perhaps that is when we should consider most carefully our motives: the passion to acquire, the desire to avenge, avarice, ambition, envy, pride and countless other evils which crowd the realm of inordinate desire and run riot.
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