If abortion is not wrong...

“If abortion is not wrong, nothing is wrong.”  Although this “quote” is often attributed to Mother Teresa, she never said it.  However, she DID repeat often the following:  “…The greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child, a direct killing of the innocent child, murder by the mother herself… the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion.”

This reminds me of another famous misquote, "If God does not exist, everything is permitted."  Although usually attributed directly to Fyodor Dostoyevsky, but sometimes to a character, Ivan Karamazov, in Dostoyevsky’s 1880 novel “The Brothers Karamazov”, neither of them actually uttered it.

Nevertheless, both “quotes” relate to the difficulties we have today when we, on the one hand, try to encourage “good” behaviour in children, young people and adults and, on the other hand, deny the existence of God and thereby any absolute standards as a foundation for that behaviour.

Those we try to admonish or correct will simply answer, “Why?” (or “Why not?”)  While responding “Because I say so” in a loud voice can work with young children for a little while, it gets a bit ridiculous and indefensible when dealing with adults.  But that is essentially all society can do in the context of today’s moral relativism:  whoever shouts loudest, gains a majority and makes the rules, earns the right to arrest and lock-up those with different views, much as parents do with the “time-out” room.

Too much political and personal decision-making today seems to be about who can garner enough support to get their own way, rather than any appeal to what is objectively right and wrong.