Our pluralistic society didn’t like it when Bush referred to certain countries as an “Axis of Evil”. To call something “evil” means that we’re placing an absolute moral judgement on that group, and our society doesn’t like absolute morals.

However, because there is no escaping the world that God made, there is no escaping moral laws any more than we can escape the laws of gravity. We can pretend they don’t exist, but oftentimes, we end up hurt as a result.

I was a bit surprised when I saw that the New York Times has an article on “evil” in their health section. The comments from early in the article are exactly what we would expect.

Most psychiatrists assiduously avoid the word evil, contending that its use would precipitate a dangerous slide from clinical to moral judgment that could put people on death row unnecessarily and obscure the understanding of violent criminals.

In principle, I would agree that doctors should try to separate moral judgement from their profession. If a man comes in with gunshot wounds, it would be improper for the doctor not to give the man proper care simply because the patient may be in a gang. It’s the same for AIDS patients or someone overdosing on drugs. However, psychiatrists go well outside the bounds of “physical medicine”, and spend most of their time in the world of the soul while denying the existance of its Creator.

So, it seems now that a group at New York University are trying to work out a “depravity scale”, which “rates the horror of an act by the sum of its grim details”. It comes as no surprise that people are beginning to realize that no matter how much they deny the existance of absolute morality, they still know when evil is evil.

“We are talking about people who commit breathtaking acts, who do so repeatedly, who know what they’re doing, and are doing it in peacetime” under no threat to themselves, said Dr. Michael Stone, the Columbia psychiatrist, who has examined several hundred killers at Mid-Hudson Psychiatric Center in New Hampton, N.Y., and others at Creedmoor Psychiatric Center in Queens, where he consults and teaches. “We know from experience who these people are, and how they behave,” and it is time, he said, to give their behavior “the proper appellation.”

The Bible tells us that even those who deny God or His laws with their mouths still know and acknowledge God in their hearts. Being God’s creatures, they have no choice but to reflect His law. So, even though their minds may deny morality, they still know it when they see it. In Romans 1, Paul writes the following:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

The article has some insightful comments which point out the pluralistic viewpoint with striking clarity:

Dr. Simon considers the notion of evil to be of no use to forensic psychiatry, in part because evil is ultimately in the eye of the beholder, shaped by political and cultural as well as religious values. The terrorists on Sept. 11 thought that they were serving God, he argues; those who kill people at abortion clinics also claim to be doing so. If the issue is history’s most transcendent savages, on the other hand, most people agree that Hitler and Pol Pot would qualify.

They acknowledge that their depravity scale will be in accordance with their own subjective morality. I’m sure they would consider the work of Josef Mengele to be more deprave than the work of abortionists, even though both are state sanctioned mass murderers. While we can only hope that the people creating this “depravity scale” will see the inconsistancy of their actions, my guess is that this will fall by the wayside as it dies from a thousand qualifications and exceptions.

(From BoingBoing)