Who decides?

California's Proposition 8 has generated much controversy of late. Recently Proposition 8 was overturned by a Judge. Proposition 8 was voted on by the people, and made the marrying of same sex individuals illegal. The Judge's decision argued that those who voted for proposition 8 were basically intolerant and that gays/lesbians have a right to marry.

This case is just one of many in the country today that has moral implications. In our country's desire to become more and more secular, power seems to drive the decisions that are made and not natural law. Positive law or man-made law now seems to be rule of the day.

Proposition 8 is just one of many cases that divides the country. For example, the mosque that is to be built near ground zero, though not illegal, begs the question, "What is the right thing to do?" It seems to me that if a Christian church building were to be placed in Kabul, Afghanistan, there would be a tremendous outcry from the entire Muslim community. Likewise, abortion and fetal stem cell research is pushed though irregardless of the moral implications or the will of the people.

In, How Should We Then Live, Francis Schaeffer describes the breakdown of society since the advent of Christianity. [1] Schaeffer points out how man has pulled away from God through politics, science, education, and the arts. He rightly diagnoses how man through time has willfully made the break from God. He calls this human condition "autonomous man."

So, it is in the present where we find autonomous man. Autonomous man has assumed the position of who decides what is right and wrong. Autonomous man is in direct conflict with God to the point where autonomous man says he is god. Who decides? Unfortunately, it seems the autonomous man with power gets to cast the deciding vote in our country today.

[1] Francis Schaeffer's, How Should We Then Live