The word ‘values’
Values just isn’t really much of a Christian word. ‘Values’ language
just doesn’t seem to sit easily with Christian thinking. It’s a
relatively recent invention, compared with such words as ‘ethics’,
‘morals’ or ‘virtues’. Whereas those words hark back to Graeco-Roman
philosophers, before Christian times, ‘values’ seems to be a product of
the recent economic age. It displaced ‘virtue’ and ‘vice’, as the
modern age sought more utilitarian or malleable means of describing
what society judges desirable. ‘Values’ seems too modern a concept to
connect very easily with the Christian faith of old.
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'Values’ language just doesn’t seem to sit easily with Christian thinking
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As a Christian, then, I am often labelling things as values, when in my theological mind they are something else. So, we might say today that ‘tolerance’ is a Christian value, whereas it would be more accurate, and dare I say more useful, to talk of the fruits of the Spirit—patience, kindness, self-control, gentleness, love. Each of these fruits of a life lived in step with God’s Spirit seems to me to offer more than the abused and over-used word, ‘tolerance’.
You can tolerate a bad smell in the room simply by moving to the
corner; but to be kind you really have to engage with someone who is
different from you. ‘Tolerance’ is one of those values-words that has
floated up from uncertain origins. Whereas the Christian qualities I
mentioned are grounded in the nature and personhood of Jesus himself.
Today, ‘values’ has found acceptance among authorities as a term for
elevation or transcendence that manages to keep religion out of the
story. It has sidelined virtues (too prescriptive and do-goodish for
Aussies), beliefs (too specific), and even rights (too PC).
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‘Tolerance’ is one of those values-words that has floated up from uncertain origins
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To describe ‘what we value’ places the significance back on us and our choices, rather than on any sense of duty (Kant) or any sense of just how things are (natural law, Hooker and Aquinas). This makes it a word that is attractive to an age where liberty and freedom of choice is mandatory, but we are being forced to explore the limits of that freedom.
We talk about ‘values’, because in some sense they are floating free of religion and free of ideology. They are thought to be determined, instead, by cultural forces.
In his September 11 address delivered at the US Embassy in Canberra a couple of years ago, Prime Minister John Howard used the word ‘values’ six times in the four paragraphs of the speech.
In that speech, the Prime Minister’s emphasis was on
common values (he used the word ‘universal’), and he said that the 9/11
attacks were ‘an attack on values that the entire world holds in
common’ (which, if you think about it for a few seconds, can’t possibly
be true). But I think I know what he meant. He was endeavouring to
express that sense of something elevating and meaningful that doesn’t
refer to religion but appeals instead to culture. But is that true?
It seems not too difficult to identify a cluster of values that most
people agree are Australian. Few people object, for instance, to the
values lists that are now taught in our public schools: Care and
compassion, a fair go for all, honesty and trustworthiness, Being aware
of others and their cultures, accepting diversity within a democratic
society, being included and including others, and so on.
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our values emerge from belief systems, even if we have forgotten what they are.
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We’ve seen various lists in the the press:
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Kim Beazley: respect for each other, mateship, fairness, freedom, respect for our laws.
Peter Costello: economic opportunity, security, democracy, personal freedom, strong physical and social infrastructure.
Andrew Cameron: put a sock in it, she’ll be right, it’s the vibe, your honour. |
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There’s something correct about all of these. There’s plenty of agreement. But can these values really float free of religious ideas or ideological shaping? I suggest not. I suggest that our values emerge from belief systems, even if we have forgotten, or never been aware of, what those belief systems are.
If we move beyond Aussie slogans and cuteness (‘I like beetroot on my
hamburger’), we start to see glimpses of the religious undercoat to the
values picture. Some of the values suggested as Australian in recent
times sound like they come from the classical world—respect for all the
gods, decency, democracy; others are drawn more from Jewish or
Christian sources—treating men and women equally, working diligently,
compassion for the poor. These are not universal values that all people
everywhere have always held; rather, they spring from specific moral
and spiritual wells. Ask any historian or theologian—we may think they
are common to everyone, but they are not.
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Some values simply aren’t common to all
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Some values simply aren’t common to all. For instance, cows are less valued in Australia than they are in India—for religious reasons. And some of the things that matter most to people—the things they most value—are very specific to their religion, such as the veneration of the physical presence of the Koran for Muslims.
Christians value forgiveness—but do Australians? Christianity places
high value sacrificial love for your neighbour—but do Australians
generally? Christians are to value being honest, even when no-one is
watching—but do Australians? When we start to talk about specific
beliefs and the values that flow from them, the question of what values
we share gets harder to answer. And it starts to become clearer that in
order to truly understand your values, you need to sort out your
beliefs.
Some of my reticence in answering the question posed here - I worry
about whether the word ‘values’ really covers what Christians are on
about.
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… in order to truly understand your values, you need to sort out your beliefs
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And I’m concerned that the government should stick with the law, and let the churches, the community groups and individuals do the talking about what values matter to us. I guess I’m not sure that we really do have national values. I think they are more specific to what we each, as individuals and in our communities, believe to be true.
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