Why we disagree

Jonathan Haidt, in The Righteous Mind, indicates five criteria which people use to make ethical decisions:


1. Whether a given course of action will harm people or care for them
2. Whether it will effect fairness and reciprocity
3. Whether or not it expresses in-group loyalty
4. Whether it is consistent with respect for authority
5. Whether or not it adheres to the principles of purity and sacredness

Haidt says that our ethical decisions depend on which of these criteria we give the most weight to.

This raises the question of the criteria that Jesus typically used in the choices he made about sabbath observation, diet, response to Roman imperial rule, touching lepers, associating with recognized "sinners," sexual behavior, and so on.

It seems clear that Jesus had low regard for 3 and 5. In Luke 4, for example, he implies that he and his fellow Jews are no more favored by God than other peoples. (His congregation gets really angry about that one.) In Mark 7 he tossed all the dietary laws that his people believed had been given them by God through Moses. Real purity has to do with the heart, our attitudes and intentions. Jesus quotes Hosea 6:6, "I desire mercy, not sacrifice."

On the other hand, Jesus cared for people by healing them on the sabbath in violation of popular  beliefs about it being sacred, and repeated stories and maxims in which the first wind up last and the last first. So criteria 1 and 2 seem to be highly valued by Jesus.

Criterion 4 is trickier. Jesus critics saw him as disobeying God, whereas he saw them as misunderstanding what the Scriptures really taught. Both Jesus and his opponents claimed to be obeying God, and both quoted Scripture.

Here is a principle: Scripture by itself cannot be appealed to as the ultimate authority, for it itself undermines such a position. To take the Bible seriously means to recognize that it sets itself up as a dialogue of many different voices, not as an authoritative, unique voice. Readers must figure out what it means to respect God's authority.

Jesus redefines authority. He "rules" not by coercion, but by love and persuasion. Since Christians worship God as seen in Jesus, God's authority is to be understood, according to the highest of the teachings of the Bible on the subject, as honoring God's gifting us with the power and right to author life and order and beauty.

So yes, Jesus places a high value on Criterion 4, but radically redefines it so that it doesn't mean what is usually understood.

Which of the five criteria do you emphasize most in your ethical choices?