Dennis Prager argues the Bible's authority rests on its historical track record, not personal belief. He admits his case weakens if you find other moral traditions equally valid, and addresses whether Nazi Germany disproves that Western values are uniquely moral.
You talk about the Western approach and you call it Judeo-Christian. However, what establishes the authority of the culture there? There's other religions. What makes you think that it arises from that source? I mean, it may be perfectly true that the Bible, as you refer to it, is an authority in terms of wisdom, but how do you establish the authority that it, uh, it does have, uh, constitute? Well, I don't—
to the extent that I, I understand your question, I would answer that it has earned my belief in its authority.
Yeah, but that's your belief.
Well, then you use the term belief. Yes. So then You asked me why I believe, so— well, you have to derive it from a natural setting to begin with. No, it's not true. I have to do— I, I— look, you derive it. You ask me how I, Dennis, derive it. I derive it from its, its track record.
Well, that's you. Are you the authority?
No, I am simply the conveyor of logic. If I am unpersuasive to you, if you believe If you believe that the non-Western world has produced as moral a universe as the Western, then my argument is pointless.
Well, you got Nazi Germany. That's considered to be a part of the Western world.
No, only geographically, not culturally. Well, that's your decision. No, no. Okay, okay. If you think that Nazi Germany is based on the Bible, I can only wish you a good day. I think that you're called up to argue and not not to dialogue. Dwight Eisenhower— excuse me, Franklin Roosevelt, a deep liberal, spoke regularly about protecting Christian civilization against the Nazis. Nobody in the West thought that Nazism was the product of the West. It loathed the West. They said so. Okay, but if we're going to argue that Nazism is Western, then other than geography, then I guess so lovey. All right, I appreciate your calling. And Aaron in Rancho— oh no, I can't go to Aaron in Rancho.
Life, Legacy, and a Dangerous Mission in the Soviet Union | Sunday Fireside Chat
