Commentary on Throw-Away Culture and Relativism- by Greg Gillis

This article by Vincent Pham is a powerful critique of relativism and I like how the author begins with the quote from Pope Francis how people are no longer just to be exploited but are now just discarded if they are in any way deemed not useful.  The author focuses on abortion and euthanasia; however, I feel this is limiting it to a much too narrow focus as everything is interconnected; therefore, one cannot separate abortion/euthanasia from things like the climate crisis, arms trade, war, terrorism, capitalism which rely on relativism in order to justify these gross injustices.  This to my mind is the seamless garment that Cardinal Joseph Bernardin referred to – that social justice must take on all the issues in the society that attack life, the vulnerable, and those on the margins.  Why would we not expect a culture obsessed with war and war-making to not have abortion and euthanasia when bombing strangers from a distance makes them seem even less than human.  The whole neo-liberal project and capitalism revolve around a war economy that is completely anti-life.  Relativism as a philosophy of selfishness certainly skews the moral compass of individuals and a society that subscribes to it.