As you may recall from high school physics, the Michelson-Morley experiment was an experiment to measure the properties of the aether, the substance that was supposed to fill space. It is probably the most famous failed experiment in history. The experiment failed to prove the existence of aether.
We are in desperate need of a Michelson-Morley experiment for history. Either there is no “arc of the moral universe” or it doesn’t “bend toward justice”. Andrew Michta’s article at The American Interest is about the resurgence of hard power politics in the world and here is its kernel:
It is time to admit that at the base of the current Western predicament lies a series of fundamentally misguided assumptions about what matters most in the international system. The so-called liberal international order was never the result of some inevitable process leading to enlightened statecraft; rather, the liberal democratic ascendency was a byproduct of the emergence of the United States as the most powerful nation on earth after the Second World War. America’s status as the world’s greatest democracy for the past 70 years enabled it to imbue the global rulebook with its values and institutions. Notwithstanding talk of “soft power†and rules-based systems, national security and hard power are no less vital today than they were at the moment of that system’s creation.
Sadly, the world as we find it is about power and control. It might have helped if so many countries, notably Germany, Japan, South Korea, and China, had not promoted their own interests at our expense. Now everyone is horrified at the prospect of the U. S. looking after its own interests rather than theirs.
If there were only more consensus about what our interests actually are we’d be in good shape.
Trumps shortcomings are significant and apparent to all. But so much criticism derives from a mix of “he doesn’t act conventionally†to just plain “Hillary lost and I’m pissed off.â€
But if you can get past the simplistic Trump Sucks! and look at some of the initiatives and unconventional wisdom positions, like America First, you are not so horrified.
Now: “If there were only more consensus about what our interests actually are we’d be in good shape.â€
“The arc of history bends toward justice”
MLK was called an activist, a communist, an agitator, A leader in racial reform, but never forget he was a Christian minister. Literally true or no, Christianity brings social justice as surely as the wind blows leaves. The spread of the faith is not inevitable though, and neither are universal human rights.
‘Either there is no “arc of the moral universe†or it doesn’t “bend toward justiceâ€.’
Alas, I think that Orwell may prove right: “If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — forever.”
King was quoting Theodore Parker, an abolitionist Unitarian minister of the Antebellum period.
Also, only a third of human beings are Christians and the proportion is actually declining. And only a minority of Christians believe in the imminence of the parousia (Second Coming).
Dave, did you already know all that? If so I’m deeply impressed. I mean that.
When Sen. Obama used the quote in when he announced his candidacy for president, I researched it and have remembered the outcome of my researches since.
As to my theological remarks, I came under the influence of theologians in high school and college. Some of my dearest friends are scholars of religion, Biblical scholars, theologians, and the like.
Thanks, I still think Christianity is a force for good.
I agree. The end of slavery, rights for women, and the values of the Establishment are all outgrowths of Christianity. You will search in vain for them in the writings of classical antiquity (if they actually belonged to classical antiquity) but they’re there for all to see in the works of the Italian Humanists who were, of course, Christians.
The Chinese experience is history is cyclical. This is epitomized by the words from Romance of the Three Kingdoms; “The empire, long divided, must unite; long united, must divide. Thus it has ever been.”
I think the Apostle Paul is a good place to start ruminating on whether there is any arc. His life is a good illustration of society/humanity’s journey. Sometimes there is dramatic change in a flash (the road to Damascus), but most times change occurs slowly and in a constant struggle (Romans 7). I think the American experience with slavery and Jim Crow is similar.
In the secular world; humanity progresses because we have the capacity to learn and remember from our mistakes. Just as the writers of the American constitution learned from the mistakes of the Roman Republic; so too someday founders of a future Republic will learn from American mistakes.
And while I wouldn’t proclaim liberal democracy is universally embraced; its shows an awful lot of “soft power”. For example, India is a decent democracy. It has stuck to democracy even with setbacks like a partial dictatorship; or sectarian tensions; or perhaps slower economic growth then what an authoritarian regime can do (i.e. China); but there is no craving to replace the democratic system with something else.
The error is to say the “moral arc” favors a country; or a politician; or a particular policy. Those things are far too ephemeral to observe anything like a “moral arc”. Look at the Roman Empire; it took 350 years for it to embrace some of the concepts of Christianity – those are the timeframes we are talking about.
“For example, India is a decent democracy.”
So was Turkey.
AFAIK, India’s military has never had a habit of “interventions†with the civilian government like Turkey did until Erdogan came along.