Jesus stood before the Roman governor, hours from execution, and said that he was born to testify to the truth:
“You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”
Pilate’s reply has echoed through the centuries: What is truth? This may have been a cynical abdication of responsibility, but the question is an important one, especially in today's society.
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Are There No Objective Truths?
Why the claim that nothing is objectively true cannot survive being stated.
How Is Objective Truth An Argument For God?
If truth is something we discover rather than invent, where does it come from?
What is Truth? (Objective Truth vs Subjective Truth vs Relativism)
The distinction the whole question turns on, laid out from the beginning.
Does Objective Truth Exist? // Questions About Catholicism
Objective truth in Jesus and the Church - how it reaches anyone who wants to know.
What we mean by truth
Truth is a property of beliefs, statements and propositions. They are true when they accurately reflect reality - when they correspond to the facts. It is not an abstract concern: we depend on it in science, in law, in every decision we make, and in every relationship built on trust.
Some truths are objective. They exist independently of anyone’s beliefs about them - scientific laws, mathematical facts. They were true before anyone worked them out and would stay true if everyone forgot them.
Some truths are subjective: my truth as distinct from your truth. Your favourite colour is blue and mine is green, and neither of us is mistaken. For matters of taste and opinion this is exactly right, and no one is troubled by it.
The difficulty comes when subjectivity is extended to everything - the claim that there are no objective truths at all. This is relativism, and it has a problem it cannot get around: it cannot state itself. To say “relativism is true” is to make a claim of objective truth, and so to contradict the very thing being claimed. The position refutes itself in the act of being asserted.
Where relativism breaks down
It cannot condemn atrocity
If every cultural practice and personal belief is valid within its own context, we are left with no ground to judge what everyone recognises as evil. Genocide and slavery become impossible to condemn without contradicting the premise.It contradicts itself
“There are no absolute truths” is itself stated as an absolute truth. And “no culture should impose its values on another” is a universal moral rule - which is precisely what relativism says cannot exist.It stifles moral progress
If a culture's moral code is right by definition, there is no basis for reforming it from within. Movements for civil rights and for women's suffrage rested on the claim that a society's current standards were objectively unjust and ought to be changed.It erodes justice
Fairness and justice depend on universal, agreed standards. Without an external benchmark, assigning blame, administering justice, or claiming a human right becomes meaningless - because no act can be inherently wrong.Nobody actually lives it
Almost no one is a relativist in practice. When we are personally harmed, we do not treat the harm as relative - we appeal to real rights and to standards we expect to be upheld whether or not the person who wronged us agrees.
Where truth is found
Once we accept that moral truths can be absolute, the question changes. It is no longer whether there is a truth, but what it is and where it can be found. For Catholics the ultimate foundation of truth is not a rule book but a person: God, revealed through Jesus Christ.
The Magisterium
The teaching office of the Church, established when Jesus made St Peter the first Pope. The Pope, in union with the bishops, exercises supreme authority on matters of faith and morals - a definitive guide through the ages as societies change and meet new challenges. Its moral teaching is compiled in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.Scripture
The Bible: the inspired Word of God, and the foundation of the Church's teaching. Interpreting it is the Magisterium's role, so that individuals arriving at contradictory readings are not simply left in their confusion.Apostolic Tradition
The living transmission of the message of the Gospel - preserved, carried and interpreted by the Church across twenty centuries, and still handed on today.Conscience
The Church offers objective moral truths, but its teaching is clear that a person must follow their own well-formed conscience. The Church's role is to help form that conscience through its teaching, so that it comes to align with the truth.
Worth holding onto
“You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free”