God Says It, That Settles It? The Nature and Place of Moral Authorities in Political Discourse

Abstract Public policy discussions involve certain presuppositions about ethical authorities, but disclosing ethical authorities is controversial to many. Some argue that a just society, to say nothing of public persuasion, suffers when an appeal is made to a particular worldview and the moral authority found within it. Others make bald and rash appeals to moral authorities and even consider the attachment of other reasons to them as self-undermining. In this essay, I attempt to show that moral authorities are relevant and legitimately disclosed in public ethics debates. However, for Christians in particular, I point to examples drawn from the Bible not only to show that public persuasion goes beyond mere authorial-appeal and embraces authorial-reasoning, where public advocates identify the ethical directive, but also to explain why public policy derived from that directive is sensible for everyone.