Rock star Bono recently urged the European Union to keep “their deal with God” and donate more money to overseas aid. Now why on earth would Bono bring God into his appeal? After all, this is the same EU that is supposed to have “secularism as its founding value”, according to French prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin? Perhaps it is because secularism offers no ultimate basis for right or wrong. Bono could have just said “You promised to give aid, now you should keep your word”, but without God, what justification could he offer to back up his words? None. He could have said “You’ll feel better about yourself if you do.” or “Other nations will like you better” but these lines and others like them offer no real moral authority. They can be dismissed with a simple “So what?” However, an appeal to the will of The Almighty actually counts for something. Now if only our other moral issues of the day could be framed in this way.
