Faces on Faith: Virtue signaling evidence there is a God?
We added a new phrase to our cultural vocabulary in recent years. That phrase is “virtue signaling.” Virtue signaling is when we express our views or behaviors publicly so as to demonstrate our virtue or moral uprightness to others.
Even if you’ve never heard the phrase, you’ve definitely seen it in action. From filters on our social media profiles’ pictures to bumper stickers to colored ribbons to flags to bold T-shirts, we seem to be increasingly obsessed with showing the world how compassionate and good we are, as well as expressing our outrage at those who aren’t.
Virtue signaling tends to be contentious, since the signals reveal our differing moral systems, especially in our politicized society. Is it more virtuous to wear a Black Lives Matter pin or a Blue Lives Matter pin? Did your blood pressure spike when you read that?
Here’s what I find fascinating about virtue signaling: It reveals that we all have moral codes. We have an inner sense of right and wrong, even if we disagree on what is right and wrong, and even if none of us lives up to that inner code. To be human means we have innate categories of good and bad. Occasionally we meet amoral people. We call these people “psychopaths.”
So, why do we have a moral sense? There are two general answers. First, our moral sense could simply be a product of evolution, a kind of biological mind-trick that helps survival. This is a hard answer to embrace, because to be intellectually consistent you would have to admit that, say, child abuse or sexual assault or hate crimes aren’t actually wrong. They just feel wrong because that feeling helps our species continue.
The other answer is that our moral sense corresponds, albeit imperfectly, to an external moral standard. In other words, we feel right and wrong because these categories are objectively and universally real. And if there is an objective, real moral law, there must be a moral lawgiver. Moral reality would have to be anchored in an absolute something — or someone — beyond ourselves.
What if virtue signaling is yet another evidence that there is a God, and that God has a moral law? Are we virtuous by our creator’s standards? Spoiler alert: the Bible teaches that none of us can or do fulfill God’s laws. But Jesus came in love to save the unvirtuous by his death and resurrection.
Pastor Jeramie Rinne is the senior pastor at the Sanibel Community Church.