New York State Supreme Court, New York City |
"If truth is nothing but opinion, right springs from the barrel of a gun."
John Senior, The Death of Christian Culture, Norfolk, VA: IHS Press, 2008, 148.
The inscription on the Justice building of New York says "The True Administration of Justice is the Firmest Pillar of Good Government," which means that the right ordering of society, "good government," depends on true justice, the "true administration of justice." Everything depends on the discovery, the defense and the promotion of truth.
The good depends on the truth. And the truth is not a matter of opinion but of reality, what is real as opposed to what is fake. If what is not real takes precedence over, or is put on an equal plane with, what is real then the world becomes a competition of lies. Then the administration of society is determined by the "best" liars and those who hold the greatest power to promote and enforce their own lies. Where truth is denied violence rules. The denial of truth is the first violence, it is a violation of man at the very core of his being. The denial of truth is the denial of man because it is the denial of anything over man. Man's great stature is determined by his acknowledging and defending and living and dying for truth to which he is beholden, which he does not invent and cannot manipulate without compromising himself. The truth is of God and man is the humble servant thereof, if he is to be a true man. Christ is the Truth. Only in him is man perfectly conformed to reality "I and the Father are one." John 10:30
"Then Jesus said to those Jews, who believed him: If you continue in my word, you shall be my disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." John 10:31-32