The Critical Compass Podcast - January 15, 2026


Bruce Pardy on Why FREEDOM Doesn't Care About Your Truth


Episode Stats


Length

17 minutes

Words per minute

96.23082

Word count

1,691

Sentence count

1

Harmful content

Misogyny

1

sentences flagged

Toxicity

2

sentences flagged

Hate speech

1

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

In this episode, I explain why the Ten Commandments should not be embedded in the law, and why we should not live according to the dictates of the Bible. Why are the Ten commandments the truth and why must they be embedded within the law?

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 I'm really sorry because I'm your third lawyer in a row and I hope you don't
00:00:20.520 start thinking about William Shakespeare you know the part where he says the 0.93
00:00:27.840 first thing we'll do we'll kill all the lawyers I want to offer you an 0.99
00:00:39.440 inconvenient fundamental truth and that is that fundamental truths are beliefs 0.95
00:00:55.000 and beliefs are held by individuals but here's what happens human beings tend to
00:01:10.960 be tribal they like to be in groups I think because groups give them meaning and
00:01:21.680 in those groups they develop fundamental truths that is beliefs about morality
00:01:35.680 about religion about spirituality about values and virtues and in this group they
00:01:49.680 believe that they have come to the truth I know all of that is fine but then the
00:02:05.580 group thinks that it knows the truth and if it knows the truth then why shouldn't
00:02:18.340 everybody be required to live according to the truth in other words truth and freedom are
00:02:36.340 truth because it is a belief is your business and your business alone we get into real trouble when we
00:03:00.340 we start to get to the idea of truth given state sanction in other words to join truth and
00:03:15.340 authority the combination of the claim to truth and authority is the combination that leads to tyranny
00:03:28.340 the truth and the truth and the truth and the truth and the truth and the truth and the truth
00:03:35.340 now this operates in all different directions because we are subject right now to a regime that is
00:03:46.340 sure that it knows the truth and it is using its power to impose it but the same kind of
00:03:56.340 the same can happen in reverse I recently shared a stage with several other people who claimed to know the truth and in the context of that claim made the case
00:04:20.340 the law ought to be based upon the Ten Commandments because the Ten Commandments are the truth now maybe they are but here's the point people disagree
00:04:48.340 disagree
00:04:52.340 so let's just take a look at the Ten Commandments for a moment and let me explain to you why I think that this kind of proposition and this is just an example
00:05:06.340 why this kind of proposition that the law must be based upon the truth means that you can't you will not be free
00:05:20.340 let me put it another way before I go to the Ten Commandments let me put it this way
00:05:25.340 let me put it this way here's a question what is right what is good what is true what is good right and true that is actually asking two different questions
00:05:53.340 two different questions not one and this is the error that we make the error goes like this that question what is right defines what the law ought to reflect no here are the two questions number one
00:06:11.340 question number one how should you behave that is a philosophical moral religious spiritual value-laden question how should you behave
00:06:29.340 question number one question one question two how must you behave that second question is not primarily moral or religious or spiritual or value-laden that is a legal question and the legal question is answered with the force of the state
00:06:57.340 and the error we make is to conflate them you take your answer to the first question how should we behave you can give all kinds of different answers but if you take your answer and you insist that that answer be embedded in the law you are now the tyrant
00:07:25.340 so let's go to the Ten Commandments
00:07:29.340 here are the Ten Commandments as you probably will know
00:07:32.340 number one no other gods before me
00:07:35.340 number two no idols
00:07:38.340 number three not take the name of the Lord in vain
00:07:42.340 number four keep the Sabbath 0.99
00:07:45.340 number five
00:07:46.340 honor
00:07:47.340 honor
00:07:48.340 thy father and mother
00:07:49.340 number six
00:07:50.340 number six
00:07:51.340 don't murder
00:07:52.340 number seven
00:07:54.340 shall not commit adultery
00:07:57.340 number eight
00:07:59.340 shall not steal
00:08:01.340 number nine
00:08:04.340 shall not bear false witness
00:08:05.340 and number ten
00:08:07.340 shall not covet
00:08:09.340 covet
00:08:10.340 which
00:08:11.340 which of those commandments
00:08:13.340 can be
00:08:15.340 should be
00:08:16.340 embedded in the law
00:08:17.340 my answer to you would be
00:08:21.340 two of them
00:08:23.340 maybe two and a half
00:08:25.340 here are the two
00:08:28.340 thou shalt not murder
00:08:31.340 and thou shalt not steal
00:08:35.340 why
00:08:37.340 why those two
00:08:38.340 well because
00:08:41.340 in an ideal world
00:08:43.340 the world that I would like to live in
00:08:46.340 the purpose of the law is to protect your freedom
00:08:51.340 and what is freedom
00:08:54.340 when are you free
00:08:56.340 you are free when you are not subject
00:09:01.340 to the coercion of other people
00:09:04.340 that is
00:09:05.340 you are not subject to their force
00:09:08.340 their violence
00:09:09.340 you are not made to do things you do not want to do
00:09:13.340 by other people
00:09:15.340 and by the state
00:09:16.340 so
00:09:17.340 if you murder somebody
00:09:19.340 or you steal their stuff
00:09:21.340 you are now infringing on the liberty
00:09:25.340 the freedom of those other people
00:09:28.340 that is why those have to be laws
00:09:30.340 because the whole idea is that everybody is free
00:09:34.340 the half is
00:09:38.340 perhaps
00:09:39.340 don't bear false witness
00:09:41.340 as in
00:09:42.340 don't go to court
00:09:43.340 and tell a false story
00:09:44.340 you are now in contempt of court
00:09:46.340 but the rest of them
00:09:50.340 the rest of them might be true
00:09:53.340 they might reflect a truth
00:09:57.340 but they cannot be the law
00:10:00.340 why?
00:10:02.340 because now
00:10:03.340 some people are imposing their values upon other people
00:10:08.340 otherwise
00:10:10.340 those people are not able to do what they want to do
00:10:13.340 and those actions have nothing to do with imposing their will on other people
00:10:18.340 so this is like this is a conundrum
00:10:24.340 for people who have a strong belief in truth
00:10:27.340 and want to be free
00:10:30.340 let's put it another way
00:10:31.340 if you want to be free
00:10:34.340 then you want two things
00:10:39.340 things
00:10:42.340 the first one is easy
00:10:45.340 the second one is hard
00:10:48.340 the first one is this
00:10:51.340 if you want to be free
00:10:54.340 you do not want to be told what to do
00:10:58.340 that's easy
00:11:00.340 it's easy to want
00:11:02.340 here's the second one
00:11:05.340 if you want to be free
00:11:07.340 if you want to live in a free society
00:11:09.340 you do not want to tell other people what to do
00:11:16.340 and that's much more difficult
00:11:20.340 because the world is full of people
00:11:24.340 who want to tell their fellows what to do
00:11:28.340 because they know the truth
00:11:31.340 the fact of the matter is
00:11:40.340 that nobody knows
00:11:43.340 what is good
00:11:46.340 right
00:11:47.340 and just
00:11:49.340 and if they do
00:11:52.340 maybe they do
00:11:54.340 but if they do
00:11:57.340 they cannot
00:12:00.340 prove it
00:12:03.340 and if they cannot prove it
00:12:06.340 in a way that cannot be
00:12:08.340 controverted
00:12:10.340 then it cannot be imposed on other people
00:12:15.340 let's put it this way
00:12:18.340 can you think of a moral proposition
00:12:21.340 anyone
00:12:22.340 any moral proposition you can think of
00:12:25.340 the most extreme thing you can imagine
00:12:28.340 the one thing that you know
00:12:31.340 in your heart of hearts
00:12:32.340 is the case
00:12:36.340 think to yourself
00:12:37.340 okay
00:12:38.340 I know that's true
00:12:41.340 how do I prove it's true
00:12:44.340 now I'm not talking about facts
00:12:46.340 we'll put facts off to the side
00:12:48.340 facts are based upon observation
00:12:49.340 you know
00:12:50.340 the hammer fell to the ground
00:12:51.340 fine
00:12:52.340 I'm not talking about facts
00:12:55.340 I'm talking about
00:12:56.340 moral
00:12:57.340 religious
00:12:58.340 spiritual
00:12:59.340 value laden propositions
00:13:00.340 let me put this proposition to you
00:13:03.340 no moral proposition
00:13:07.340 has ever
00:13:08.340 in the history of mankind
00:13:10.340 been proven to be true
00:13:13.340 it is just
00:13:14.340 a belief
00:13:15.340 it is just
00:13:16.340 a feeling
00:13:17.340 I'm not saying it's not valid
00:13:19.340 I'm not saying it's not valuable
00:13:22.340 I'm not saying it might not be true
00:13:25.340 I'm saying that if you can't prove it's true
00:13:29.340 you cannot impose it upon other people
00:13:34.340 because they believe differently
00:13:37.340 the thing you cannot do
00:13:40.340 is impose upon their freedom
00:13:42.340 you can't murder them
00:13:43.340 you can't attack them
00:13:44.340 you can't take their stuff
00:13:45.340 you can't violate their property
00:13:47.340 that's what freedom means
00:13:51.340 and that means
00:13:55.340 in turn
00:13:57.340 that law
00:13:59.340 properly
00:14:00.340 formulated
00:14:01.340 in a free society
00:14:03.340 cannot
00:14:05.340 be based upon
00:14:07.340 morality
00:14:09.340 the distinction is not between right and wrong
00:14:13.340 the distinction is between
00:14:15.340 force
00:14:18.340 and the absence
00:14:20.340 of force
00:14:22.340 if you are not subject to the force of other people
00:14:26.340 you are free
00:14:28.340 and vice versa
00:14:30.340 that is the line between you
00:14:33.340 and your fellow citizens
00:14:37.340 now
00:14:38.340 I want to make something clear
00:14:40.340 it may sound like I am suggesting
00:14:43.340 that morality is subjective
00:14:46.340 as in not real
00:14:48.340 not true
00:14:50.340 I'm not saying that at all
00:14:52.340 to assert
00:14:55.340 that morality is indeterminate
00:14:57.340 which is what I am doing
00:14:59.340 it's indeterminate in this sense
00:15:01.340 you can't prove it one way or the other
00:15:03.340 you might be right
00:15:05.340 in the beliefs that you hold
00:15:08.340 your belief in morality might actually be the real version
00:15:14.340 that doesn't matter
00:15:18.340 you cannot impose it
00:15:20.340 because neither you nor they nor I
00:15:23.340 can determine conclusively who of us is right
00:15:26.340 who of us is right
00:15:32.340 and that means in turn
00:15:34.340 that law cannot
00:15:36.340 in a free society anyway
00:15:39.340 that law cannot be based upon the common good
00:15:43.340 everybody is an individual
00:15:48.340 and every individual has beliefs
00:15:50.340 and as long as that individual is left alone
00:15:54.340 to do as they think best
00:15:57.340 as long as they don't interfere
00:15:59.340 that means everybody is free
00:16:01.340 and left to their own devices
00:16:03.340 and there is no common good
00:16:05.340 because common good itself
00:16:07.340 is based upon a value of commonality
00:16:10.340 that not everybody shares
00:16:13.340 so we're talking about a myth
00:16:15.340 we're talking about a myth
00:16:20.340 bottom line
00:16:22.340 in a free country
00:16:24.340 free people
00:16:26.340 find their own truth
00:16:29.340 their own fundamental truth
00:16:33.340 the search for truth is everything
00:16:37.340 but truth itself
00:16:39.340 in a state government sense
00:16:42.340 is nothing
00:16:43.340 the quest for truth is quintessential
00:16:49.340 but that does not mean that we must come to a consensus about the results
00:16:56.340 because that consensus will always leave some people out
00:17:01.340 who do not in fact agree
00:17:03.340 and if we impose that consensus on them
00:17:06.340 they are not free
00:17:10.340 just remember this
00:17:11.340 the only mind
00:17:14.340 inside your head
00:17:16.340 is yours
00:17:18.340 nobody else really knows what goes on in there
00:17:22.340 and whatever that is
00:17:26.340 that is your business
00:17:28.340 and your business alone
00:17:31.340 thank you very much
00:17:32.340 thank you very much
00:17:33.340 thank you very much