Solomon's Judgment

See I Kings 3:16-28

 

Two women were in the court of King Solomon, disputing over who was the mother of the baby they'd brought with them. After listening to the women speak, Solomon declared that the baby should be split in two, each woman getting half. The dishonest woman said that was fine by her; the true mother of the baby, meanwhile, said no: she would rather see the baby in the arms of the false woman than for the child to die.

 

As a metaphor, the child is like the truth: it's all or nothing, and you don't get to split the difference without savaging what matters. There is no compromise; being open-minded (in the modernist sense) is fatal. Not everything is relative.