Rewriting the moral handbook. That seems to be the agenda of the 21st century here in America. What were traditionally known to be immoral acts are being justified by legislation. Just pick an issue, any issue and it becomes plain to see. I, we, often focus on the big one at the moment, currently the issue of abortion, but there are many more smaller ones. But first we need to understand just what morals and morality is. Morals are those principles on which your judgement of right and wrong are based. Traditionally in America those morals were derived from the Judaeo-Christian teaching in the Bible. That was the basis for our morality.
Now ethics are often confused with morals. They are not the same thing. Ethics are principles of right and wrong provided by an outside source. Think of them as laws, subject to change.The founding fathers separated church from state. The thinking there was to treat morals and ethics as separate entities, which rightly, they are. Morals are individual things, ethics apply to the whole. Yes they are easily interchanged, and in some cases correctly so, but for the most part they are separate actions.
I don't think the founding fathers envisioned a time when the people would use ethics to rewrite morals! To them, and to myself, morals are inflexible things. There is right and wrong. I know I am often challenged on that being told it is too simplistic. I disagree, you can argue, provide excuses, exceptions, and scenarios all day long, but in the end there is right and wrong. For me, morality isn't multiple choice. If something is wrong, it is always wrong. But that seems too constricting to some. We need to change morality to fit the situation. No, that is the function of ethics. The job of legislation is to establish the ethical standard of conduct within a society. In America it was believed that standard would be established by a moral and religious people. And it has been. What concerns me is that the wheels are apparently beginning to fall off that wagon. When legislators and there constituents fully support the killing of babies, in the womb, that isn't the principles of a moral and religious people. I realize Roe V Wade was in 1973, the twentieth century. Of course what the court didn't rule on was when life began, kinda skirting that moral dilemma. If the court had issued an opinion saying life begins at conception, or at six weeks or whatever, they couldn't then, in good conscience, say it was right to kill that baby. The right to life is enshrined in our founding documents! I believe that decision will be reviewed in the near future and the court forced to issue an opinion on just that. Then we will see the moral principle of our nation by the establishment of an ethical standard.
The thing is the moral handbook is not written through the legislation of man. The moral handbook is an individual thing written in our hearts and minds by tradition. What we learned from our parents and grandparents as moral behavior. Morals are the providence of religious instruction. Morality is in the realm of the spiritual. Ethics are what we are allowed, or not allowed, to do within the society. Ethics are established by man. We don't get to write the moral handbook! Was the Bible written by man? Many say that it was and literally speaking that is correct. God didn't publish the Bible. Did God write it? Where did man get the ability to speak, think, and eventually write those thoughts down? What force in the universe endowed man, and only man, with the ability to write? The ability to pass down information from one generation to the next, to communicate across time is mans' responsibility. Maintaining the moral handbook is a part of that. Act responsibly.
Now ethics are often confused with morals. They are not the same thing. Ethics are principles of right and wrong provided by an outside source. Think of them as laws, subject to change.The founding fathers separated church from state. The thinking there was to treat morals and ethics as separate entities, which rightly, they are. Morals are individual things, ethics apply to the whole. Yes they are easily interchanged, and in some cases correctly so, but for the most part they are separate actions.
I don't think the founding fathers envisioned a time when the people would use ethics to rewrite morals! To them, and to myself, morals are inflexible things. There is right and wrong. I know I am often challenged on that being told it is too simplistic. I disagree, you can argue, provide excuses, exceptions, and scenarios all day long, but in the end there is right and wrong. For me, morality isn't multiple choice. If something is wrong, it is always wrong. But that seems too constricting to some. We need to change morality to fit the situation. No, that is the function of ethics. The job of legislation is to establish the ethical standard of conduct within a society. In America it was believed that standard would be established by a moral and religious people. And it has been. What concerns me is that the wheels are apparently beginning to fall off that wagon. When legislators and there constituents fully support the killing of babies, in the womb, that isn't the principles of a moral and religious people. I realize Roe V Wade was in 1973, the twentieth century. Of course what the court didn't rule on was when life began, kinda skirting that moral dilemma. If the court had issued an opinion saying life begins at conception, or at six weeks or whatever, they couldn't then, in good conscience, say it was right to kill that baby. The right to life is enshrined in our founding documents! I believe that decision will be reviewed in the near future and the court forced to issue an opinion on just that. Then we will see the moral principle of our nation by the establishment of an ethical standard.
The thing is the moral handbook is not written through the legislation of man. The moral handbook is an individual thing written in our hearts and minds by tradition. What we learned from our parents and grandparents as moral behavior. Morals are the providence of religious instruction. Morality is in the realm of the spiritual. Ethics are what we are allowed, or not allowed, to do within the society. Ethics are established by man. We don't get to write the moral handbook! Was the Bible written by man? Many say that it was and literally speaking that is correct. God didn't publish the Bible. Did God write it? Where did man get the ability to speak, think, and eventually write those thoughts down? What force in the universe endowed man, and only man, with the ability to write? The ability to pass down information from one generation to the next, to communicate across time is mans' responsibility. Maintaining the moral handbook is a part of that. Act responsibly.
No comments:
Post a Comment