Morality and religion. Many people just don't seem to understand a simple fact, morality and religion are not the same thing. Morality is only concerned with what a society perceives to be right or wrong. Morals has nothing to do with the practice of a religion unless that religion incorporates those standards within the religion. It's the reason we can view Islam as an ideology rather than a religion. The religion is determining the moral values of the governed. That is not the case in Christian nations, at least not officially. And that is the cause of some misunderstandings. I can be moral without being a Christian or a Jew or a Muslim or anything else. Morality is just about what is right and what is wrong.
What is the balance between the two? The law. It's as simple as that. The law doesn't make anything moral or immoral, that is the function of religious belief. Our laws are called collectively The United States Statutes at Large. They are published in the order of their passage and are codified every six years in the United States Code. Those laws delineate what is right and wrong, the moral standard of the nation. The United States established no religious standard.
Morals and morality are different for everyone. We do tend to adopt the moral standards established by our parents, at least according to Freud. Piaget thought that morals developed over time, in stages from childhood to adulthood deciding for yourself what is right and wrong regardless of what your parents or others may say. B.F. Skinner emphasized external forces that shape your morals. He thought if you received praised for being right you would just continue doing what is right. For me, kind of the same thing as Freud was talking about.
How ever morals are established the question is, should you be penalized for your moral beliefs? All religions certainly believe you will. There may be various avenues to escape that punishment, to atone for that, but forgiveness is a moral virtue as well, so that justifies that. Well, most of the time it can anyway, blasphemy will not be forgiven! That's what Jesus said. Our laws are established, in part, so that you are not punished for moral infractions. Remember when we had "blue" laws? Mostly associated with Sunday's, restrictions on business were imposed. Later rescinded because they were discriminatory and harmful to those that didn't have a moral belief that Sunday should be a day of rest as the Bible says. Adultery is a criminal offense in 16 states. Very rarely prosecuted but illegal. In Maryland it carries a ten dollar fine and a misdemeanor charge. Morality and the law.
I do get annoyed with those that insist that morality has to be linked to a religious belief. Anyone that knows me knows I feel homosexual behavior is wrong. It's a moral judgement on my part and I do not need to seek justification for that, no citation required. It isn't anything I want to defend in a court of law. Now you may certainly disagree with that, disagree with my moral belief, but that doesn't mean I should change my belief. I don't expect you to change yours either. In short you can't tell me that I'm wrong because some religious text says this or that.
The key thing there being, I would have to believe the text. Not only would I have to believe the text, but I would have to believe your interpretation of that text. There is no Supreme Court for morality! That is what the Supreme Court does with laws. The court issues its' interpretation of the text (The United States Statutes at Large), states their opinion on the legality of that law, and leaves it to congress to make the final decision. Yes, the president can veto that as well. What text do you use to establish moral behavior? It's my feeling that we each write our own, editing and modifying it as we go along. I agree with that guy Piaget, although I admit to not having read his entire text. I'll have to do that sometime.
Morality is enforced solely by the individual! Laws punish everything else or allow the immoral. That depends upon your view of things. Currently the prevalent view appears to be, there should be no law regulating morality. The only purpose law should have is to prevent injury to others or allow me to do what I want. Additionally, the law should compel me to accept that without question. We have "criminalized" hate these days. And hate occurs when I simply disagree with you. Well because it is wrong to hate someone, a valid moral argument. The Supreme Court doesn't think so based on six cases. The Court says hate speech is protected speech. Trying to sort all that out is a very difficult thing. Here is an article I read about that. Sounds rather like a "religious" defense for an illegal action.
No comments:
Post a Comment