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---Lord Acton, from The History of Freedom in Antiquity, 1877 What Is Morality?
What would you do if you were walking down a street and found an unmarked
bag containing $500,000? Okay, now what if that bag contained only $5?
Would your answer be the same? If not, why? How you answer these questions
depends on your moral dictates. And your moral dicates are just that:
YOURS! And NO ONE, including the government, has a right to tell you that
you must follow another set of moral dictates. Yet if you look at many of
the laws in this country, you will discover that many of them do just that.
Laws governing the legality of gambling, prostitution, abortion, drug use,
drinking, homosexuality, marriage and many other things are attempts
(successful as long as they remain on the books) at dictating your personal
moral code.
Morality is, by definition, a system of the principles of right and wrong
conduct. Where do most of us get our sense of right and wrong? Nowadays,
that is much in debate, but in truth, much of it comes from our parents.
And for them, or at least their parents, most of that came from the church
they chose to worship in. What is morally right and wrong can often be
summed up in what we consider "sin". Because the vast majority of those in
this country (the US) are of Judeo/Christian heritage, the Ten Commandments
are often the basis for what we consider moral or immoral. But in today's
society, with the introduction and/or growth of other religious/spiritual
teachings, that basic foundation of morality is being challenged.
The Constitution of the United States guarantees us the right to worship
freely. This most basic of rights is something that is now being abused by
groups like the Moral Majority and the Christian Coalition. Groups like
these are seeking to impose their morality on the rest of society. And
unfortunately for those of us who believe differently, they are being very
successful. The passage in the US House and Senate of a bill the allows
states to not recognize same sex marriages performed in states that allow
it is one of their most publicized successes. The attempt to get creationism
taught in science classes is another. Attempts to get prayer back in school
are yet another. However, the irony of this is that they are using their
First Amendment rights to worship freely to take that same right away from
others.
Some may argue that all laws can be considered moral laws.
And they would not be incorrect. There are those who see nothing wrong with
taking something from someone else, what we call stealing. So do we get rid
of laws that prevent stealing? No. To do so in this day and age would be to
promote anarchy. However, laws that prevent stealing are simply protecting
others from being hurt by someone else. While we have the right to freely
practice our morality, we do NOT have the right to impose that
morality on others by robbing, raping, murdering or otherwise harming them.
The ONLY reason that a law should exist is to protect others from being hurt
by those who choose to practice a different morality. Such protection is
also guaranteed in the same constitution...giving us all the right to life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness. In order for that to happen, in an
age when there are those who truly believe there is nothing wrong with
murdering someone for a pair of shoes, we need laws to prevent such
occurrence.
We also need laws to protect our children. But that is another page....
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