Okay, my last political post got a little bit chaotic, so I decided to narrow my focus a little today.
In the last post, we asked about legislating morals in general.
Leti quoted us scriptures, showing that some things our country allows are things Christians are forbidden to do in the Bible.
Tammy V quoted from the Bible as well, pointing out that God gave Adam & Eve the gift of "free will" (the ability to choose right or wrong.)
Tammy M pointed out that she values the freedoms we have in this country, and is not entirely comfortable having the government take our individual choices out of our hands.
Kerri said that legislating morality was not the issue... but instead the issue was that our government should take a stand against what the people do not approve of. (Note to Kerri: Do you have any statistics about what percentages of the American people are against abortion and gay marriage?)
Today's political question is:
Does the government have the right to legislate morals for it's citizens?
Share your opinion in our comments section! Mine will be posted during my lunch hour.
4 comments:
I agree wit the last two posters. I'm a Christian too.
This country was founded on "Christian" principles. I believe this country has moved away from those principles. What would the lawmaker base morallity on? In this society that has taught children "if it feels good, do it".
Even it we could make laws to uphold the Bible laws, it doesn't mean people would follow those laws. I'm thinking of those prople who do drugs, or maybe rich people who get away with stuff because they can buy their way out. Some how people would justify what they do, even if there were laws in place.
But mostly I'm thinking who we are placing in authority over us in the polital areana. So many religions in America, So many ways and gods that we accept in America now a days...
So, Jeanette, what you're saying is that our country should NOT legislate morals, since the lawmakers have no morals to base the laws on. Is that right?
Before we can discuss it further, we should define it....here's a good place that is thoughtful:
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/morality-definition/
I quote from that site here: "...the only universal features that all moralities have is that they are put forward by a society and they provide a guide for the behavior of the people in that society. In this sens of "morality," morality might allow slavery or might allow some people with one skin color [sexual orientation or religion]to behave in ways that those with a different skin color [sexual orientation or religion0 are not allowed to behave...In the sense most closely related to the original descriptionve sense, "morality" refers to a guide to behavior put forward by some group other than a society, for example, a religious group. When the guide to conduct put forward by a religious group conflicts with the guide to conduct put forward by a society, it is not clear whether ot say that there are conflicting moralities, or that the code of the religious group conflicts with morality. People who are members of that society and also members of the religious group, might differ with regard to the guide that they accept. They are like to regard the guide they accept as the true morality."
Jana, actually what I said is Christians need to stand against what is wrong according to the Bible because GOD is against it so that our country will be blessed NOT judged. It also follows the same thought that our country needs to stand for what is right according to the Bible for the same reasons.
No I have no such stats as you mentioned, because I haven't ever really worried what the people of our country thought. I already know what God thinks of it and that is enough for me.
To answer your question - yes, the government does have the right to set moral laws. I am very glad it says that murder is wrong. That is moral law and I would assume everyone would agree it is a good thing. :).
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