Whose Morality do we Enforce?

When we allow the government to get into the business of enforcing personal moral decisions, we get into the question of “Whose morality?” Does morality consist of limiting sexual activity to heterosexual married couples? Or does it mean tolerance and acceptance of all lifestyles? Our law books call for both! Having contradictory laws may be great job security for the legal industry, but such contradictions are tearing our society apart.

Or consider “Blue Laws.” In North Carolina, it is illegal to purchase alcoholic beverages on a Sunday morning. This may please Apollo in his continuing popularity contest with Bacchus, but many in our country are not worshippers of Apollo -- or Sol Invictus as he became known at the time of Constantine. The Biblical Sabbath runs from Friday at sunset to Saturday at sunset, and there is nothing in the New Testament to repeal this edict.

Don’t agree with that last statement? Then I guess you don’t want me legislating morality on you.

29. When the Lord thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, whither thou goest to possess them, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their land;

30. Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou inquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise.

31. Thou shalt not do so unto the Lord thy God: for every abomination to the Lord, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods.

--Deuteronomy 12

And then we have the ongoing debate about Christmas decorations on government property. Should manger scenes be allowed on government property? How about Christmas trees? Santa Claus?

“Christmas” is a repackaged set of pagan holidays. Christmas trees, elves, Yule logs, etc. have origins in pagan winter solstice celebrations. Follow the chronology in Luke and you end up with Jesus likely being born in early October.

Disagree? I guess you don’t want me legislating morality for you.

In any discussion of enforcing Christian based morality, we have the fundamental problem of “Which Christianity?” Should Christianity be based just on the Bible, or do later Papal rulings and the like hold equal weight? Putting the government in charge of such decisions is a recipe for bloodshed. This corrupts both Church and State.

So far I have confined myself to Christian definitions of morality. What about our growing Moslem population? Should they have the right to mandate veils for women? Or how about the resurgent Wiccan population? Should they be granted time off for their festivals? Or how about the large secular humanist population? Should they be allowed to mandate that all children study Darwin? Wait a second! They are doing that last one right now!

We have a diverse society. Enforcing morality beyond the bare basics is to enforce immorality in the eyes of many.

Detailed morality laws at the local level may be viable, but at the state and national level, they are a recipe for conflict and contradiction.

Next: Legalizing Moral Excellence

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