![Petition \u00b7 LETS PURGE \"THE PURGE\" And ban this new TV series \u00b7 Change.org](\"https:\/\/assets.change.org\/photos\/9\/ct\/hg\/xYCTHgPtXyTQWyu-800x450-noPad.jpg?1537071052\")
<\/p>\nThe Answer to \u201cWhose Business Is It Anyway?\u201d (About Moral and Immoral Behaviors)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Whenever the question of the morality or ethical correctness of something legal arises someone in the crowd will say \u201cWhose business is that\u201d\u2014so long as the behavior being examined is legal and does not have a negative impact on that person. But, of course, that is extremely shallow, individualistic ethics. \u201cNo man is an island.\u201d<\/p>\n
We are not talking here about what is or should be legal<\/em>. The only question here is why anything someone else does should matter to me, or to you, or to anyone, so long as it cannot be demonstrated that the behavior does not affect me or you. Again, the answer is \u201cNo man is an island.\u201d<\/p>\n *Sidebar: The opinions expressed here are my own (or those of the guest writer); I do not speak for any other person, group or organization; nor do I imply that the opinions expressed here reflect those of any other person, group or organization unless I say so specifically. Before commenting read the entire post and the \u201cNote to commenters\u201d at its end.*<\/em><\/p>\n Simon and Garfunkel sang \u201cI Am an Island,\u201d but the song was meant to illustrate how sad such an existence is.<\/p>\n So to you who ask \u201cWhose business is it, anyway?\u201d I ask this: Why should<\/em> you feel anger when a powerful male congressman calls a minority female congresswoman an obscene name or phrase? It doesn\u2019t affect you\u2014especially if you are not a member of her district and are a white male. It literally cannot have any affect on you\u2013except emotionally (repulsion, anger, frustration).<\/p>\n Two brothers have sex with each other (in the movie \u201cGodless\u201d about which I blogged recently). Why is that anyone\u2019s business? Why is it anyone\u2019s business if a man (or woman) hates people of color\u2014so long as it doesn\u2019t affect you? You say \u201cWell, it does affect me because it harms society.\u201d How does that affect you\u2014if you are a person of majority and privilege? It doesn\u2019t\u2014unless it\u2019s just wrong<\/em>. And it can only be\u00a0wrong<\/em> if \u201cno man is an island\u201d\u00a0and<\/em> humanity has a built in basic conscience about right and wrong that is connected to a higher law than biology or social contract?<\/p>\n People asked Martin Luther King, Jr. why he was breaking race laws in the South. His ultimate answer was that there is a \u201chigher law\u201d than \u201cman\u2019s laws.\u201d Most people would agree. But what is that \u201chigher law?\u201d Where does it \u201creside?\u201d On what is it based? What makes it \u201chigher?\u201d<\/p>\n MLK knew the answers to those questions\u2014God.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t confuse the issues I am raising. I am not asking about legality<\/em>; I am asking why we should<\/em> feel revulsion when two brothers have sex with each other. Why we should<\/em> believe that\u2019s shameful<\/em>\u2014even if it is not demonstrably<\/em> harming anyone. For the same reason we should feel it is shameful<\/em> when a white male congressman calls a minority congresswoman an obscene name. It\u2019s just wrong\u2014even if it doesn\u2019t affect you or me in any direct way. It vulgarizes and degrades humanity which knows some things are vulgarizing and degrading\u2014especially incest. But why? If there is no cosmic moral order? And how can there be any cosmic moral order if there is no God or anything like God? From Plato to Kant to Horkheimer, non-religious philosophers have even recognized the necessity of God (or something like God) for objective right and wrong that transcend mere subjective preference or social construction.<\/p>\n Now, even though I hesitate to go here, I MUST raise the issues of sex between humans and animals. A man in the county where I live was recently arrested for having sex with a dog. It happens. Tell me, if you dare, that that\u2019s not morally repugnant, disgusting, shameful\u2014irrespective of whether it should be illegal or legal. No person was harmed. It\u2019s questionable whether the animal was even harmed. I will simply not believe you if you say that such an act is \u201cnobody\u2019s business.\u201d It may not be a matter for the criminal justice system, but the practice of it is shameful. Why? It\u2019s sick. Why? What if the man says \u201cIt was my dog and you have no right to judge me?\u201d You would nevertheless object that, indeed, you do have the right to judge his action as absolutely, objectively, morally repugnant and shameful (I hope). But why\u2014unless there is some cosmic moral order in the universe, intuitively built into us, that makes it so?<\/p>\n Again, here, in this discussion thread, we are not<\/em> talking about law; we are talking about morality and ethics.<\/p>\n You must know of the American media franchise called \u201cThe Purge.\u201d If not, look it up. Imagine with \u201cThe Purge\u201d a future dystopian society in which it is legal, one day a year, for twelve hours, to commit murder. So the legality question is taken off the table. Back to my question. Why would it be morally, ethically wrong to participate in \u201cThe Purge\u201d by murdering people? Why would you feel disgust, horror, revulsion, at such participation and behavior? Only because you don\u2019t like it? If nature is all there is, what would make it objectively wrong? Social contract? Wait. In that society the social contract is that it is okay to commit murder within the law. Only because it is\u2026what? Without some higher law than \u201cman\u2019s law\u201d (in the broadest sense), what makes it possible to say about any behavior \u201cThat would always and everywhere be wrong\u201d where \u201cwrong\u201d means more than \u201cI wouldn\u2019t like it?\u201d<\/p>\n You say \u201cWell, our genetic code and accumulative millennia of adaptive experience and behavior make it wrong.\u201d How so? How can that, even if true, over ride the freedom of individuals and societies to decide their own rules? In a world of over population and pent-up aggression, maybe (I don\u2019t think this but only because I believe in God) something like \u201cThe Purge\u201d would be a good thing. It\u2019s at least conceivable, you have to admit, if you don\u2019t believe there is some transcendent, universal, cosmic moral order. The same with bestiality and incest and everything people might want to do.<\/p>\n In a universe without God or something like God, might makes right. There\u2019s no getting around it. Just admit it. Or don\u2019t\u2026and rest in irrational denial and look forward to a future where anything might turn out to be morally and ethically okay.<\/p>\n *Note to commenters:<\/em> This blog is not a discussion board; please respond with a question or comment only to me. If you do not share my evangelical Christian perspective (very broadly defined), feel free to ask a question for clarification, but know that this is not a space for debating incommensurate perspectives\/worldviews. In any case, know that there is no guarantee that your question or comment will be posted by the moderator or answered by the writer. If you hope for your question or comment to appear here and be answered or responded to, make sure it is civil, respectful, and \u201con topic.\u201d Do not comment if you have not read the entire post and do not misrepresent what it says. Keep any comment (including questions) to minimal length; do not post essays, sermons or testimonies here<\/u>. Do not post links to internet sites here. This is a space for expressions of the blogger\u2019s (or guest writers\u2019) opinions and constructive dialogue among evangelical Christians (very broadly defined).<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Answer to \u201cWhose Business Is It Anyway?\u201d (About Moral and Immoral Behaviors) Whenever the question of the morality or ethical correctness of something legal arises someone in the crowd will say \u201cWhose business is that\u201d\u2014so long as the behavior being examined is legal and does not have a negative impact on that person. But, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n