since there are probably, children being molested right now as we debate the matter
Greg, there are no children that I know of being molested. If there were, I would do whatever it took to protect them. I assure you of that. I don't know why you keep suggesting otherwise. I simply think that humans decide what's right and wrong, not God, in which/whom I don't believe. In this place and time not only I but the society in which I live think that child molestation is wrong, wrong, wrong. I'm prepared to do my part to uphold that.
Would you create a Law about it?
There already is a law both where you live and where I live. If there weren't, I'd vote to create one. On my island, a law probably wouldn't be necessary.
I only mentioned it because I am "trying" to communicate to you that if all morality is reduced to only personal boundaries, then you have no right to impose yours on the pedophile, or anyone else for that matter.
Let me try again. If you approach right and wrong in society from a homogeneous religious perspective, then you take God's laws and make them illegal on Earth. Very straight-forward and tidy.
If you approach right and wrong in society from a secular perspective, you start with the individual senses of right and wrong of the citizens and you integrate them somehow into a written set of laws plus an informal set of do's and don'ts that are wrong but not illegal. This amalgamation does not coincide with everyone's personal sense of right and wrong but we make do. If the scheme turns out to have some flaws, we change it. If we as a people change our minds over time, we change it.
If we approach right and wrong in a small, isolated group like the island, we get to know the participants, get a feel for their integrity, maturity, commonality of purpose, habits, values, etc. If we're pretty much in sync and fairly evolved humans, we may not need any formal rules. There's no reason to create rules just to have them. If there are problems that require rules to solve, then we create rules.
This is what all informal small groups do. In its simplest form, it's the way a man and a woman turn into a couple. Sometimes they don't have to have formal rules, they just naturally blend and accommodate each other. Sometimes they need to go through a process to establish that dirty clothes go in the hamper and not on the floor. It all depends on the people.
if your not twitching, you should be
There's nothing inconsistent about my values. We're just not communicating well enough yet for you to see that. I'm a very introspective person and I've been figuring me out for 58 years now. I think I have a coherent approach. It's just conceptually different from yours. And this message board format doesn't lend itself to systematic presentation of complex matters.
Karen |
