”We have a system that depends upon truthful testimony but expects and tolerates lying. Fine kettle of fish. Does the issue at hand, whether people swear on the Bible or not, have any impact on that?
This is what I was asking from the start. Around here they don’t bring out the Bible, they just have you hold up your right hand and respond with an, I do. Is it a true choice? I am convinced that it is simply an empty ritual for most people.
We not only have a justice system based on determining the truthfulness of evidence, but we have a society that depends on its ability to trust. From the smallest working relationship (the milk man leaving cartons in the box on your porch) to the largest, the leader of the free world calling out for our support; we measure the quality of our relationships to the extent that we can trust the person(s) we are engaging.
Every relationship, civil, business, political, or domestic is based on our ability to trust one another. Trust comes from believing that we can count on the other person to be and do what they say they will be and do.
”I'm telling you that I cannot imagine myself in a circumstance under which I would lie as a witness in a courtroom. I cannot say for certain that there is no circumstance under which I would lie, only that I cannot imagine one.
So, apparently you have been blessed with a very sheltered situation and you cannot imagine that changing to any great extent. You do not expect to ever be put to any difficult tests of your veracity.
”My assertion that I would not lie under oath based solely on ethics stands unqualified, but not absolute.”
I would not suggest you put yourself in harms way to test this out so that you could qualify your statements.
I can examine my own ethics and the influences on my life that has compelled me to define and refine my ethical outlook. I am suspicious of claims to just have an ethic. I am just as suspicious of people who simply accept whatever religion was handed to them and claim to be the living standard upon which all other religious people should operate.
These concerns stem from my personal philosophy. I have become convinced that to a large extent, life is a test of character; minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day, year after year until we die. At the heart of every test of character is a verisimilitudinous tug.
For people to dismiss truthfulness as a value is equal to a dismissal of moral goodness in character. You have not done this at all, btw. However, I am fascinated by a humanity that lives in such paradox. And I am boggled by statements from people that say they just believe in something, or just have an ethical standard about something. |
