The Chaff

Thursday, March 15th, 2007

Moral, Schmoral

After General Pace commented about the immorality of homosexuality, the major presidential candidates have all been asked the question, “Do you believe homosexuality is immoral?”

To me, the only answer to ANY question regarding “moral” issues in politics is some variant of this:

It does not matter whether I believe something is immoral. It only matters that our citizens’ rights are protected. We cannot and should not attempt to enforce the morality of any religion or group of religions by law. The founding fathers understood this; our allies understand this; we have to understand it.

What moral rules should we expect the government to enforce for us? A ban on pork products? Alcohol? Tobacco? Men, how about we outlaw blow jobs? Women, have you been fitted for your burka? There is no place to draw the line, no shades of gray. No moral code can be “more important” than another: the moral code of modern Presbyterianism holds the exact same weight for its believers as the code of fundamentalist Shiite Islam holds for its believers as the code of Faerie Wicca holds for its believers. And all moral codes have the exact same power over those people who don’t believe in them: none.

On marriage rights for homosexuals in particular, I would honestly love to see a candidate state, flat out, that morality has no place in government, and then dare their opponents to attack marriage rights without mentioning morality:

If there is no logical or compelling reason for the state to restrict marriage rights, it doesn’t matter if I or anyone else thinks homosexuality is immoral, just it didn’t matter that many people thought inter-racial marriage was immoral. You are free to think that homosexuality is immoral, and I promise you that you will never be forced to marry a member of your own sex. If you need some help on dealing with the fact that homosexuality exists, I suggest you ask a Kosher Jew or Halal Muslim for advice on how to handle the presence of something you consider immoral. Other than that, get over it and get on with your life.

Get morality out of the discussion all together. It doesn’t belong there. Morality is an issue for theologians, not politicians. In America today, our political candidates are the least qualified people to comment on morality.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 15th, 2007 at 9:46 pm and is filed under In Dorothy's World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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One Response to “Moral, Schmoral”

1. John Says:
   March 21st, 2007 at 12:33 am

   I found my way here through your comment on Defective Yeti. First off, I would like to say that I was very impressed by what you wrote. I thought it was a very well thought out and convincing argument.

   Then I come here and find some other great posts. I just want to applaud you for some great writing.

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