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Hard Charger
 
Group: Past PNET Supporter
Last Login: 2 days ago @ 5:55 AM
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| The more I think about it, the more I realized that we all practice it whether we like to or not. Envinronment, which is inclusive of religion, family, friends is what builds our set or morales. What about the actions that we, as moral people, make every day that others find immoral. Whether it be as Americans, Christians, Soldiers, we justify our actions to be moral. I am not talking about what we would obviously call immoral (murder, or anything that would be considered a criminal act the world over) But what about the slaughter of animals for food, eating beef, spanking children, capital punishment. The things that laws will probably never dictate the morality of, but that some may find immoral happen every day, and we do not think twice about them. If eating beef in a society is morally wrong for that society, but yet I see nothing wrong with it and there are no laws against it, that is moral relativism. The easy ones to see are the criminal acts or other acts that media gives great exposure to, abortion, surrogate motherhood, cloning are a few. We live are lives with our own morals, they are relative to others. Take the justification of blatantly criminal acts out of the equation and how many believe their morales are relative to others and yet both can be ok. Someone may find a moral choice you make unforgiveable, but you find it morally right and would never think twice about it, you can both be morally right, and yet think the other is immoral.
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Regular Joe
Group: Registered User
Last Login: 9/22/2006 12:05 AM
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"Morality is relative only to morality". --- Meaning that morality is relative to itself --- that makes it an absolute.
It can not be changed, neither by passage of time nor by passage of laws.
I once read something about "truth" that I think can be said of "morality" as well.
Truth is,irregardless of disbelife,
ignorance or mistruths, truth is,it
can not be changed.
"A citizen who takes up arms, is no longer a civilian".
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Trooper
Group: Past PNET Supporter
Last Login: 10/4/2005 11:53 AM
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Morality and truth are absolutes. It's our human perception of them that is flawed and ever changing.
"You knew the job was dangerous when you took it, Fred." --Superchicken
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Hard Charger
Group: Past PNET Supporter
Last Login: 2 days ago @ 5:55 AM
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| So, the bottom line is that our perception is flawed and we cannot know what is moral, only what we wrongly perceive as moral???
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Trooper
Group: Past PNET Supporter
Last Login: 10/4/2005 11:53 AM
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We do the best we can. We perceive morality as a result of individual conscience (regardless of its origin), necessity (think land mines, tribal affiliation during wars), and as a result of what society perceives as moral (think segregation, age of consent). Those who are the most inflexible are lauded as moral men regardless of the fact that these mores WILL change with time, making some of them immoral in the eyes of their descendants.
Absolute truth and morality do exist, but everything human, including perception, is flawed to some degree.
"You knew the job was dangerous when you took it, Fred." --Superchicken
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Cherry
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Last Login: 11/30/2006 10:19 PM
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I like what BFB has to say - practical, not conjecture. For me, God's word is the final authority, even if I don't understand it. The missing elements are filled in by the leading of the Holy Spirit. That doesn't mean you float around on a fluffy cloud, but instead have a humble acknowledgement of the fragility of human thinking and the awesome greatness of God's plan for each of us individually, and how we are to recognize and carry out that plan.
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"We love freedom and we're not changing"
- G.W. Bush
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Trooper
Group: Past PNET Supporter
Last Login: 10/4/2005 11:53 AM
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The KKK humbly acknowledges the frailty of human thinking and the awesome greatness of God's plan. They believe they recognize that plan and they try to carry it out.
While I don't think any of us here agree with the KKK's sense of morality, the fact that they believe themselves to be moral servants of God underscores the validity of my point.
I believe it's practical to do the best you can, reevaluating your sense of morality as new information becomes available, making adjustments when necessary. If morality is the voice of God and I don't understand it or understand it imperfectly, should I fail to make adjustments as my understanding improves?
"You knew the job was dangerous when you took it, Fred." --Superchicken
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Hard Charger
Group: Past PNET Supporter
Last Login: 2 days ago @ 5:55 AM
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| What about the people of the earth who do not believe in the same god, should everything they do be discarded and is it possible for them to be moral. The KKK is a great example, the average person would say they have perverted what they call "God's Plan" and spun it to meet their own needs. Other's would say that Morality is not dependent on religion at all. What about the the religious leaders who we perceive as immoral or moral (NEW YORK -- The priest about to become the first openly gay Episcopal bishop said Tuesday that several Anglican leaders have appealed to him to step down, but the only thing that could sway him would be if he felt a personal call from God to stand aside.) Morality may be relative to itself, and it may be absolute, but we have to deal with OUR morality which may or may not be online with the absolute morality that exists somewhere, that we erroneously perceive.
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