Forced Morality is not Genuine. Reinforced Morality Can Be.

Today, I'm taking on a social question. Let me caveat this blog post by stating I am not a psychologist, anthropologist, or any other -ologist. This is simply the musings of a concerned citizen.

FORCED MORALITY

I define forced morality as laws that prohibit non-violent behavior upon the populace. These laws restrict the lifestyle of the individual and say what he/she can or cannot do.

I would think one of the larger issues that fall under the banner of forced morality is same-sex unions.

As a practicing Christian, I do not believe in marriage between two people of the same sex. Furthermore, I do not believe in concurrent marriages to more than one person (polygamy). That is my personal belief, and thus I choose not to live that kind of lifestyle.

That being said, I would never force my beliefs on another. I would never want someone to force their beliefs on me. That is inherently wrong, and leads to severe social disarray.

Forced morality is practiced all around the world. Go to any country that falls under Sharia Law, and you will find morality shoved down the throats of their people. Everything from sexual orientation to the clothes a woman may wear are regulated at the tip of a bayonet. To me, that is a scary thought indeed. Thank God we don't have that in the United States...

...or do we?

If we look at the Texas Constitution, an amendment was approved by a 2/3 majority to ban same-sex marriages or civil unions. There is also a part of the Texas Constitution that states a member of the legislature must believe in a Supreme Being (note that a 1961 Supreme Court decision rendered this null and void...but it is still 'on the books').

Texas is not the only state to have such laws. Almost every state has some type of forced morality law on record.

Do these laws really have to be there? What purpose do they serve?

Are homosexual couples a violent group, or some type of public nuisance? I've never heard of a group of same-sex couples causing violent insurrections....have you?

If you throw religious morality in my face over this issue, I'll defend myself with the 1st Amendment to the United States Constitution. Freedom of religion is also freedom FROM religion. If a citizen of this great country chooses not to believe the same thing that I do, that is ALRIGHT! We can still be neighbors, still have the same fiscal beliefs, and still eat at the same restaurants. We may disagree on religion, but we don't have to come to violence over it (as some countries do).

There is no medical, scientific, or public safety concern in the same-sex argument. It is simply forced morality. That, in a nation based on liberty, is wrong. As I said earlier, I would not want someone to force their morality on me, so I should not force mine on others.

I'll use a term thrown around quite frequently, but it does apply: what consenting adults do behind closed doors is none of my business. If someone's lifestyle is different than mine, and their behavior is not violent or the source of a limiting of my liberty, I have no say in what they do.

From a religious standpoint, lets look at this. For the sake of conversation, lets assume that I have a Muslim family living 3 doors down from me. They decide to erect a minaret in their back yard to call other Muslims in the surrounding neighborhood to prayer. I would have a cause of action against them, because that infringes on my privacy (from a minaret, they could see into my fenced-in backyard), as well as being a source of noise pollution (blasting prayer and calls to prayer multiple times a day would be disruptive). I would have cause for CIVIL ACTION against them. It would be up to a jury of my fellow citizens whether my neighbor was infringing on my liberty.

REINFORCED MORALITY

Now, REINFORCED MORALITY is something totally acceptable, and legal. This occurs every single day in our society.

When a parent takes their child to church (or temple, or whatever), and teaches them their system of belief, this is a REINFORCING of the morality they believe in. When a commuter puts on a Christian radio station during their drive to work, they are REINFORCING their system of morality.

When a martyr straps a bomb vest on and blows up a military convoy, that is NOT reinforcing morality. That is FORCED MORALITY.

Some folks may say that parents forcing their children to go to church is forced morality, but I disagree. While a child is under their parents' roof, I believe it is the place of the parents to try and instill a moral foundation in their children to help them in this world of ours. When the children are on their own, they are free to choose their own path.

CONCLUSION

So, that is how I see things. I believe that if people are conducting themselves non-violently, and are not infringing on the liberty of their neighbors then it it not my business what they do in their lives. I wouldn't want someone nosing around in my life telling me what I could and couldn't do/say/believe. I hope that you feel the same.