The Cultural Landscape: What’s Morally Acceptable?

Gallup News Service ^ | June 22, 2004

[Zack Nguyen]

That's an excellent point.

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

Yes, it is selfish in that case. Being selfish is wrong. I'm just saying that having a baby is never a sin. Of course it exposes the secret sin for the world to see. Fear of that exposure can sadly motivate abortion -- a much worse sin.

Interestingly, two things happen at the same time. The pregnant woman, not wanting to feel guilt, blames society for "making" her feel ashamed. She decides that those who are disappointed in her immoral behavior are the guilty ones and that the baby is just a nothing who can be destroyed at her whim. She accepts no responsibility -- the trait that got her in the mess to begin with (there was another guilty party never forget).

At the same time, family members, particularly those in authority like parents, try to avoid their own guilt (there often is some) by blaming the woman and acting ashamed of the pregnancy rather than the immorality. If they were as ashamed of the immorality as they were of "appearances" then they would have worked harder at helping her make moral choices before the fact. This response also helps them feel no sense of responsibilty to help the woman and her child -- another contributing factor in abortion.

Neither response is good. Human nature hates taking responsibility for personal failures. It's always easier to blame another. Sadly, the baby is the one who usually ultimately pays.

I think the Murphy Brown case has largely been the exception to the rule. Although, now we have a new category: gays who want to defy the rule of nature and nature's God by creating babies for themselves through artificial means. Talk about selfish! Still, the baby is not the sin, the selfishness and immorality is.

[weegee]

Although, now we have a new category: gays who want to defy the rule of nature and nature's God by creating babies for themselves through artificial means. Talk about selfish! Still, the baby is not the sin, the selfishness and immorality is.

The most extreme example of that kind of selfishness being 2 deaf lesbians who sought out deaf sperm donors so that they could deliberately create deaf children to raise (they've birthed 2 so far, a boy and a girl I believe).

Being deaf is not a shame but deliberately engineering (or stacking the odds) so that you can "make" a child deaf is abuse. Some children are born without limbs. Anyone see anything similar about lopping off perfectly good limbs so that you can raise a handicapped child?

[TomEwall]

Well it doesn't surprise me that 7% of the population would consider adultery acceptable (actually that seems low to me) but it does surprise me that that many find polygamy O.K.

[tom h]

"Well it doesn't surprise me that 7% of the population would consider adultery acceptable (actually that seems low to me) but it does surprise me that that many find polygamy O.K."

You might have a point -- it is strange that the numbers are even.

Out here in California, I am not surprised that 7% think polygamy is OK. It's not that they're IN FAVOR of polygamy, it's just that they are not going to judge someone who partakes.

[risk]

Good points. The main thing I see here is that Americans have their pecadillos, but we don't want to encourage them by law. What does it mean to violate the sacred trust of marriage with infidelity? We translate that to mean all sorts of punitive actions against the transgressor. Why? Because they entered into an agreement with each other, and with us. Marriage has a link to the whole county. The entire county puts its approval on the union. What these undemocratic activists are demanding is to force an entire county to approve of unions that most in any county would oppose. Sometimes the law is violated. Judging that is different from changing the laws to include approval for things that most people can't bless. Also, counties relate to states, and states relate to the federal government, and the federal government relates to other governments. Next we'll be allowing same sex couples to qualify for immigration.

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

Oh I agree with you, weegee. 100%

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

Sigh. It's so sad. That was well articulated, by the way.

[ahadams2]

not Anglican, but provides insight on the culture ping.

[Badeye]

Thanks for the ping.

I'm wary of passing judgement on these topics, preferring to live my life based on my own moral values. I figure before all is said and done, we will all face "judgement" of one type or another.

[To Hell With Poverty]

Seamole's posts are ALWAYS well articulated!