What is right and what is wrong? Who decides?

Answer 1

No one has a right to tell anyone else how to live if they are not breaking the law. And people should stay out of other people's families. The problem is who makes the laws, thereby, deciding what is right and what is wrong.

In the USA, the forefathers did use religion to some degree to form our government; but at the same time, they were wise enough to realize they needed to be very specific about specifying separation between the two.

That is exactly why this country is great: because by separating religion and state we have been able to progress and slowly change errors in the original formation of our government... like when it used to be the law that blacks were not even considered citizens because the forefathers declared them as not human beings but property.

Some ppl argue that things they find immoral or dont agree with influence their children.. sorry but too bad.. that is life in a free country. If you don't like it then move to a dictatorship or put your child in religious school. BUT don't try to tell another family how to raise their kids because THEIR kids also get influenced by people's kids who teach the opposite of what they believe.

As long as all families are tax-paying citizens and obey the laws they have every right to live the way they want to and teach their children their beliefs. I have no clue why some people think it is OK for to IMPOSE their beliefs on other people just because they don't agree with them.

Answer 2

"Do good. Avoid doing harm."

The above maxim is the best measure of right and wrong, good and bad. There is no absolute right or wrong. Or if there is, finding it is beyond the capability of the human mind.

Many people ask the question: If you'd had the opportunity, would you have killed Hitler to save all the lives lost during WWII? Most people would conclude that it would have been better had Hitler been assassinated to save the world from his murderous rampage.

However, imagine this: Suppose that Hitler's Third Reich was responsible for killing someone who later on would have killed EVEN MORE people than Hitler himself and his co-horts did. As this illustrates, the real world with an unknown set of future events makes it impossible to assess the goodness or badness of any act.

All an ethical person can do is follow the maxim I quoted, and do their best. Your intention counts for a lot. So have the intention to so do good and avoid harm and you will have a clear conscience.

Realistically, those who have acquired power make and enforce laws. Don't confuse laws with right and wrong. There are laws that bring about more harm than good, and are thus "wrong." Legislating morality is problematic. Forcing one's private view of morality on others does a great deal of harm to society, creating divisions and discord and unimaginable unhappiness. So it's important that anything put to law be as close as possible to what would do good.

Answer 3

Some pretty good answers so far. Right helps, wrong hurts. Problem is that sometimes you have to hurt to help and that confuses most liberals, they cannot process that equation. They jump to the erroneous conclusion that the hurt that is being afflicted is wrong without considering the positive results being attained. As a matter of fact, most of the time you can determine what is wrong by asking a liberal what they think is right, usually due to their dyslexic logic, the answer they will give you and their perception of right is actually wrong. For example, "it is wrong to take a human life even if the person is a convicted child murdering molester", at the same time professing that abortion rights, "pro choice" is right. The taking of an innocent life of an unborn child is right while the saving of a child molesting murderer is wrong. As I said, dyslexic logic. Examine a liberlas thought process and you will see that I am correct.

Answer 4

The government is merely a servant — merely a temporary servant; it cannot be its prerogative to determine what is right and what is wrong, and decide who is a patriot and who isn't. Its function is to obey orders, not originate them.
Mark Twain

It is not the function of the government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the government from falling into error.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice : Robert H. Parker

CAPITAL, n. The seat of misgovernment. That which provides the fire, the pot, the dinner, the table and the knife and fork for the anarchist; the part of the repast that himself supplies is the disgrace before meat.
Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914)

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
Edmund Burke 1729-1797

If we know our history we have a way to make a path to the future. We decide what is right and wrong, not the gov!

Answer 5

Start with the 10 commandments, and then make take them to a new level as shown in Matthew chapter 5. And then add to them the two 'Great Commandments' as shown in Matthew 22:36-40.
I'd say the above shows a pretty good interpretation of what is right and wrong.

Answer 6

Right is right. Left is wrong. I decided that a long time ago.

Answer 7

That's a big question. First if you believe in god then god decides whats right and wrong. If you don't then your level of power controls Whats right and wrong. example: Its not who's right and who's wrong its who's left. WAR.

Answer 8

I am God and I decide. Just e-mail me if you need to know whether something is right or wrong.

Answer 9

If you are unsure of the rightness of an act, ask yourself if you would like it done to you. If not, maybe it's not right for anyone else either. This is only a guideline, but I have found that it works for me.

Answer 10

Morals and values are often used to determine right from wrong, if you have them. If your question is in regard to the laws we must abide by, then, it's your local government who makes the decisions.