People say that the difference between choosing to murder and choosing to have an abortion is that murder is illegal and abortion is not.
Slavery was once legal. Was it right?
Child sacrifice was legal in some cultures in the past. Does that make it right?
Stoning people to death for petty offenses is legal in Iran. Does that make it right?
2006-09-17 10:54:48 · 20 answers · asked by BrianthePigEatingInfidel 4 in Politics & Government ➔ Politics
Just cause it's legal, doesn't make it right...
2006-09-17 10:57:30 · answer #1 · answered by HONORARIUS 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
NO. if it is legal it is not necessarily moral under most codes of ethics. morality and legality are two different things. it has been said that you cannot legislate morality. it has to come from within and be a product of free will and not force of law.
If you are refraining from an act only because you fear the legal punishment, you are not behaving by a moral code but a code of self interest.
Conscientous objectors refused to fight in wars because they thought it was illegal so they were sometimes put in jail for refusing or dodging the draft etc. ALI, the great fighter was punished for refusing to fight in the Vietnam war. yet his acts were very moral.
Slavery was and is immoral yet was legal so you have a valid point.
it may be legal to torture prisoners but immoral. or it may be moral to torture prisoners but illegal. this depends on circumstances and point of view.
it may be moral to some muslims to bomb a building and kill people if it gets you to heaven but is it moral to rape the 72 virgins they provide as reward? is not that prostitution? is not Allah a pimp in that case? morality is very subjective but law can be very objective so they are not the same
2006-09-17 18:03:57 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
legal means that it's ok in law, like Stoning people to death for petty offenses in iran, it's legal there but no it dosen' make it right and slavery yes it wuz legal but it wasn't ok so know of course is illegal and it all comes to down too if it's right or not i guess, not legal of illegal
2006-09-17 18:01:08 · answer #3 · answered by Structure 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Laws tend to mimic the ethics of a society at a point in time. We know that those things are wrong, but the people living back then and practicing those things didn't know any better. Can you imagine what might be construed as wrong 200 years from now that we engage in now without even thinking about it?
2006-09-17 17:58:10 · answer #4 · answered by kitty fresh & hissin' crew 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Just because its legal doesn't make it ethical. Like abortion,
legally it may be OK but depending on your moral standards,
it may be the wrong thing for you to do. Laws change, morality
shouldn't.
2006-09-17 17:59:00 · answer #5 · answered by Caiman94941 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I concur with most of your statement.
What I don't agree with is a woman's right to choose. What if she was molested by a family member and got pregnant, or raped, or because of health reasons, etc. Would this still be murder?
2006-09-17 18:00:10 · answer #6 · answered by I love angels 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Right and legal sometimes don't share any equivalency. And right by whose standards? The West's? Yours? The Pope's? The Mayan Indians'? Societal evolution typically changes the standard viewpoint on many subjects. In 200 years the US has seen tremendous shifts in societal norms. In another 200 we may be right back where we were.
I fully support your right to your own viewpoint. Please support my right to mine.
2006-09-17 18:23:45 · answer #7 · answered by johngjordan 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Now youre getting somewhere. That is the duty of all nations that seek freedom- to fight against tyranny and fight for the rights of the oppressed with liberty and justice for all. Even defensless babies! If women dont want to have babies then they need to hold off on sex.
You do the crime, you need to do the time! Same goes for men!
2006-09-17 17:59:15 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
I think only right things are things that cause no hurt, only peace. Just because someone says it is ok doesn't make it that way. Only our maker can say what is right or wrong
2006-09-17 17:59:04 · answer #9 · answered by Star 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Things don't have to be right to be legal.
2006-09-17 17:56:50 · answer #10 · answered by bobemac 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋