Why do humans think they can legislate morality?

Question

The legislation of certain morale fibers which makes up the essence of us all is in jeopardy! And if we do not stand up together what will the future be like for those of us who can see the truth

Answer 1

Lack of legislation on morality would still be legislating morality vis-a-vis the specific choice to abstain.

Answer 2

I don't get it. You ask why we think we can legislate morality (we can but we shouldn't) but at the same time you say that we should.

I think that we should legislate only behaviors that damage others and their possessions. And by damage I mean real damage, physical damage. Your spirit, your honor and your ideas can't be physically damaged.

Moral behaviors beyond this shouldn't be legislated. They're all established by religion (and culture too). If you live in a multicultural environment you can't expect everyone around you to comply to one set of moral standards.

You're free to get into a fundamentalist community and be surrounded by people living by the same moral standards. You can make them law inside the community and establish any kind of punishment other than harming the person or his property. You can take him out of the community, ostracize him.

But you have to be aware that most of the things you like are not allowed in fundamentalist communities. It's hard to tell when there are no restrictions but try to do the mental exercise.
Chinese food is nice but I doubt they'll fit your moral standard (assuming that you're in the judeo-christian line of thought).
Forget about 90% of the TV, probably more. And I'm not talking about objectionable material. Anything scientifically challenging to the creationism concept is out.
Your choices of food will be limited, your reading material will be limited, your freedom of speech will be limited.
Remember that we're talking about a community with common moral standards. You won't be able to set your own based on your religion and adapted by your life experience. Most likely the group is going to set a higher bar and everyone around has to comply.

You have to accept it. The world you've been born and raised is what it is as a consequence of its multiculturalism. Take that away and we'd be 200 years back in time living in limited communities. The kind of freedom you want has a price and it's the freedoms of everyone else around you.
You're going to clash against people you don't like and behaviors you don't like and ideas you don't like. And there's nothing you can do about it unless you enforce your moral using violence, something that's morally objectionable.

Live your life by your moral standards and let the rest of the world do the same.

Answer 3

Yes, humans can legislate morality! Any criminal law is exactly that. When we pass ordinances and legislation making an act illegal, we have legislated morality. The average person considers murder an immoral crime. It is against the law. Ergo, legislated morality. To have no moral standard would be a lawless society and anarchy. You must understand that your view of "morality", does not necessarily coincide with my view of morality.

You may think it immoral to tell a woman she can't have a partial birth abortion, whereas I think it immoral to suck out a fetus's brain while in the womb. Who is right? Well, according to current legislation, I am.

You may think it immoral to ban a woman from electing to terminate her pregnancy in the first trimester and I may think it immoral to terminate a life at any point in the pregnancy where it is not a case of rape, incest or a danger to the health of the mother. Who is right? According to current legislation (Roe v. Wade), you are.

Anyhow, bottom line is don't get upset if everyone doesn't want to "stand up together" and support "your morality", and legislation of morality is nothing new, subversive or conspiratory, it's just the process of society defining acceptable standards of behavior. Personally I believe that your right to liberties ends, where mine begins.

Answer 4

I'm afraid that for most people, morality is just a matter of self interest. Nothing fancy, just self interest. Self interest includes getting good feelings, by the way. So we're not legislating morality, we're setting limits on their self-interest.

Answer 5

Condemning and miserable I am afraid. The more we are told what is and is not moral, the less freedom we have. This will eventually erupt into civil war. I better not say that, I may get myself marked as a terrorist because I can see through the thin vale that they are attempting to pull over my eyes.

Next thing you know, we are going to be back to religious oppression. Oh wait, I think we are on the thresh hold now because I am always hearing someone say that "such and such is against God" or "God punishes that." I wish the religious right would get off their high horse and let God do his job and let the rest of us live as we see fit. Last I checked the right to the pursuit of happiness had not been revoked.

I believe in gun control: I control my gun and you control yours. After all, guns do not kill people; people kill people.

Answer 6

Why do liberals think they can legislate anything else? The following is a list of items I happened to think of that would be legal is we did NO legislate morality:
1. Murder
2. Rape
3. Theft
4. Torture
5. Assault
6. Child Abuse
7. Neglect

OK, my 2 minutes are up. Someone else can expand the list.

Answer 7

I don't think there are very many humans who seriously think they can modify or eliminate behaviors they find objectionable in others through legislation. I think that sometimes people come out strongly against certain behaviors, homosexuality for example, to cover and overcompensate for their own tendencies or actions along those lines out of shame, misdirected self-loathing or a fear of getting caught. Others target what they claim are degenerate behaviors in others to draw attention away from their own misbehavior in other areas, or to give themselves a superficial appearance of moral rectitude and righteousness. Blaming any particular group for all the evil in the world is a time tested method of gathering a flock unto oneself or defining oneself as one of its members and if one can get his flock really worked up and frothing that flock will be much less likely to question its shepherd.

Answer 8

Some overly self-righteous individuals think they're right and everyone else is wrong. They think the only way to "set us straight" is to pass laws that will make everyone behave just like them. They seem to think Jesus would be proud of them, but their thinking is more akin to Hitler's. Fortunately they're in the minority and so far all they've done is make a lot of noise.

Answer 9

Uh... What ones are we talking about here? I agree that the government likes to be too involved in goings on that don't even involve the law, but some claims that people make about it are insane...

Answer 10

They have good intentions and people rebel.

People will change on their own but it takes time.

Unfortunately some people do not respect different views of morality.

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