I prefer a strong foundation in ethics moreso than a society founded on morality.
Morality is much more subject to subjective opinions.
Morality demonstrates itself by what the original God-commanded governance in the Pentateuch deteriorated to at the time of Jesus.
The "law" had so totally engulfed the "spirit of the law" that shoe-lace-tying and cows in the mud became great issues of moral discourse.
That seems to be where we are today.
I think that many people confuse morals with ethics, believing that moral conformity to something fixed and written is a preferred higher pattern of living than possession of an equally high standard of ethics based on a genuine desire for the highest good of all concerned, a genuine desire to do no harm and to look for dignity in others before scanning for a reason to avoid or condemn.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of a decline in moral values I am really talking about the breakdown and decline of ethical thinking where once that happens - once ethics begin disappearing - things like greed, lust, thievery and murder become predictable. Attempts to address those consequence of missing ethics have to be created in some kind of moral framework - hence the birth of morality.