Quote:
Originally Posted by Trapper John
This is a really good discussion! At the risk of creating a cross-thread point, I stated in the "Planned Parenthood Official...." thread that we should not attempt to legislate morality and a couple of the Brothers called me out on that statement. I mention this here because I think the point you are making and what I meant by that statement are the same thing, although I did not state what I meant very well.
Morality in a society is defined by its dominant theology. Now, we are also a society that believes in the secular Rule of Law and those secular laws stem, at least in part, from the theology (as Dusty so succinctly said "when Moses humped those two rocks down the mountain"). Throw in the belief in the sanctity of the individual and we begin to take a ride down the rabbit hole to a place where things are not so clear cut.
To illustrate my point, MR2 commented that murder was immoral (sorry MR2 if I am taking license here, but I really am trying to make a point). Ostensibly this stems from the commandment "Thou shall not kill". Well, that cannot be strictly adhered to - is killing in self-defense, defense of others, war, etc, immoral? So, we made a special case - murder is immoral and therefore, there are instances where killing is not immoral, but actually can be a moral act.
We now have transgressed into the realm of ethics. It can be ethical to kill but still immoral in the strict theological sense, i.e. situational ethics and not situational morality.
So that the MODs don't flogg me for this cross-thread point, I will now attempt to bring this back to topic 
Our system of governance attempts (brilliantly so IMO) to modulate the obvious tyranny that evolves from a strict interpretation of moral law and balance the sanctity of individual liberty with the need for a moral compass in a civilized society. At this juncture in our secular law incest is illegal. As we make each exception to moral law (as our Judea Christian society defines it) it becomes easier to rationalize the next exception. Extending that line of thinking, we really go down the rabbit hole and nothing has any meaning because everything is relative. No society can remain in any organized or recognizable form in that case and that is the Achilles heal of a libertarian philosophy. |
Societies are held together by common values which are enforced by the threat of being ostracized.
Empires, from warlords to world-spanning, are held together by the threat of force (government).
A society holds people out if they dont adhere to a certain standard (~religion).
An empire holds people in with force and places them within a hierarchy (natural trend of all government).
The Navajo are an excellent example of a people held together by common values rather than government.
Their traditions (~laws) are no less carefully designed than our own Constitution.
In their case, incest laws were designed to prevent a "ruling class" and the tyranny which follows.