Morally Hazardous?

Some of the most fragmenting issues in American society today revolve around ideological differences. Should abortion be legal? Should homosexuals be able to marry? What role do Muslims play in our culture? It is no surprise that people, as individuals, have differing ideas about these issues and that these ideas creep into our political system.

In a recent blog post, one of my fellow government classmates argues that such ideologies, specifically Christian ones, should be kept out of our government and laws. But even more than ideologies, he writes that Christian morals should be abolished from politics. While many can agree that separation of church and state is necessary for a country that promotes freedom of religion and that ideologies without facts should be kept out of politics as much as possible, we must be careful that we are not, "throwing the baby out with the bath water." Are 'Christian' morals really such a bad thing to have in government?

Before this issue can be fully understood, we must be careful that we are not equating the terms "ideology", "morals", and "religion". Ideology and religion are both things derived from moral standards and it is generally agreed that both should be kept from law-making; however, morals are different in that they are the basic standards by which we as humans decide what is right and wrong. They are even more basic than those proposed by my classmate as, "life, liberty, and security." Is it right for a human to murder another human? Is it right to do nothing when you see evil happening towards another human being? Morality in this sense is not something that "varies wildly from person to person."

While morals are often labelled as "Christian", they are usually basic to all religions and value sets. The golden rule, "do to others as you would have them do to you" may be of Christian origin, but is quoted and personally desired by those of all sorts of beliefs, including Atheists. Is this sort of morality system such a problem in government? What if our political system was free from morality?

An amoral system of government is in reality impossible. All human-made governments are going to act off of some sort of moral system. Whether it is a communist regime acting off of the principal that equality matters more than individual rights, or a religious state, every government must have some set of basic principals upon which to set their laws. A government without morals leads to anarchy and chaos, and ultimately tyranny.

As can be attested throughout history, not all moral systems acknowledge the dignity of humans equally. Millions have been killed under communist, atheistic governments as well as under theocratic governments. We can find examples of America's misuse of power, but our government, based on Christian morals yet not a Christian theocracy, has created more freedom, equality, and dignity for humans than any other government in history.