The Sin of (Im)morality

Governor Rick Santorum doesn’t believe in abortion. But he doesn’t believe in the Separation of Church and State, either. Is that possible? Fifty years ago, maybe, I would say that it wouldn’t be possible, but over the last decade or so, I have changed by opinion one hundred eighty degrees.

Like right and wrong, what we consider to be moral and immoral is becoming more vague by definition. In simplest terms; morality is the difference between right and wrong based on the particular decisions and intentions one uses to arrive at a moral decision. In the not so distant past, the chasm between morality and immorality was as wide as the distance from the Earth to the Sun.

If we could ask each of the Republican Candidates, as well as President Obama, if they considered themselves to be of moral character I’m fairly confident that each one would respond with a resounding yes! Yet, if we were to dissect their lives, layer by layer, you would find instances where you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between what is moral and what is immoral. Lets be fair; it is that way with everyone. All of us, mostly for selfish reasons, base our decisions on how our lives will be affected on a personal basis; justifying our own morality by doing what we know is immoral if it fulfills a need in us. For instance; you aren’t feeling the love that you think you should be feeling from your spouse, so you rationalize until you can turn an irrational and immoral decision to have an affair into something of the highest moral character; what we are doing must be right because we really do love each other.

Lets face it, there are just some circumstances where the moral decision isn’t always going to be the ethical decision. Why? Because morality, by definition, is a choice; not a way of life. In other words, if it feels right then it must be okay. This is the conundrum that Governor Rick Santorum is in; his sense of right and wrong has been skewed. His indecisiveness is his Achilles’ heel. Good or bad, we don’t want a President who can’t make decisions; the tough decisions. Trust me Governor Santorum, you aren’t going to be able to make everyone happy, no matter how hard you try.

Where does religion fit into all this; and why will it play a leading role in the election? Since the founding of this country, most, if not all of our laws; our laws of morality, have been based on biblical principles; the Ten Commandments, to be more to the point. Hence, the Separation of Church and State.

Before you jump up and down on me, consider this; taking into account the cruelty most people have the innate ability to afflict; do you really think or believe it possible that we can just as easily, of our own accord, devise so cleverly a plan, or set of statutes that almost effortlessly shields us from our own animal-istic passions? You see the problem is that most, if not all of us have in some form or another broken practically every law on the books. If not by deed, then by thought. You say thought doesn’t count,right? Not as long as we can’t read each other’s thoughts, but we rarely have to get to that point.

Your spouse physically consummates the act of adultery and should be punished; by divorce and in several cases, monetarily. Is it any different that you consummated a similar relationship in your mind; or by the stroke of your finger on your keyboard, or text on your phone? No, you never touched, physically, but your heart doesn’t know the difference.

Contemporary morality consists of letting people do what they want to do as long as what they want to do doesn’t have any adverse affect on me. To a lot of people, there is no gray area; to each his/her own. Governor Santorum’s stance on the Separation of Church and State may be what derails his campaign for the Presidency; but it may very well be the beginning of the end of our First Amendment. Right and wrong will soon give way tolerance; morality and immorality will soon give way to indifference.

We have kept asking for our cake; we finally got it – eat it and enjoy!


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