Law And Morality

p.s. This is the longest article I believe I have written on Alt.Noise. I suppose I thought it needed thoroughness, but there’s a good chance I just rambled.

And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. – Jesus (Matthew 22:39)

What is the difference between law and morality or what happens when they conflict?

I believe that this is a very important question for today because of the economic situation. People all around the world are losing their homes and have large debt collectors showing up in their yard. It is a bad time for nearly everyone and it is in these times that people neglect common behaviors such as grace and mercy in support for their basic Darwinian interest of survival of the fittest.

It is a time where I need to get mine and you have to find a way to fend for yourself.

The question becomes are we neglecting the common law of morality?

We all have different names and phrases for it. We call it the golden rule and say “do unto others as you would do unto yourself” and “love your neighbor as yourself”. This is an easy thing to believe when times are good. You feel secure in your job and you have a sizeable savings account then of course you will try to help out a man who is struggling to make ends meat.

But the problem becomes when you are struggling just as much as your neighbor… and you both have a family to feed.

What do you do in these situations?

This is a hard thing to answer. I believe many of you are like me. We would neglect our own basic physical needs if we saw a an entire family on the street looking for food and shelter. There wouldn’t be any doubt in my mind that I would help this family as much as I possibly could. It goes beyond any moral law or code. I believe it is human nature to neglect one’s own needs for the sake of an entire family.

But what about when you have a family of your own?

Do you neglect your own family’s need for anothers?

Moral Banana

I often joke around with a youth group that I help teach. I theoretically ask them if they were on a deserted island with someone else and all food is gone but one banana. You find the banana first and you can easily eat the banana without the other person realizing it. Do you eat it?

Of course this is a silly and completely unrealistic moral philosophical scenario. They all see through it but it is funny how some teenagers are brutally honest.. They admit that they’d eat the banana.

But what if the scenario wasn’t too far off base.

I’m not going to ask you whether the moral thing to do is to give up a banana or eat it yourself, but then again I wouldn’t be surprised if some of you were willing to be brutally honest and admit to eating the banana.

What I am going to ask if you would obey the law of the land or would you rather do the moral thing of following the golden rule.

Story of Morality and Law

Imagine that you are a proud working parent. You’ve gone to college and got a good job at a bank. You go to church and raise a good family. By everyone’s standards, you are leading a life that you should be proud of. Then tragedy strikes. Your spouse loses his or her job and now you are the sole supporter of your family. Bills are starting to mount as you try to manage the life you had while your family’s income got split in half.

You had best find a way to keep your job.. but the problem is your bank as hit hard financial times.

You know the economic situation is bad around the world, but you don’t really have time to think about it. You have a moral obligation to worry about the financial situation at your house. The banks have been hit the hardest and you fear everyday for your job.

Your boss says that you need to start collecting on some people who are really behind on their house payment and if they can’t catch up that you need to foreclose.  You hate this part of the job so you sort through the list of people. You try to make a list of people who are least deserving to receive mercy and most deserving as though your moral obligations will allow you to choose who receives the grace.

You get near the bottom of the list and the name reads “Jonathan Meyer”. This is your neighbor a few houses down and across the street. Your kids routinely go over there to play and you always smile and make small talk about the rain or the stock market. He was an electrical engineer several years back before his company shut down. He hasn’t been able to find a job recently.

Now you have to call him and tell him his house is likely to be foreclosed on.. Where is the law or morality in that?

You know that if you do not call that you will lose your own job. You realize that you have a moral obligation to your own family. You already have collectors breathing down your own neck about the cars. There is no way your family could sustain itself if you didn’t make the phone call.

You also realize that you can get into legal trouble if you descriminated between different families. All people are created equal or something like that. If you do choose to make the call then you are within the right of the law to foreclose and every judge will be on your side, but which do you follow.. law of Country or law of morality?

You reach for the phone and wrap your fingers around the cold receiver..

What do you do?

I am not going to answer this question for you nor do I believe that I would definitely make the right decision. Right or wrong, I know what my instincts would tell me to do. I can’t say for sure that I would do it, but I’m pretty certain that I would follow my gut.

I would make the call.

Choice of Law of Society or Moral Right

It is in these types of situations where the relationship between law and morality can become difficult. Whatever choice you make, you can justify it as a moral decision because it is. You are generally obligated to follow the law of your country. They are put into place to protect  those who would likely get hurt and are usually a good thing.

But sometimes our laws can conflict with what we believe as moral.

There are a few times in our lives where we must rebel against the rules of our country or even the company that we work for. In those times, we have to judge whether we have a bigger obligation to follow the laws set out before us or the larger laws that govern society and our beliefs.

We will have to sacrifice a large piece of our lives if we choose to follow those larger laws which Jesus beautifully said, “Love your neighbors as yourself”. You might have to risk your career by rebelling against the unethical standards placed by your boss. You might have to risk your life by ignoring loved one’s pleas to save a young child in the road.

or you might risk living everyday in the shame and disrespect of the entire society around you because you stood up for a friend when everyone else had thrown him away.

Many scenarios, it is easy to judge which action is the Moral choice to make. It is the one which follows the law most of the time.  In these situations, your choice isn’t choosing between which one is right. It is choosing whether you want to make the moral choice or not.

But in the scenario with the banker.. which is the right moral choice?

Trust in Your Own Moral Ability

I can’t answer that question and I don’t think I’ll ever find a philosopher, pastor or poet who can. There are many questions that can go beyond our logical rationalizations. Life isn’t like a math problem. It is more complex with more variables than anything in calculus. We can try to come up with reasons and set up our little pro/con debates, but sometimes you have to make your choice and leave the rest up to faith.

I do believe that faith is the key variable in these situations.

You can only focus on the choices that you make. As long as you are clear with your decision making process, you pray, you study the situation and make a rational decision beyond your own selfish needs then you have made the morally right choice. You have to trust and stay confident in the choice that you have made.

~*~

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