A Hypothetical situation.

[Pete_1]

Say i was very hungry and went to a store to buy some food. Now I knew that the man behind the counter was going to use some of the money he gained from my purchase to buy Condoms. However let’s say i bought the food anyway.

My question is would it be immoral for me to buy this food from the storekeeper, regardless of what he uses my money for?

I don’t particularly want peoples opinions on this, just some source from the church on these types of situations.

I would be very gratefull if someone could help.
Thanks,

 

[kevstar31]

Do you pay you taxes? Not everything the government does is ethical. Does that make it a sin to pay taxes?

 

[Pete_1]

Do you pay you taxes? Not everything the government does is ethical. Does that make it a sin to pay taxes?

I don’t know.
Someone please help me with this.

 

[kevstar31]

most phamacys sell birth control pills.
most grocery stores sell condoms.
most helth insurace companies will help finace abortion.
most medical nonprofts support stem cell research.
Eventually your money will be used for unethical perposes.

 

[Pete_1]

most phamacys sell birth control pills.
most grocery stores sell condoms.
most helth insurace companies will help finace abortion.
most medical nonprofts support stem cell research.
Eventually your money will be used for unethical perposes.

I realy appreciate your response but i guess i am thinking, i could go live in a cave etc and not spend any money at all. I could stop my money being used for immoral purposes but it would mean a very very hard life.

What i am looking for i guess is a statement from the church saying that it is ok to buy the food from that shop in the hypothetical situation.

 

[jkarp]

Say i was very hungry and went to a store to buy some food. Now I knew that the man behind the counter was going to use some of the money he gained from my purchase to buy Condoms. However let’s say i bought the food anyway.

My question is would it be immoral for me to buy this food from the storekeeper, regardless of what he uses my money for?

I don’t particularly want peoples opinions on this, just some source from the church on these types of situations.

I would be very gratefull if someone could help.
Thanks,

I would say, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and give to God what is God’s.” I’m sure that the caesars used the tax money collected in biblical times (and thereafter) for things with which Christ disagreed, but yet these are His words.

 

[Pete_1]

I would say, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and give to God what is God’s.” I’m sure that the caesars used the tax money collected in biblical times (and thereafter) for things with which Christ disagreed, but yet these are His words.

I appreciate your response, i’m just looking for a statement from the church though, so it is definate and i can’t ‘worm my way out of it with reason’

 

[1ke]

Say i was very hungry and went to a store to buy some food. Now I knew that the man behind the counter was going to use some of the money he gained from my purchase to buy Condoms. However let’s say i bought the food anyway.

My question is would it be immoral for me to buy this food from the storekeeper, regardless of what he uses my money for?

No Pete.

I don’t particularly want peoples opinions on this, just some source from the church on these types of situations.

I would be very gratefull if someone could help.
Thanks,

the Church does not list out infinite hypothetical situations and provide answers to what you should do.

This area of moral theology centers around what is called moral cooperation with evil. There are different levels of cooperation, and yours would be remote-- at best.

If you are truly concerned about something so minor as buying food at a store and what the owner then does with the money I think you might have some scrupulosity issues and should talk to your priest.

 

[Pete_1]

No Pete.

This area of moral theology centers around what is clled moral cooperation with evil. There are different levels of cooperation, and yours would be remote-- at best.

Do you have any information on what theChurch says about Moral cooperation with evil?

 

[puzzleannie]

Say i was very hungry and went to a store to buy some food. Now I knew that the man behind the counter was going to use some of the money he gained from my purchase to buy Condoms. However let’s say i bought the food anyway.

Mys,

wrong
you don’t know for sure what the store, the person running the store, the person who owns the store is going to do with money earned from sales.

furthermore, even if a person does buy condoms, you don’t know for sure they will be put to an immoral use (medical students at my old Univ. used to have contests for creative non-contraceptive use of these devices, tacky but true). You do not have knowledge of any other person’s spiritual condition, intentions, and future actions, so you cannot take responsibility for them. Unless it is a person in your care, such as your child, you leave their moral decision making to them and spend your time and energy concentrating on your own moral and spiritual health, for most of us, a full time job. I am using the pronoun in a general editorial sense, not the personal sense.

this is entirely different from actively promoting and abetting someone in wrongdoing, which it would be for instance if a teenager asks you to buy beer for him. there you are participating and being an accessory to the wrongdoing (and in the process very likely doing an unlawful action yourself).

 

[Pete_1]

What if I did know the store owner was going to buy condoms and use them for an immoral purpose.

 

[thistle]

What if I did know the store owner was going to buy condoms and use them for an immoral purpose.

Sorry Pete but Pope Benedict is not going to send you a signed declaration on this. You will have to accept all the posters comments in this thread that you are NOT cooperating with evil by buying the food. I agree with them.

 

[Pete_1]

Sorry Pete but Pope Benedict is not going to send you a signed declaration on this. You will have to accept all the posters comments in this thread that you are NOT cooperating with evil by buying the food. I agree with them.

How did you come to this opinion?

 

[jkarp]

Sorry Pete but Pope Benedict is not going to send you a signed declaration on this. You will have to accept all the posters comments in this thread that you are NOT cooperating with evil by buying the food. I agree with them.

Yeah, otherwise it may be time to start growing your own food, but then of course, the quandry is: where will you buy the seeds? If . . .

 

[Ron_Conte]

It is not immoral for you to buy from a shopkeeper who you know will use the money for an immoral purpose. This falls under the concepts in moral theology of formal and material cooperation.
ascensionhealth.org/ethics/public/key_principles/cooperation.asp

The situation you suggest is mediate material cooperation. It is moral because the shopkeeper can commit the sin without your money, the mere purchase of food from a store is remote from what the store owner decides to do with his profits, and there is no danger of scandal because you are in no way approving of his sin.

 

[Pete_1]

It is not immoral for you to buy from a shopkeeper who you know will use the money for an immoral purpose. This falls under the concepts in moral theology of formal and material cooperation.
ascensionhealth.org/ethics/public/key_principles/cooperation.asp

The situation you suggest is mediate material cooperation. It is moral because the shopkeeper can commit the sin without your money, the mere purchase of food from a store is remote from what the store owner decides to do with his profits, and there is no danger of scandal because you are in no way approving of his sin.

Thanks

 

[Newbie2]

Although there are no “official” documents that would cover the specific situation that you lay out, Catholic Moral theology is pretty clear on the notion of what constitues moral culpability in terms of “cooperation” with the sins of others.

In the case you lay out, yes, it’s moral for you to buy stuff from his store.

If, however, let’s say you were going into a porn shop to buy a candy bar, that’s an entirely different matter.

 

[Pete_1]

Although there are no “official” documents that would cover the specific situation that you lay out, Catholic Moral theology is pretty clear on the notion of what constitues moral culpability in terms of “cooperation” with the sins of others.

In the case you lay out, yes, it’s moral for you to buy stuff from his store.

If, however, let’s say you were going into a porn shop to buy a candy bar, that’s an entirely different matter.

How so?

 

[vern_humphrey]

Say i was very hungry and went to a store to buy some food. Now I knew that the man behind the counter was going to use some of the money he gained from my purchase to buy Condoms. However let’s say i bought the food anyway.

My question is would it be immoral for me to buy this food from the storekeeper, regardless of what he uses my money for?

I don’t particularly want peoples opinions on this, just some source from the church on these types of situations.

I would be very gratefull if someone could help.
Thanks,

From the Catholic Encyclopedia:
newadvent.org/cathen/13640a.htm

Scruple
(Latin Scrupulus, “a small sharp, or pointed, stone”, hence, in a transferred sense, “uneasiness of mind”)

An unfounded apprehension and consequently unwarranted fear that something is a sin which, as a matter of fact, is not. It is not considered here so much as an isolated act, but rather as an habitual state of mind known to directors of souls as a “scrupulous conscience.” St. Alphonsus describes it as a condition in which one influenced by trifling reasons, and without any solid foundation, is often afraid that sin lies where it really does not.

 

[Spirithound]

What if I did know the store owner was going to buy condoms and use them for an immoral purpose.

If he tells you right out that he is going to use your money to buy condoms to use as contraception, I think you should leave the store in protest, however, that is not the only moral way to deal with the situation. All other posters have made very good points.

How so?

(regarding the porn shop)
First, it’s a near occasion of sin. You are highly likely to see sexual pictures in there, and impure thoughts and whatnot could follow. Although that particular store’s primary purpose is to sell immoral items, I’m not sure if you could be considered to be aiding in sin, but really, there are much better places to buy a candy bar. Like at a regular convenience store that hides its pornography behind an opaque board on the top shelf.