J
Jay74
Guest
A little excerpt from Dennis Prager’s book, “Think a Second Time” which can be found here.
It may be more “Moral Theology”, but I find it more applicable in “In The News” because I think many of the threads here deteriorate because we often end up assigning nefarious motives to those we disagree with.
I think our charity level would remain much higher if we would understand that those with whom we disagree probably have the same noble intentions that we ascribe to ourselves. In other words, judge their beliefs as wrong, but dont’ judge them as bad.
*Don’t Judge Motives
By judging our motives rather than our actions, we can assuage all guilt over any action or inaction. Everybody thinks his motives are pure and good. And on a conscious level, they probably are.
That’s why motives just aren’t the issue. What we do, not what we intend, is what counts.
On the global level, assessing motives rather than actions has led to serious moral distortions. A particularly important example concerns assessments of capitalism and Communism.
Communism has resulted in the loss of freedom by more nations and the deaths of more individuals than has any other doctrine in human history. Yet because it is perceived as emanating from good motives—abolition of poverty, greater equality—many people refuse to accord it the antipathy that its deeds deserve.
Capitalism, on the other hand, has led to greater freedom and to less poverty than perhaps any other political-economic doctrine in history. Presumably, it ought to be widely admired. Yet it is often vilified and even its supporters rarely consider capitalism to be a particularly moral system. The reason? It is based on selfish motives.
Defense of Communism and opposition to capitalism emanate from the same flaw—assessing motives, not results.
Blessings to all.*
*
It may be more “Moral Theology”, but I find it more applicable in “In The News” because I think many of the threads here deteriorate because we often end up assigning nefarious motives to those we disagree with.
I think our charity level would remain much higher if we would understand that those with whom we disagree probably have the same noble intentions that we ascribe to ourselves. In other words, judge their beliefs as wrong, but dont’ judge them as bad.
*Don’t Judge Motives
By judging our motives rather than our actions, we can assuage all guilt over any action or inaction. Everybody thinks his motives are pure and good. And on a conscious level, they probably are.
That’s why motives just aren’t the issue. What we do, not what we intend, is what counts.
On the global level, assessing motives rather than actions has led to serious moral distortions. A particularly important example concerns assessments of capitalism and Communism.
Communism has resulted in the loss of freedom by more nations and the deaths of more individuals than has any other doctrine in human history. Yet because it is perceived as emanating from good motives—abolition of poverty, greater equality—many people refuse to accord it the antipathy that its deeds deserve.
Capitalism, on the other hand, has led to greater freedom and to less poverty than perhaps any other political-economic doctrine in history. Presumably, it ought to be widely admired. Yet it is often vilified and even its supporters rarely consider capitalism to be a particularly moral system. The reason? It is based on selfish motives.
Defense of Communism and opposition to capitalism emanate from the same flaw—assessing motives, not results.
- *—Dennis Prager
*
