law and morality

[garegin_asatrya]

it is my understanding that the state has a duty to protect life. This means that the state has the duty to if not punish, but stop people who want to engage in murder. What if, the person is told by her rabbi (I know some rabbis would allow abortions in certain cases) that they can do it and then is stopped by the police. What is to be done, then. Jews erect another legal system where they can do what they want? Where do you draw the line?
What about societies that practice infantacide? Should Christians step in and force the authorities to ban such practices.
Notice here that I’m debating about legal force not morality. If you want to go deeper, however, legal force is essentially force. Do I have the right to personally go and physically stop another person from doing an abortion? Why, not? I should with murder of adults, so why not unborn? What is stopping me from acting governmentally?

 

[sw85]

it is my understanding that the state has a duty to protect life. This means that the state has the duty to if not punish, but stop people who want to engage in murder. What if, the person is told by her rabbi (I know some rabbis would allow abortions in certain cases) that they can do it and then is stopped by the police. What is to be done, then. Jews erect another legal system where they can do what they want? Where do you draw the line?
What about societies that practice infantacide? Should Christians step in and force the authorities to ban such practices.
Notice here that I’m debating about legal force not morality. If you want to go deeper, however, legal force is essentially force. Do I have the right to personally go and physically stop another person from doing an abortion? Why, not? I should with murder of adults, so why not unborn? What is stopping me from acting governmentally?

Yes, Christians have a duty to demand that life be protected and that evildoers be brought to justice, with the amount of force necessary to do so.

No, you do no personally have the right to act to bring others to justice – that’s vigilantism – although do you have the right (and duty) to act in immediate circumstances to protect the lives of others if you have the ability to do so.

 

[garegin_asatrya]

what about jews whos rabbis tell them that they can perform abortions? Should they be legally impeded? Not to mention various other christian denominations that have varying opinions on the matter. Why should other non-believers listen and legaly obey to the moral teachings of the pontiff?

 

[sw85]

what about jews whos rabbis tell them that they can perform abortions? Should they be legally impeded? Not to mention various other christian denominations that have varying opinions on the matter. Why should other non-believers listen and legaly obey to the moral teachings of the pontiff?

Because they’re objectively correct.

The Church is not promulgating irrational value judgments; it’s promulgating the truth, and the truth as regards the social order is revealed entirely by reason. If other religions and non-believers disagree, they do so because they’re wrong, and they’re not entitled to have their wrong opinions protected by the polity.

Hence, Christians have a duty to demand the protection of life.

 

[fakename]

it is my understanding that the state has a duty to protect life. This means that the state has the duty to if not punish, but stop people who want to engage in murder. What if, the person is told by her rabbi (I know some rabbis would allow abortions in certain cases) that they can do it and then is stopped by the police. What is to be done, then. Jews erect another legal system where they can do what they want? Where do you draw the line?
What about societies that practice infantacide? Should Christians step in and force the authorities to ban such practices.
Notice here that I’m debating about legal force not morality. If you want to go deeper, however, legal force is essentially force. Do I have the right to personally go and physically stop another person from doing an abortion? Why, not? I should with murder of adults, so why not unborn? What is stopping me from acting governmentally?

Personally, one shouldn’t attack abortionists as a private citizen. Aquinas, I think, shows this through an a fortiori (if y applies to -x, then it especially applies to x) argument -its true that the sinner is likened to a pest and so worthy of being destroyed, but all animals (who are even less then sinners since they don’t have human nature) cannot be killed unless a necessary condition is fulfilled -namely the animal’s owner must consent first. So it is even more unlawful to kill a sinner w/o the say-so of a gov. official.

 

[smichhertz]

it is my understanding that the state has a duty to protect life. This means that the state has the duty to if not punish, but stop people who want to engage in murder. What if, the person is told by her rabbi (I know some rabbis would allow abortions in certain cases) that they can do it and then is stopped by the police. What is to be done, then. Jews erect another legal system where they can do what they want? Where do you draw the line?
What about societies that practice infantacide? Should Christians step in and force the authorities to ban such practices.
Notice here that I’m debating about legal force not morality. If you want to go deeper, however, legal force is essentially force. Do I have the right to personally go and physically stop another person from doing an abortion? Why, not? I should with murder of adults, so why not unborn? What is stopping me from acting governmentally?

Hi garegin asatrya,

The state certainly has a duty to protect life, but when it fails, we cannot simply attempt to use force to correct it. One of the requirements for using force is that there must be a reasonable chance of success. Since there would be virtually no chance of success, such an act of force would be unjust, and would therefore violate our own pro-life principles.

This is why people who kill abortionists in the name of the pro-life cause are essentially hypocrites as they are committing murder in the name of stopping murder. It makes no sense.

Hope that helps!