Material cooperation with evil

[_L]

Last night I was thinking of hypothetical scenarios concerning how people can become material cooperators with evil, and I thought about a really confusing type of scenario and was hoping for some good insight on these sort of things. disclaimer Me and no one I know are in these situations, they are purely fiction and just something I was thinking about.

Let’s say a man, for the sake of this scenario, he is a devout Catholic, and he works as a plumber. One day his boss sends him on a job to fix a toilet/sink what have you at a certain address. He rolls up to the building to realize it is an abortion clinic. Would fixing the pipes, sink, toilet, etc at an abortion clinic be material cooperation with evil? My first inclination is to say yes, but when I thought it about a bit more, would merely fixing a sink/toilet/pipes etc, be material cooperation with evil even though those things are not being used to abort children? Would the plumber in this case be morally obliged to turn down the job solely because it is an abortion clinic and any sort of service provided for them is cooperation with evil?

And from this scenario sprouted others which I was thinking about, like lets say the same man had the same job but was sent to a strip club, would he also be morally obliged to turn down the job based on the type of place it is?

 

[FightingFat]

Last night I was thinking of hypothetical scenarios concerning how people can become material cooperators with evil, and I thought about a really confusing type of scenario and was hoping for some good insight on these sort of things. disclaimer Me and no one I know are in these situations, they are purely fiction and just something I was thinking about.

Let’s say a man, for the sake of this scenario, he is a devout Catholic, and he works as a plumber. One day his boss sends him on a job to fix a toilet/sink what have you at a certain address. He rolls up to the building to realize it is an abortion clinic. Would fixing the pipes, sink, toilet, etc at an abortion clinic be material cooperation with evil? My first inclination is to say yes, but when I thought it about a bit more, would merely fixing a sink/toilet/pipes etc, be material cooperation with evil even though those things are not being used to abort children? Would the plumber in this case be morally obliged to turn down the job solely because it is an abortion clinic and any sort of service provided for them is cooperation with evil?

And from this scenario sprouted others which I was thinking about, like lets say the same man had the same job but was sent to a strip club, would he also be morally obliged to turn down the job based on the type of place it is?

I think it would be very moral of him to turn down the job, but I don’t think it’s necessary that he should do so. He has been asked to fixing the plumbing, he’s not contributing to the moral function of the place in any way. It’s not up to him what the other people do there and he can’t be expected to be responsible for their actions.

 

[benidict]

How bout this scenario. You are a cashier in your small town grocery store. A known abortion provider comes into your lane. are you contributing to evil by providing them service? Or how bout this one. Most big companies have ties with money from dubius sources. Drug money from Mexico, etc. Are we providing material cooperation with evil by working with such companies? We would have to deny services to a ton of people if we want to follow this path to its conclusion. Maybe its time we start living in tight knit communities like the Amish so we are not tainted.