Morality in Government

As a child, I went to church every Sunday. I sang hymns and read verses of the Bible. I believed everything that was spoon-fed to me, and, in the words of transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau, "they [forced] me to become like themselves." Perhaps I lost sight of the meaning of Christianity, but what has disturbed me the most about going to church was the fact that, at least in the way I was taught, I was supposed to live my life a certain way because God, a character that seemed so distant from me, willed it and because I was told so by my pastor.

Now, a few Sundays spent sleeping in later, I believe that, with the influence of Thoreau's writing, insinuating one's morals and beliefs on another is unnatural and damaging. No one person has the right to claim his/her standards and morals are more righteous than another. For instance, one society may view homosexuality as a sin while another may view it as a natural sexual preference. However, there is no telling which society is the more 'righteous' one because each respective society views its belief as the 'correct' one.

In modern American democracy, the role of the government is to pass and enact laws that are meant to keep people within a rigid set of morals that the government sees as righteous. Let me remind you that slavery was legal and same-sex marriage was illegal until the summer of 2015. This gives testimony to the fact that standard morals are subjective and continuously changing with evolving societies and that 'unrighteous' laws are intrinsic in our patchy legal code.

Disclaimer: To begin with, I do think disclaimers will be a staple in my posts since they cover generally controversial topics. I do not mean to attack the idea/existence of religion nor its believers. Following a religion, at least in my experience, requires a commendable amount of persistence and faith.