MORALITY

by Dr. Lawrence Wilson

I. INTRODUCTION

DEFINITIONS OF MORALITY

1. Related to standards of right and wrong or good or bad behavior.

2. Concerned with which thoughts, behaviors, actions, conduct, traits, and characteristics are good and right versus those that are wrong and bad.

3. A quality of each person’s lifestyle having to do with their standards of right and wrong, good and bad.

Definition of the related word, moral: Ethical, virtuous, righteous, good, high-integrity, just, right, principled, pure, innocent, decent, proper, noble, honest, blameless, high-minded, chaste, up-standing, meritorious, impeccable, incorruptible.

The opposite of morality: Two words express the opposites of morality:

- Amorality or amoral means a person who has no moral standards and who generally does not think about the goodness or rightness of what they think, say or do.

- Immorality or immoral means a person who knowingly violates society’s standards of morality or moral code.

“The moral compass”, a helpful expression to understand morality. One’s morality is very much like a compass that is used to guide a ship or aircraft.

One’s “moral compass” helps one stay the course of life, and live well and successfully.

For example, some people think that lying is okay. They think it is necessary to lie to get through life and to “win” in various ways. They believe that everyone lies, so why not do the same.

Others realize that lying always harms oneself and others, and except for rare emergency situations in which lying would save your life or that of another person, lying is not moral behavior.

II. MORAL CODES

Morality is usually expressed in the form of a code of behavior. It lays out basic principles of behavior that are good for both the individual and the society.

Such codes of behavior form the basis for a stable and long-lived society. If a society stops teaching the moral code to its children, for example, usually the society will soon begin to disintegrate.

The following moral code has made Western civilization and culture one of, if not the best on earth. This is how important for a society is its moral code.

One way that enemies of a nation attack the nation is to attack its moral code. This is exactly what is going on in Europe, America, Canada, Australia and other Western nations. At times, this is called ‘the culture war’. Here are the basic moral principles and code of Western and some Eastern nations.

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF MOSES

One of the best-known example of a moral code is the Ten Commandments of Moses. It lays out simple rules of behavior that are designed to keep people on a moral path. It has proven to be an excellent moral code that serves as the basis for the legal system of most all Western nations. For details, read The Ten Commandments Plus One.

THE GOLDEN RULE

The golden rule is to Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. This is not a precise code of behavior. It is a basic moral principle found in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles.

It, too, has been proven to be an excellent moral guide. For details, read The Golden Rule.

THE LAW OF CAUSE AND EFFECT

This is another important moral principle found in the Bible. It is also prominent in Eastern or Oriental moral writings where it is often called the concept of karma or work.

It can be stated as As you sow, so shall you reap. For details, read The Law of Cause And Effect.

II. MORAL DECLINE IN OUR CURRENT SOCIETY

We perceive a serious moral problem, especially among the people in modern societies. It is a general decline in the level of moral understanding and moral behavior.

Today more people take the easy way out, think in secular versus religious or moral terms, and think more superficially and selfishly.

One can call it a moral laziness or quality of arrogance. Some would also say it is lack of understanding of the law of cause and effect – “as you sow, so shall you reap”. Here are some examples:

Moral relativism. At the time of the founding of America, public schools used the Bible as their main textbook. In contrast, today in some schools children are taught that there is no such thing as truth. They are taught that truth is relative – I have my truth and you have yours. This concept is called moral relativism.

Self-esteem over truth. Some schools also teach that there are no right or wrong answers. They reward students for “trying”, rather than for getting the right answer, even to a simple mathematics problem. One justification is that pointing out errors might damage the self-esteem of a student.

Political correctness. Many schools and universities today teach political correctness. This is a fancy word for lying, supposedly in order not to offend or embarrass another.

CAUSES

Decline in Judeo-Christian values. An important and clear cause of this moral decline is a general decline in the teaching and understanding of the basic Judeo-Christian system of values. The Bible formerly was the main textbook in many schools and many more people also attended church or synagogue services.

Increased presence of the rogues, also called Satan in the Bible. In part, this is because this group is thoroughly opposed to Biblical principles. In fact, they embody and teach the exact opposite. We are learning that they actively recruit and convert thousands of people on earth into their operatives and slaves.

They do this by beating, raping, poisoning, threatening and torturing all women and men, as well. They want people to lie, steal, cheat, rape and murder. Many go along with this agenda due to fear.

The rogues also ruin the souls and human brains and bodies by interfering with their nutrition, filthing them with poisons and more. This makes it more difficult to exercise excellent judgment.

The rogues also influence education, the media, and other institutions of society that formerly helped teach morality and helped people stay on the moral course.

Possibly, nutritional decline of the people and higher levels of toxicity in the bodies. I believe the brains simply don't function nearly as well today as in the past for these reasons and this harms morality.

III. LEGAL SECTION - MORAL TURPITUDE

Definition. Moral turpitude is a legal concept. It is a more serious level of criminality that juries use to assess punishment for crimes.

It is defined as an act or behavior that gravely violates the sentiment or accepted standard of the community, and a quality of dishonesty or other immorality that is determined by a court to be present in the commission of a criminal offense.

Both felony and misdemeanor crimes can be considered crimes of moral turpitude if a court determines they meet the definition.

An offense rises to the level of a CIMT if the alleged offender acted with reckless or malicious intent, on some level, the defendant knew that what they were doing was morally unacceptable.

An act of moral turpitude would include conspiracy to commit any of these acts or the attempt to commit any of these acts.

Is moral turpitude the same as a hate crime? No. A hate crime is one in which the motive was hatred of another. This is very difficult to assess and assumes that all hating is bad. However, hating evil may not be bad. It may even be a good thing.

Hate crime legislation is often used to pervert justice and punish some people or groups more than others based upon false ideas such as that all white people hate all dark-skinned people. So we don't subscribe to this very modern legal concept at all.

Another article about morality on this website is Seven Levels Of Morality.

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