The funny thing about looking for something to blog about on Facebook is that I don't usually find anything, at least not anything that really grabs me. Today was different. Today, I found something that I really want to blog about in the form of an opinion that I really want to express. Don't hate me.
That's actually the bulk of the message: Don't hate me. We don't need to hate each other just because we disagree on some things. Even if we both believe that those things are of vital importance, and even if we each believe that the other is, through their ignorance, paving the way for the destruction of the universe, that doesn't mean we need to hate each other. As I've blogged about before, we can agree to disagree.
I believe that everyone has the right to their own opinions and that everyone has the moral obligation to act according to their beliefs. Some people disagree with me. Some people believe that certain opinions are just wrong and that certain actions should not be performed, not matter whose heart says it's the right thing to do. I say that they have the right to that opinion. I'm probably confusing people, aren't I?
Let's say that a person, let's call them Jesse, believes that it is morally improper to chew bubblegum. James, on the other hand, doesn't think there's a problem with chewing bubblegum, and he even does it on occasion. If Jesse saw James chewing bubblegum and felt a moral obligation to tell James that chewing bubblegum is wrong, I believe that Jesse should act according to his or her conscience and tell James what she believes.
It really is common courtesy, in a sense. If Jesse felt that chewing bubblegum would be harmful to James, spiritually, nutritionally, physically, or in any other way, I think that it would be more kind of him or her to warn him of the consequences that he or she believes are coming than it would be for him or her to keep quiet and allow him to fall into the potential consequences that he may not see coming. James still has a right to chew bubblegum - That's his risk to take - But it would be more kind for Jesse to warn James of the risks of chewing bubblegum than for him or her not to.
Let's take it a step further. Let's say James feels a moral obligation to chew bubblegum. Let's say that he believes that not only does he have the right to do it, he should do it. He may even believe that all good people should chew bubblegum. I say that if he truly feels that way, then he should chew bubblegum, as long as it doesn't hurt anybody. If he wants to chew bubblegum and encourage others to chew bubblegum, let him. If he feels that's what he ought to do, I think that's what he ought to do.
Yet, that doesn't change what Jesse should do. If Jesse still feels that chewing bubblegum is morally wrong, even if James believes that chewing bubblegum is morally right, he or she should still tell him of his or her beliefs. At that point, James may tell Jesse of his belief that chewing bubblegum is morally right and that all good people should do it, at which point, either Jesse and James will discuss their opinions with each other until one of them changes their minds, or they will have to agree to disagree with each other, with or without a lengthy discussion on the moral pros and cons of chewing bubblegum. They should each act according to their beliefs, and so should we.
Going back to being ambiguous, some of us believe that certain actions are morally wrong, and others believe that those actions are morally acceptable or even the right thing to do. In each case, I believe that everyone should act according to their moral beliefs whether other people agree with those beliefs or not. Laws may be passed to make certain things allowed or prohibited, but that doesn't change whether those things are wrong or right, and it shouldn't change people's actions unless those people feel morally obligated to obey the law, as I do.
If there was a law passed against chewing bubblegum, and James felt it was better to obey the law and not chew bubblegum than to break the law to chew bubblegum, then he should stop chewing bubblegum, even though, on a certain level, he still feels that chewing bubblegum is the right thing to do. But if James had a friend name Butch, and he believed that it's better to chew bubblegum (despite it's being illegal) than it is to obey the law, then he should act according to his belief and go on chewing bubblegum.
However, if a police officer named Cassidy (regardless of whatever opinion she may or may not have had on the subject of chewing bubblegum) felt a moral obligation to uphold the law, and if she caught Butch chewing bubblegum, despite it's being against the law, she should act according to her beliefs, uphold the law, and probably arrest Butch for committing the crime of chewing bubblegum.
Please note that, through all of this, I haven't stated whether chewing bubblegum is the right or the wrong thing to do. In my opinion, it doesn't matter. People should act according to their beliefs whether I agree with their beliefs or not. If someone feels morally obligated to kill me, they should try to kill me. I don't agree with murder and I don't want to die, but if a person believes in their heart that they should murder me, I think they're morally obligated to try. Of course, I will feel obligated to defend myself, and I'll feel morally justified in harming anyone that attempts to do me harm. I'll even feel morally obligated to uphold the laws against murder against anyone who tries to kill me, whether they feel morally obligated to kill me or not. To reiterate, if a person feels morally obligated to kill me, I believe that they should try, though I will feel morally obligated and will do everything in my power to stop them. This isn't about what's right or wrong. This is about what people believe is right or wrong. And I believe that people should do what they believe in, whether I agree with their beliefs or not.
So what does this have to do with hating each other? The specific issue I'm speaking of is, of course, same-sex marriage, and on this matter, I take an opinion that's similar to Cassidy's. While I personally don't see anything wrong with same-sex marriage, I believe that it's against God's laws and that God gave us those laws for good reasons. I may not know what all His reasons are, but I believe that He has His reasons, and that's good enough for me. I oppose same-sex marriage, but if you support it, I feel that you should. I believe that if you feel morally obligated to support same-sex marriage (which I find much less objectionable than being murdered, by the way), then you should support it in any and every way that you feel you should.
I don't hate homosexual people and they don't need to hate me. We can disagree all we want. We can, and perhaps should, tell each other that we disagree with each other. We might even try to persuade each other to change our minds. And we certainly ought to vote against each other every time the issue comes up. I'm not saying this in any hateful way, and I hope I'm not coming across as hateful. All I'm saying is that we should all act (and vote) according to our own beliefs and not hate each other for doing so.
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